Appendix 1 - Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-24
Perth and Kinross Council · 4 December 2024
Back to Perth and Kinross Council — 4 December 2024 and its agenda
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-24 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 1 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2 1. Governance, Accountability and Statutory Functions ........................................................ 3 2. Service Quality and Performance ....................................................................................... 4 2.1. Children and Families Social Work Services (Child Protection) ................................. 4 2.2. Children and Families Fieldwork Services ................................................................ 14 2.3. Services for Children, Young People and Families ................................................... 17 2.4. Adult Social Work Services (Adult Protection) ........................................................ 20 2.5. Adult Fieldwork Services .......................................................................................... 22 2.6. Learning Disabilities and Autism Services ................................................................ 30 2.7. Mental Health Officer (MHO) Services .................................................................... 34 2.8. Justice Services......................................................................................................... 38 3. Scrutiny ............................................................................................................................. 46 4. Challenges and Improvements ......................................................................................... 47 5. Resources .......................................................................................................................... 50 6. Workforce ......................................................................................................................... 52 7. Training, Learning and Development ............................................................................... 54 8. Looking Ahead .................................................................................................................. 57 9. Glossary ............................................................................................................................. 59 10. Appendices........................................................................................................................ 61
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 2 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality I am pleased to present the 2023/24 Chief Social Work Officer Report for Perth and Kinross Council. During this reporting period, the Chief Social Work Officer was Jacquie Pepper, who held the role since 2017. More recently, she also took on the role of Chief Officer for the Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership in 2022. An Executive and Strategic leadership review at Perth and Kinross Council, during 2023/24, aligned the role of Chief Social Work Officer to the Strategic Lead for Children, Families and Justice. I joined the Council at the end of January 2024 and, following a transitional period, took on the role of Chief Social Work Officer on 1 April 2024. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jacquie for her stewardship of the social work and social care profession in Perth and Kinross by upholding the values of social justice, dignity, and anti- discriminatory practice for the past seven years. During that time, there has been, and continues to be, extensive change to the delivery of social work services. During 2023/24 we continued to see the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, not only in the communities we work, but also in the cost of delivering services, with significant inflationary pressures impacting on our baseline social work budgets. The multifaceted national social work and social care recruitment crisis also impacted on our delivery of frontline services, with our Care at Home services particularly effected. Workforce development initiatives that commenced in 2022/23 began to take effect in 2023/24. Of particular note has been a significant increase in the number of social work placements offered. In 2022, we were ranked 26th out of 31 local authorities in the number of placements offered. By 2023, this had increased to 5th. Proactive engagement with the universities has led to more social workers who had student placements in Perth and Kinross, choosing to work here once they graduated. This report gives an overview on how statutory social work duties were delivered by our social work and social care staff during 2023/24. The report focuses on key areas of progress across Children and Families social work, Adult social work, and Justice social work over the past year, providing assurance on key areas of public protection and frontline service delivery. I hope the report evidences the compassion, ambition, and integrity of our workforce as they go about their day-to- day work, supporting those most in need in our communities. Arun Singh - Chief Social Work Officer Introduction
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 3 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The role of Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) is a statutory requirement, and the functions include providing professional governance, leadership, and accountability for the delivery of social work and social care services. The CSWO reports to the Chief Executive, Elected Members, and provides professional advice to the Integration Joint Board (IJB). The CSWO had direct access to Elected Members, the Chief Executive, Executive Directors, Heads of Service, managers, and frontline practitioners both within the Council and Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), and with partner agencies in relation to professional social work issues. The CSWO discharged the requirements of the role on behalf of the Council as follows: • Oversight of a range of reports relating to social work and social care to Council committees. • Access to Elected Members, Chief Executive and Chief Officers as required. • Member of the Perth and Kinross Chief Officers Group for Public Protection. • Corresponding member of the Adult and Child Protection Committees. Non-voting member and professional advisor to the IJB which was performed alongside the Chief Officer role. • Non-voting member and professional advisor to the IJB Audit and Performance Committee. • Oversight of the Health and Social Care Partnership’s Care and Professional Governance Forum with delegation of the Co-chairing role to the Interim Head of Adult Social Work during the year. • Decisions in relation to the implementation of secure care orders for young people. • Overseeing guardianship orders on behalf of the Council. • Accrediting and validating Mental Health Officer training and practice requirements. • Leading on the submissions to the Scottish Historical Sex Abuse Inquiry. • Leading the PVG Panel for the Council to support safe recruitment ensuring proportionate decision making to protect service-users and the public while at the same time ensuring that the Council is an inclusive employer. The CSWO took part in the budget review process across all relevant services ensuring that the needs of vulnerable and at-risk groups’ needs were highlighted and considered. The CSWO was the lead signatory for the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) as the regulator of the social care workforce ensuring that the codes of practice are adhered to and acting as a point of contact when there are concerns about an employee’s fitness to practice. During the reporting period, the Heads of Service for Adult Social Work and Services for Children, Young People and Families, as senior social work leaders, supported the CSWO to have oversight of key local, regional, and national developments and considering the most appropriate local response. The Head of Services for Children, Young People and Families (who retired in March 2024) and the Interim Head of Adult Social Work deputised for the CSWO providing full-time cover for key decisions that cannot be delegated. Nationally, the CSWO deputes took part in meetings of all 32 CSWOs supported by Social Work Scotland. 1. Governance, Accountability and Statutory Functions
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 4 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The role of social work in child protection is paramount to ensuring the safety, well-being, and development of vulnerable unborn babies, babies, children, and young people. Our social workers are uniquely positioned to identify and address the complex needs of at-risk children through comprehensive assessments, intervention strategies, and ongoing support. Their expertise in navigating the complex dynamics of family networks, legal frameworks, and community resources enables them to advocate effectively for the rights and best interests of children. Key to the protection of unborn babies, babies, children, and young people are collaborative relationships with other professionals and agencies. Social workers help create a robust safety net that not only protects children from immediate harm but also promotes their long-term resilience and healthy development. Our commitment is reflected in the Council’s Corporate Priority: Protecting and caring for our most vulnerable people. This section highlights the challenges of delivering highly effective services against a backdrop of increased demand as referenced in the CSWO report last year which has not abated. CPOs are emergency legal orders which are only granted by Sheriff Court when there is evidence that a baby, child, or young person is at significant and immediate risk of harm. The number of babies, children, and young people subject to CPOs has increased slightly but remains low at 15 in 2023/24 and 12 in 2022/23. Overall, the number of CPOs has reduced since 2019/20, details are provided in the chart below. This slight increase follows a decrease over the preceding two years and is driven by larger sibling groups requiring these measures of care and protection. Chart 1: Child Protection Orders 32 25 13 12 15 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Child Protection Orders (CPOs) 2. Service Quality and Performance 2.1. Children and Families Social Work Services (Child Protection) Child Protection Orders (CPOs)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 5 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality A CCR is generated on the current social work database when a service, agency, or individual contacts the Child Protection and Duty team to raise a concern or an issue regarding an unborn baby, baby, child, or young person. As shown in the chart below, the majority of our CCRs continue to come from police, education, or health and account for 85% of all CCRs submitted, the number of CCRs by police has fallen for the first time in a number of years. Chart 2: Child Concern Reports by Source The needs associated with these referrals can range from significant child protection concerns to the need for early support. As noted above, where immediate protection is required and there is no consent from the primary care giver(s) to implement a safety plan, the social worker will apply for a child protection order. Demand for support from Children and Families social work has grown significantly year on year for the last five years (2019/20 to 2023/24), however the data is now indicating that despite the number of concern reports increasing marginally by 1.5% in 2023/24 compared to the previous year, the number of children referred has increased by 6%. Further details are provided in the chart below. Chart 3: Child Concern Reports (CCRs) Not all CCRs pertain to child protection concerns. Most relate to lower-level wellbeing concerns. Evidence suggests that fewer families are becoming unnecessarily involved in formal child protection processes which can be a traumatic experience for children and their families. For many families, 2895 2931 3056 3334 3520 5765 6242 6674 7946 8064 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Children Referred and CCRs No. of Children No. of Child Concern Reports Child Concern Reports (CCRs) Police Education Health0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Child Concern Reports by Source
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 6 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality accessing support earlier has reduced the need for crisis intervention and more formal child protection processes including Initial Referral Discussions (IRDs), Child Protection Investigations and Child Protection Planning Meetings (CPPMs). An IRD is a multi-agency (social work, education, police, and health) discussion, where babies, children, or young people who have been suspected of, or subjected to, significant harm are discussed. The number of IRDs during 2023/24 reduced from 361 in 2022/23 to 295 in 2023/24 (a reduction of 18.3%) as detailed in the chart below. Chart 4: Inter-Agency Referral Discussions (IRDs) Although the number of IRDs convened has reduced, the number of children being discussed at these meetings remains consistent (481 in 2022/23, 484 in 2023/24). We have, over time, moved to a more proportionate, assessment-based approach involving supporting families at an earlier stage. This has resulted in better safety-planning, less intrusion with families, and better application of time and resources when assessing and responding to child protection concerns. A JII usually takes place as an action from an IRD – it is an interview of a child or young person conducted jointly by a police officer and social worker who are specifically trained to undertake this type of interview. The aim is to enable the child or young person to disclose concerns regarding any alleged harmful behaviour towards them. It takes place in a trauma-informed environment and aims to achieve the best evidence for the justice system, if the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service pursues a criminal prosecution in respect to children and young people who have been victims of criminality. The chart below shows that the number of children and young people who have been jointly interviewed has fallen, to 159 in 2023/24 compared to 2021/22 which had the highest level in recent years of 262. This increase was deemed to be connected to the Covid pandemic and the impact of lockdowns. It is likely that the number of JIIs taking place is stabilising to previously more normal or expected levels. Inter-Agency Referral Discussion (IRDs) Joint Investigative Interviews (JII) 304 328 387 361 295 448 472 553 481 484 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Inter-Agency Referral Discussions Discussions Children
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 7 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 5: Joint Investigate Interviews (JIIs) In 2023, we worked with the Scottish Government and our partners across Tayside to plan for and implement the SCIM, which will replace the JII above. The SCIM is a trauma informed, child-focused approach to interviewing children for the purpose of investigation; this is a holistic approach which is sensitive to the needs of individual children in complex situations. Its purpose is to reduce the need for children to have repeat interviews and prevent the need for them to give evidence in court by using their joint investigative interview as ‘Evidence in Chief.’ Two dedicated social workers from Perth and Kinross completed their 10-week training along with colleagues in Augus, Dundee, and police during 2023/24. We will be implementing the SCIM along with our colleagues across Tayside in May 2024. Across Tayside, an agreement has been reached to implement a soft border approach allowing for the specially trained staff to be available across borders to respond to the needs of local authorities for the SCIM. This will be evaluated in the coming year. Previously known as Child Protection Case Conferences, CPPMs are multi-agency meetings which are only convened following a child protection investigation (ordinarily the decision of an IRD) when it is believed that an unborn baby, baby, child, or young person has been significantly harmed or may be at risk of being significantly harmed. A CPPM is the mechanism through which an unborn baby, baby, child, or young person’s name may be added to the Child Protection Register (CPR) and a child protection plan be put in place for them. As shown in the chart below, the number of babies, children, and young people being considered at CPPMs continues to show a general downward trend. This has been consistent over the last five years (106 in 2019/20 reducing to 60 in 2023/24) while the proportion of these meetings that go on to be registered on the CPR remains high at 92% (for 2023/24, 55 out of 60 children considered went on to be registered). The Scottish Child Interview Model (SCIM) Child Protection Planning Meetings (CPPMs) 205 262 186 159 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Children and Young People Jointly Interviewed
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 8 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 6: Child Protection Planning Meetings (CPPMs) Note: figures do not include pre-birth CPPMs This high conversion rate offers reassurance that the decision to take a child protection investigation of a baby, child, or young person’s case to a CPPM is being made robustly and that families are not being referred into this intensive process unnecessarily. The number of unborn babies being considered at Pre-Birth Child Protection Planning Meetings (PBCPPMs) shows a general upward trend over the last five years, though down from a high point in 2021/22. The proportion of unborn babies that are registered on the CPR remains high at 96%. Chart 7: Pre-Birth Child Protection Planning Meetings (PBCPPMs) The number of new registrations on the CPR has remained steady during this reporting period (82 in 2022/23, 84 in 2023/24), which offers further reassurance that only those unborn babies, babies, children, and young people deemed to be at the highest level of risk of harm are having their names added to the CPR. This ensures that focus can be retained on those living with high levels of risk. We are confident that our approach to having a consistent CPPM Chair has continued to apply continuity of thresholds when determining if child protection registration is required, and improved practice to scaffold families in need, in ways that previously did not exist. 90 (85%) 68 (93%) 49 (63%) 52 (85%) 55 (92%) 106 73 78 61 60 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The Number Of Children Considered at CPPMs and Registered No. of Children Considered No. & % of Children Registered 15 24 35 29 23 15 (100%) 24 (100%) 32 (91%) 29 (100%) 22 (96%) 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of children considered at CPPMs and Registered No. of Children Considered No. of Children Registered
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 9 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 8: New Registrations on the Child Protection Register (CPR) The chart below shows the number of children and young people, whose names were on the CPR on 31 March 2024. This has remained at the lowest level since 2013 at 47, from a relatively high figure of 80 in 2020 (Covid related). This reduction coincides with a single Chair for CPPMs. Chart 9: Child Protection Register (CPR) as at 31st March 2024 All unborn babies, babies, children, and young people, whose names have been added to the CPR, become subject to a child protection plan (CPP) which is formulated, progressed, and reviewed by multi agency partners to keep them safe, in partnership with their parents or carers. This multi- agency plan is co-ordinated by the Lead Professional - Social Worker and contributed to by all relevant partner agencies. The CPP will be in place until such time as risks have reduced and it is possible to remove the unborn baby, baby, child, or young person’s name from the CPR. For most unborn babies, babies, children and young people, the period of registration will be less than 12 months and the number of children and young people who remain on the CPR for 12 months continues to reduce. 112 94 91 82 84 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of New Registrations on the CPR Child Protection Plan (CPP) 80 75 56 47 47 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 No. of Children and Young People on CPR (as at 31st March)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 10 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 10: Child Protection Register – Length of Registration On 1 August 2023, we implemented the new timescales relating to CPPMs as laid out in the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland. This change allowed us to reduce the frequency of Review Child Protection Planning Meetings from 3 monthly to 6 monthly which is a much more realistic timescale for families to have made the necessary changes to reduce risk. As seen last year, the number of unborn babies, babies, children, and young people who are on the CPR for more than 12 months continues to gradually decrease. Due to the vulnerability of under 5’s, they are most likely to be represented on the CPR. The number of unborn baby referrals received in 2023/24 was 114, and has returned to previous levels, following a significant increase in 2022/23 of 147. The chart below shows referrals over a five- year period. Most unborn baby referrals continue to come from NHS Tayside; albeit any practitioner, service, or agency can raise such a referral. Chart 11: Unborn Baby (UBB) Referrals The proportion of children and young people whose names have been added to the CPR for a second period of registration remains static for the second year at 21% (detailed in chart below). This situation is being monitored and kept under review by the CPPM Coordinator. 0-5 months 6-11 months 12+ months0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Num ber of Children Length Of Registration for Children on the CPR 112 122 112 147 114 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Unborn Baby Referrals Received
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 11 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 12: Re-registrations During 2023/24 Children and Families social work applied for and was successful in becoming a pathfinder for the BH project along with Angus and Dundee. The BH is based on the Icelandic model of the Barnahus (child’s house). The Scottish Governments’ ambition for the development of the BH in Scotland is to ensure child protection processes are more child-centred and trauma-informed. The aim is to improve the right to justice, care and recovery for children and young people who are victims or witnesses of significant harm. As a pathfinder we have been awarded funds to upgrade our interview facilities to make them more child and family friendly and comfortable places to be. The BH is a multi-agency approach including social work, health, and police. The implementation of the BH is still in its infancy, but it links well with the ethos of the new SCIM approach to interviewing children. Please refer to Appendix for further details on Bairns Hoose. Our Child Protection Committee (CPC) has been instrumental in quality assuring the child protection response in Perth and Kinross. Our Child Protection Inter-Agency Co-ordinator (CPIC) retired after 14 years in the role in March 2024. The new CPIC was able to have a short handover, to ensure business continuity around a few key pieces of work. During 2023/24, we focussed on the following improvements: - consolidated some of the key improvements noted during the IRD Audit and progressing the Improvement Plan that followed Learning Reviews. - Completion of two key guidance documents to support and improve operational practice, the Care and Risk Management (CARM) Protocol for children and young people who are deemed to pose a significant risk to others or themselves and the Joint CPC and APC Guiding Principles for Transition. - In October 2023, the CPC completed a national self-evaluation exercise regarding the extent to which the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 - updated 2023 (pkc.gov.uk) had been implemented into practice. The self-evaluation was positive and the few areas that had been categorised as implemented ‘in part’ rather than ‘in full’ were already included in the CPC Improvement Plan for development. Bairns Hoose (BH) Child Protection – Continuous Improvement 19% 10% 9% 21% 21% 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The % of Children and Young People Re-Registered
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 12 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality In February 2024, the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) published a composite report of the self-evaluations completed by all the CPCs in Scotland. The new CPIC will be undertaking further self-evaluation through a comparison exercise of how CPCs progress towards implementation contrasted with the national picture. Whilst the Scottish Government have indicated that they do not intend to request that CPCs repeat the self-evaluation exercise on a national level, it has been agreed locally that in Spring 2025, the self-evaluation exercise will be carried out again to ensure that those areas (implemented in part) are progressing as anticipated. The CPC in compliance with Scottish Government guidance, publishes an annual Standards and Quality (S&Q) report. This report is presented on an annual basis to Perth and Kinross’ Full Council Meeting and is usually considered alongside the CSWO Annual Report. A high-level infographic produced by the CPC is set out below.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 13 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality CPC Standards and Quality Report 2023/24 Summary
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 14 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality In addition to the activity highlighted above in respect to child protection, our Fieldwork services work tirelessly to protect unborn babies, babies, children and young people from abuse, neglect, and exploitation, which do not meet the threshold for child protection measures. In 2023/24, we continued in our efforts to prioritise how we identify and respond timeously to situations not only where harm and abuse is identified but proactively engage with families to prevent an escalation in concerns. Over the last few years, Fieldwork services have concentrated on reorganising our resources and investing to support families at an earlier stage in need, particularly out-with normal working hours. We are aware that responding to the early need for support decreases the chance of crisis and reduces the need for formal child protection processes and the need to accommodate children in expensive resources, with potentially poorer outcomes. Providing opportunities for staff to work with families early improves relationship-based practice which in turn leads to better outcomes. As noted in the previous section, we are seeing the positive impact of this in our formal child protection processes. Performance information also shows a reduction in the number of children and young people being accommodated into our care. During 2023/24 there were approximately 2440 open cases to the service of babies, children, and young people. As detailed in the chart below, this support is primarily (1980 cases) provided on a voluntary basis via Section 22 Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (Voluntary Support and Guidance). The remainder cases (460) are subject to a range of legal orders. Chart 13: Legal Orders The 1980 cases supported on a voluntary basis are often a hidden part of the service, with statutory statistical returns focusing on legal orders. By working with families on a voluntary basis, we aim to prevent escalation into statutory measures of intervention, protecting the rights and autonomy for change of children, young people, and families. Our approach to meet the needs of babies, children, and young people at an earlier point in need, is evidenced in the increasing trend of Section 22 cases, with the focus being on support for wellbeing concerns. Our decline in statutory cases should be seen as a success of our approach, whilst not 1980 137 122 65 65 35 10 10 0 500 1000 1500 2000 Children (Scotland) Act 1995 - Sec 22 Children (Scotland) Act 2011 - Sec 83 Children (Scotland) Act 1995 - Sec 29 Adoption & Children (Scotland) Act 2007 - Sec 80 Children (Scotland) Act 1995 - Sec 25 Children (Scotland) Act 2011 - Sec 86 Children (Scotland) Act 1995 - Sec 23 Children (Scotland) Act 2011 - Sec 66 Legal Orders: The number of Children and Young People supported (where the no. of cases are 10 and above) 2.2. Children and Families Fieldwork Services Legal Orders
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 15 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality underestimating the work entailed in supporting families on a voluntary basis. Many of the children, young people and families supported under section 22 have the same complex circumstances as those on statutory legal orders, who are impacted by poverty and disadvantage. Families living in poverty, are likely to experience higher levels of stress which can lead to neglect or harm for children. Our early intervention approach engages with families, by offering voluntary support to reduce the stigma and understand the root cause of the concerns. As noted above, the year-on-year growth in concern reports into the service has driven the need for us to consider more creative ways in how we meet the need by both reorganising our resources and securing additional funding. In the last year we have worked closely across the partnership to meet the demand for family support earlier. Where appropriate, the needs of an increasing number of children, young people, and their families are now being considered at the Multi-Agency Screening Hub (MASH). The MASH is convened every 2 weeks to triage and allocate non urgent social work referrals. During the first full year (2023/24) of the MASH operating, 170 families and 217 children were triaged, and support made available. Data also indicates that 59% of the non-urgent referrals discussed were for children and young people aged between 9 -17 years old. Non urgent referrals come into our service primarily from health and education. The MASH will be evaluated during 2024/25. The number of CCRs in most age groups has remained relatively steady; with the number in the 5-10 and 11-15 age groups again being the largest. Of particular note are the children and young people in the 11-15 age group, which continues to increase and feature more prominently over the last three years. A further breakdown for the number of children and young people is provided in the chart below. Chart 14: Age of Children at time of Referral During 2022/23 we reorganised our resources to create the FST which became operational on 1 April 2023, with the aim of providing short term, early help for families on the cusp of children protection processes. In keeping with ‘The Promise’, we established this team from an existing statutory social work provision to shift the focus towards the provision of early help, prior to the need for crisis intervention. The FST complement the work of the Children and families who are Open to social Unborn 0-4 5-10 11-15 16+ - 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The num ber f CCRs The number of CCRs by Age Group Child Concern Reports – Wellbeing Family Support Team (FST)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 16 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality work services for Planned interventions in the Evenings and weekends (COPE) team which was developed in April 2021 to provide support to families in their homes out with normal office hours. Please refer to Appendix for a case study on COPE. The FST takes referrals directly from the MASH. In the first year of operation the FST supported 119 children and young people and only 6 of these children have gone on to require longer term statutory social work support. On average each family is open for support for approximately 12 weeks or longer if required. Many families present have mental health difficulties, substance misuse, experience of domestic abuse and numerous other child behavioural difficulties and challenges. Workers have been very flexible and creative in how they engage with families and in how they sustain engagement to make a difference. The feedback from families to the team have been very positive. Please refer to Appendix for a case study on how the FST team used Talking Mats. In August 2023, we applied for funding to the WFWF to upscale the support available via our COPE team. This request was based on an evaluation of the families who had already benefited from COPE. Feedback showed that the wrap around support this team provided has prevented the need for children to be accommodated away from home. In addition, safety planning has enabled children and young people to be rehabilitated home. The bid for funding was successful and we recruited to the 3 posts in January 2024. This additional resource has allowed us to provide in home support for early mornings as well as extended hours at the weekends. We will evaluate the impact of this additional resource in 2024/25. First Steps are a multi-disciplinary team, which offers intensive family support and assessment of young children, and their families (pre-birth and post-birth) deemed to be in need, or at risk of abuse and neglect. Monitoring and understanding the voice of babies through their behaviours to help better inform assessments is an important part of their role. During the last year, the team have sought to increase their confidence in implementing ‘The Infants Voice’ best practice guidance and ‘The Infant Pledge.’ In doing so, they have had monthly consultations with the NHS Tayside’s Lead Clinician for Infant Mental Health. These consultations have included helping the team to implement the Lanarkshire Infant Mental Health Indicator Set into practice. This work has been pivotal in helping the team interpret and verbalise the behaviour of babies. It is now planned to broaden this knowledge across the other Fieldwork teams. Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF) First Steps
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 17 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The vision within Perth and Kinross supports the ethos of ‘The Promise’ and promotes early intervention. Our Corporate Parenting Plan 21 -24 concluded in March 24 with a report to the Learning and Families Committee in January 2024. Improvements were noted in relation to the connections between brothers and sisters, the voice of children, and young people being heard and the developments of early intervention, some of which are described below. FEC provides focussed and holistic early intervention and prevention support for families using values of Community Learning and Development. The aim of FEC is to evidence a reduction in the number of families that are referred to social work, or where FEC will be the ongoing support following formal social work support concluding, providing support for as long as is required. During 2023/24, the project expanded from 2 to 5 localities across Perth and Kinross with funding from the WFWF used to upscale the project. Quantitative and qualitive measures were put in place during 2023/24 and will be evaluated in 2024/25. The Bail Supervision service for young people seeks to address the needs of young people aged 16- 25 involved in offending. In line with our early intervention approach, the service works with our Justice services, Scottish Courts, and other relevant organisations to get the right support at the right time for young people. The service has witnessed a steady increase in referrals for assessments from the courts. In 2023/24 there were 115 young people referred, 105 males and 10 females. We continue to provide a range of services supporting Looked After Children. We ensure that permanence decisions are made in a timely manner and monitor this through the established Permanence Tracking Meeting. During 2023/24, the average number of children being tracked was 64, with only a few who have been accommodated for over a year without a decision being made. The number of children with a permanence order has increased over a 4-year period from 47 in 2019/20, to 68 in 2023/24. Chart 15: Permanence Orders 47 47 56 56 68 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Children with a Permance Order (as at 31st March) 2.3. Services for Children, Young People and Families Families Empowering Communities (FEC) Bail Supervision Looked After Children and Young People
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 18 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality We are aware that delays were at the point of permanence order applications not being made timely and matching with permanent foster carers. The majority of children and young people are accommodated in community-based settings, the number of children and young people in residential care reduced from 19 in 2022 to 14 in 2024. The chart below provides a further breakdown: Chart 16: Looked After Children The Adoption team approved 2 new sets of carers, with 5 children waiting to be matched during the year. Three of these children will be matched with their current foster carers following approval. Against a backdrop of a national foster carer recruitment crisis, we managed to recruit 5 sets of new carers, albeit de-registered 6 due to retirement. Despite all the hard work and commitment from social workers we know that when children and young people enter our care, they can lose touch with the people who mean the most to them. LL supports children and young people to stay connected to, or reconnect with, people that are important to them in a planned, structured, and safe way. We continue to develop our LL service, and our ambition is to offer LL to every child or young person who is accommodated away from their family. LL training is now essential training for all social work staff in Children and Families services and has been extended to foster carers. The training has been used as a means of sharing the benefits of the process to promote better outcomes for our Looked After and Accommodated Children and young people. In 2023/24, the service received 31 new referrals, with 26 children and young people who were engaged in the process. We are currently working on a connections tool which will be used with children and young people when they first become involved with social work. The interactive tool will allow all those around the children and young people to know who is important to them and ensure that those connections are not lost. Please refer to Appendix for a case study on how the Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator supported a young person to find out more about their birth family and being part of a wider family network. Lifelong Links (LL)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 19 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality FGDM is a strength-based approach which is designed to empower families to make a safe plan when there are concerns about a baby, child, or young person. It is a structured process that leads to a Family Group Meeting, helping families to identify their own strengths and solutions by mobilising resources and alliances. FGDM is recommended as an early intervention, where statutory processes may be required and it can also run alongside statutory processes, and can help families to prepare a plan, in advance of a CPPM, Looked After Review or Children’s Hearing. FGDM is entirely voluntary with referring social workers seeking the family’s consent before referring to the service. As part of quality assurance, a check on whether the family are adhering to the plan is carried out after 3 months. During the period, 61 children and young people were referred to the service; 46 engaged with the service, 33 agreed a family plan, and 30 where a family plan was put in place and were still working to it after a 3-month review. The REACH team provides intensive support to young people aged 12-18 years and their families, via a ‘one-stop’ multi-disciplinary approach, which is available 24/7/365. The team has had a positive impact on the reducing numbers of our Looked After population, especially those who are accommodated in residential placements. During 2023/24, temporary posts in the project were made permanent in light of the positive impact on reducing children in residential care. Our support to UASC is via the Children Alone Seeking Asylum (CASA) team. During 2023/24, we consolidated our approach to working with CASA by creating a dedicated Team Leader post to lead a team. Our approach has gained national attention, and we are often asked to share practice and offer support to other local authorities in development of services. During this reporting year, we have expanded our service to include community integration, educational programme – English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and housing support. Supporting integration into Perth and Kinross is one of our biggest achievements, with 43 out of 45 young people accommodated as CASA choosing to remain here. The young people have developed lasting relationships with our staff who have been called upon to offer support, including being asked to be witness at their wedding, birth partners and given invites to birthday parties for their children. The feedback we get from our young people indicates they value the support. An example of this is a message received when a young person received his status: Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) REACH (Resilient, Engage, Achieving, Confident and Healthy) Team Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) “Good news I got indefinite leave to remain, and I would like to say a big, big thanks for x and x were helping a lot I would not forget what you have done for everything my life again and again love you both of you”.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 20 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Social work plays a pivotal role in Adult Support and Protection (ASP), ensuring the safety, well- being, and dignity of vulnerable adults. Social workers are trained to identify and respond to signs of abuse, neglect, and exploitation, providing a critical safeguard for those at risk. Their expertise in person-centred care allows them to tailor support to the unique needs and preferences of each individual, promoting independence and enhancing quality of life. By advocating for the rights and needs of adults, social workers help navigate complex dynamics, ensuring access to essential services and empowering individuals to make informed decisions about their care. Moreover, social workers offer vital mental health support, addressing issues that may otherwise go unnoticed and untreated. They provide crisis intervention, offering immediate assistance during challenging times, and work to integrate adults into their communities, reducing isolation and fostering social connections. Their role extends beyond immediate care, as they also contribute to long-term planning and support, ensuring sustainable and comprehensive care solutions. The presence of social workers in ASP is indispensable, as they bring a compassionate, informed, and proactive approach to safeguarding vulnerable adults and promoting their overall well-being. In Perth and Kinross, we have increased the number of available Council Officers to undertake Adult Protection Inquiries from 40, in Jan 2021, to 61, in Jan 2024. This demonstrates a commitment to not only fulfilling our statutory responsibilities, but our ability to recruit, retain and support our social workers in developing a commitment to understanding current and future workforce planning. This is the reporting period that our data indicates that there is no significant increase in the numbers of Vulnerable Persons Reports (VPRs) received from police, in comparison to the previous year (2254 in 2022/23, 2262 in 2023/24). Further details on Adult Protection Concerns are provided in the chart below. A short life working group has been established to explore this data in comparison to previous trends. Our analysis shows that during the reporting years 2020 through to 2023, society and communities experienced a number of ‘shocks’, these included COVID, lockdowns, isolation, and a cost-of-living crisis. The direct continued impact of these had lessened during 2023/24, with the crisis response replaced by a levelling off, of referrals which has also translated to a slight reduction in Adult Protection Concerns as noted in the chart below. Responding early to any Adult Protection Concerns received is crucial. The earlier that services can respond to harm, the earlier services are able to intervene. Notwithstanding a levelling off, of Adult Protection Concerns, this is against a backdrop of historical high referrals. An average of 98.5% of concerns were screened by a social work team leader, or assistant team leader within 24-hours of these being received. 2.4. Adult Social Work Services (Adult Protection) Adult Protection Concerns
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 21 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 17: Adult Protection Concerns We carry out an ASP inquiry where we need to inquire if harm exists. Where we know harm exists, we investigate what this is, who the harm is from and what needs to be done to mitigate the risk. Data for this reporting period shows a reduction in our use of an ASP inquiry but an increase in our use of ASP investigations. The number of inquiries reduced from 166 in 2022/23 to 114 in 2023/24, and the number of investigations increased from 140 to 148. ASP investigations are more detailed and tend to be used where risk and harm are more complex. Chart 18: ASP Inquiries and Investigations ASP investigations are more likely to be a multi-agency response to safeguarding. Therefore, as we see an increase in complexity in our case work, this is borne out in the number of investigations undertaken. We also see this complexity extending into how we use an ASP Case Conference to safeguard an adult who is at risk of harm, where we saw a 92% increase in our use of ASP Case Conferences. ASP Review Case Conferences are often used for those adults who have more than one diagnosis and are at risk from different and often multiple categories of harm. This data provides reassurance on how well the ASP legislation is used in Perth and Kinross to safeguard, particularly where complexity exists. 1427 1523 1819 2376 3081 3070 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Adult Protection Concerns Received Police Vulnerable Persons Report Adult Protection Concerns OOHS – Adult Protection TOTAL 142 180 212 166 114 63 69 106 140 148 205 249 318 306 262 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The Number of ASP Inquiries and Investigations No. of Inquiries No. of Investigations Total Adult Support and Protection (ASP) Inquiries and Investigations
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 22 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The Access team is the first point of contact for Adult social work/care for anyone over the age of 16 who is not open to a social work team and is requiring a community care assessment and/or ASP response. We redesigned aspects of the team in 2022/23, with full implementation in 2023/24, leading to more streamlined pathways, reduced waiting times and improved experience. Key areas of improvement are, the reduction in the length of time of initial screening, with a target of two working days, and of those cases screened as meeting the criteria of the Access team will have assessments completed, agreed with client, and accepted by receiving team within 5 working days. During 2023/24, the number of open referrals waiting on initial screening reduced during 2023/24 and the average number of days between contact and assessment reduced from 20 days in 2022/2023 to 10 days in 2023/2024 as detailed in the charts below. Chart 19: Referrals waiting on initial screening. Chart 20: Average number of days between contact and assessment During 2023/24, we focused on collating demographic information to understand the profile of individuals contacting the Access team. We found an increase in younger people requesting support, or in need of a social work assessment. Whilst individuals over 65 still makes up approximately half of the workload of the team, the time spent with younger clients requires significantly more time due to the complex nature of their enquiries, which often do not result in the provision of care. The 2.5. Adult Fieldwork Services Access Team
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 23 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality chart below shows the % of clients below 65 years old across the Access team and localities between 2019/20 and 2023/24. Chart 21: Clients below 65 years old The Access team screened 1382 Vulnerable Adult Reports in 2023/24, a small reduction of 4 in comparison to 2022/23. As detailed in the chart below, in comparison to the previous year there was an increase in the % of mental health concerns, alcohol misuse and suicidal ideation/attempt whereas the number of reports for illicit drug use reduced. Chart 22: Vulnerable Adult Reports We are monitoring the increases in mental health concerns and suicide ideation/attempt and have adopted a mental health triage approach, linked with the third sector providers including the Neuk. The mental health assistants who are based in this service provide a support pathway for those who are impacted by their mental health. We are acutely aware of the impact on the bereaved of those who have taken their life by suicide. We have a person-centred approach ensuring each case is individually assessed and appropriate signposting/support is provided. 65% 24% 19% 19% 71% 27% 11% 28% Mental Health Concerns Alcohol Misuse Illicit Drug Use Suicidal Ideation/Attempt The % of Vulnerable Adult Reports by Concern 2022/23 2023/24
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 24 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Care at Home is an essential service in supporting people to remain living in the community. The majority of Care at Home in Perth and Kinross is commissioned by the HSCP on behalf of the Council from a network of independent providers. The Council also provides the services of the Home Assessment Recovery Team (HART). Providing Care at Home has been a challenge for several years, especially in the rural areas of Perth and Kinross, with a historical level of unmet need. During 2023/24, a number of initiatives have been implemented which have shown an increase in commissioned providers in the area. The Care at Home service has reduced unmet need by almost 20% compared with the previous financial year: Chart 23: Unmet Need for Care at Home During 2023/24, HART delivered an increased number of care hours (12.95%), in comparison to the previous reporting year (55,035 in 2022/23 and 62,164 in 2023/24). Rota optimisation in HART Perth City has resulted in an increase in the number of care hours provided during 2023/24, and once this is replicated across the North and South localities, we can expect to see a further increase, adding an extra 126 hours of provision per week to address the unmet need. In 2023, a Reablement/Care at Home Transformation Programme was initiated by the HSCP to drive greater efficiency, improve recruitment, and introduce alternatives to Care at Home, such as Technology Enabled Care (TEC). The Early Discharge Project (EDP) was established as a test of change project on 16 January 2023, with 28 staff employed. During 2023/24, the project has supported people to be re-abled within their own home and out with a hospital setting, enabling them to return home timeously, with their families and loved ones, minimising them being delayed in hospital. In the reporting year, the project supported 213 people home from hospital, with 45% being re- abled to regain full independence, and 27% being supported to return home via the EDP. A recruitment and retention workstream of the transformation programme has a few focused actions and improvements: Reablement and Care at Home
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 25 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality • 100 whole time employment social carer posts were required to meet current levels of unmet need for social care. Recruitment to these posts was supported by the Councils’ Communications team, where the HSCP allocated additional funding. The recruitment campaign resulted in a net increase of 22 social carers in 5 months and a total of 25 social carers across 2023/24. These campaigns are set to continue, on a rolling basis. • As well as the domestic market, we have also recruited an additional 6 social carers from overseas, as one of two local authorities selected to be part of the social care international recruitment work, led by Scottish Government. The international recruits will be starting in 2024/25. Our high demographic of older people shows that whilst on the whole older people live healthy and independent lives for longer, when they need support, it is due to multiple comorbidities resulting in the provision of complex care. As part of our workforce planning, we have been delivering ‘Get into Care’ courses across Perth College, schools, and youth services programmes to promote social care as a career. All SDS options continue to be embedded in the care pathways delivered in the three localities within Perth and Kinross. Support Choices (Community Brokerage) over the last year have continued to provide support to individuals to identify the social care interventions which are the right type, at the right time and in the right place for them. It is the aim of all integrated teams along with Support Choices to ensure individuals exercise autonomy in how their care needs are met with the opportunity to reach their full potential. This is done by supporting them to prepare for personalised assessments, the development of agreed support plans, understanding budgets, as well as helping individuals to access local support and activities within communities. The total number of Support Choices new referrals for 2023/24 was 214 (the chart below shows referrals over the 12-month period), this is an increase of 74 new referrals across all localities, compared to 2022/23 where the total was 140. Chart 24: Support Choices Referrals 11 9 14 23 13 20 27 13 14 25 23 22 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 2023/24 The Number of New Referrals for Support Choices Across All Localities Self-Directed Support (SDS)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 26 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Our staff promote wellbeing with the goal of achieving the best outcomes for individuals, which sometimes involves risk. We contextualise risk taking in the context of the wider population, recognising that positive risk taking can create positive outcomes for the service user, such as improved wellbeing and promotion of rights, independence, and dignity. SDS and personalisation are at the core of the work we undertake in our social work and social care teams to support individuals to meet their identified outcomes. We acknowledge that we often require to offer an option that is not the individual’s first choice but when we require to apply this approach it can be based on availability of service provision, centralised services (not often within rural localities) and the variation of community assets that may or may not be in existence. Table 1: Service Providers across all localities SDS Options 2022/23 2023/24 Option 2 Only 6 6 Option 2 and 3 11 11 Option 3 Only 0 0 TOTAL 17 17 Data source Commissioning Teams. As the above data implies, there has been no change to the 17 existing service providers, between 2022/23 and 2023/24 who offer a variation of Option 2 and Option 3. During 2024/25, we will work with our Contracts and Commissioning team to tender for more providers to offer greater choice to individuals. Individuals can choose which SDS option meets their outcomes after they have been assessed as meeting the partnerships’ applied eligibility criteria. This supports choice, control, and self- empowerment. If individuals do not meet the applied criteria, they are signposted to alternative interventions, Welfare Rights, Live Active, Befriending services, and Volunteering Support are some examples. SDS Option 1 The chart below reflects SDS Option 1 (Direct Payment) - utilised by individuals across all localities and shows the differences between client groups; older people and physical disabilities account for 60.5% of Direct Payments (Option 1), and carers (including one off respite) 26%. Personalisation and Self-Directed Support
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 27 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 25: Adults SDS Option 1 Data Source: AIS System The following chart provides a breakdown of the ‘carer type’ used by individuals as part of their Option 1 support across all localities during 2023/24. Self-employed carers are the preferred carer type for South and North whereas for Perth City, personal assistants are the preferred option. Chart 26: Adults SDS Option 1 Formal Carer Type Data Source: AIS System Note: Personal Assistant (PA) - is employed by the individual/third party, there is a contract of employment in place. Self Employed Carer – works for themselves and is responsible for paying their own tax and national insurance contributions. SDS Options 2 and 3 The data below represents SDS Option 2 and 3 for 2022/23 and 2023/24. In 2023/24, SDS Options 2 and 3 totalled 6363, an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. The vast majority of SDS support over the two years was provided under Option 3, showing an increase of 4.2% in 2023/24, compared to the previous year. 83 28 3 29 15 147 15 9 38 8 204 36 7 63 33 OLDER PEOPLE & PHYSICAL DISABILITIES LEARNING DISABILITIES MENTAL HEALTH CARERS CARERS - ONE OFF RESPITE Adults SDS Option 1 by Client Group Perth North South 128 74 113 198 187 75 South North Perth City The number of SDS Option 1 by Carer Type Personal Assistant by locality Self Employed Carers by locality
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 28 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 27: SDS Options 2 and 3 SDS Options: Option 2 - individuals direct the available support and hold no administrative responsibility. Option 3 – locality authority arranges support. Living Well Care is an in-house Option 3 Care at Home provider within the HSCP. The staff have extra duties and a wider criterion with their clients than other Care at Home services. The staff are a self- managed team which entails doing their own reviews, scheduling, rotas, screening of clients and other tasks such as strength and balance, referrals to social prescribing, and linking individuals with resources within their wider communities. They have a degree of flexibility over any extra time they might spend with clients to help them address isolation and re-engage with the community. The Living Well teams are focused within the rural areas of Blairgowrie, within the North locality, and Crieff, within the South Locality, supporting Community Hospital discharges. For individuals to be supported to reach their outcomes, having control to choose who can support them in their life, is critical, crucial, and empowering, and reflects what matters to them. Appendix provides further case studies of SDS options 1 - 4. Demand for carer support remains high at 1,045 referrals in 2023/24. Early intervention and prevention measures in communities also provide support to carers without recourse to formal services, which may account for a reduction of referrals of 16% from the previous year to the same level as 2021/22. Carers support workers continue to be an integral part of the three-locality Adult social work teams, Specialist Community Outreach and Prevention Engagement team (SCOPE) and Integrated Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team (iDART). This is supported by investment in our carers centre and other commissioned services to provide support for carers. The Joint Carers Strategy 2023-2026 was approved in June 2023. Our 2023/24 progress over the first-year highlights: • 490 Adult Carer Support Plans (ACSP) (increase of 10 on previous year) and 380 Adult Carer Support Reviews undertaken (increase of 52). 1027 997 5150 5366 6177 6363 2022/23 2023/24 The number of SDS Options 2 and 3 Options 2 Options 3 Total Living Well Care Personalised Lived Experiences Support for Unpaid Carers
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 29 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality • A reduction in the number of carers registered with the carers centre from 1672 to 1622 (in part due to preferences expressed by carers to opt-out of support). • Issuing 694 Carer Emergency Plans. • The percentage of people admitted to permanent care due to carer breakdown has remained largely consistent (17.3% in 2022/23, 17.5% in 2023/24). • 1,949 respite bed nights in care homes and 9,850 hours of home respite. There were also 360 grants awarded through the carers centre to enable carers to have a break. • Health and Care Experience (HACE) survey 2023/24 showed 62% carers indicated positively that they had a good balance between caring and other things in their lives (20% neutral), with over 30% saying that the support they received enabled them to continue caring (45% neutral). • Carers Voice, our local unpaid carers representation and participation group, currently has 147 members and carers that are represented at a number of strategic and working groups. • We reviewed and revised our information for carers for launch in Carers Week 2024/25. Appendix provides a case study of carers support.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 30 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The HSCP supported 515 clients with a learning disability and/or autism in 2023/24, of which 340 were open to the SCOPE team, which is a specialist team working with those who have complex care requirements, the remaining individuals assessed as non-complex, open to our locality social work teams. Of those individuals open to the SCOPE team, 24 young people were supported when leaving school in 2023. The team undertook a multi-disciplinary approach in supporting the young people, the chart below demonstrates the disciplines within the team who were actively involved in the transition journey. Chart 28: Transition Leavers The SCOPE team has continued to deliver a multi-disciplinary approach which is sustaining individuals in their own homes, reducing the need for admission into hospital or care provision. There were no admissions into long stay hospitals in 2023 and one person was discharged. SCOPE outreach workers have supported 25 service users over 2023/24 with transitioning to day opportunities, college and in some instances to new accommodation. The input from SCOPE’s outreach team along with the psychology service has also been crucial in offering additional support to prevent carer breakdown and providing care at home when there has been gaps in care provision, enabling service users to remain within their own home. Appendix provides a case study of the multi-disciplinary approach in the SCOPE team. In addition to the work undertaken by SCOPE, there have been ongoing developments within the other learning disabilities services including: the overnight responder service, employment support team, and day opportunities. During 2023/24, work was undertaken to deliver a 6-month ONRS test of change with 5 individuals who had a shared waking night service. This was a joint piece of work with the Community Alarm team, Supported Living team, St Catherine’s Road, Technology Enhanced Care team, and social work. The test of change delivered a positive outcome and evidenced that the ONRS service was meeting the overnight care needs of the individuals. It is envisaged that should the service continue to meet their needs; this will become a permanent service which can be rolled out wider across Perth and Kinross. 24 14 3 7 00 5 10 15 20 25 Total number of Young People who left school 2023 Social Worker Only Plus AFGDM Co-ordinator Plus Outreach Worker Input from All 3 The number of Transition Leavers during 2023 2.6. Learning Disabilities and Autism Services Overnight Responder Service (ONRS)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 31 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The HSCP’s EST has a strong record of supporting people with learning disabilities and/or autism, and mental health, who have the right to access meaningful activities and/or employment opportunities within their own communities. The team also support with job retention, early intervention, and crisis employer support. Four team members completed their Supported Employment qualification in 2023/24, with all team members now either holding this qualification, or scheduled to complete it. The EST currently support 129 people, with 157 people being supported in total across 2023/24, who have a variety of health conditions, illnesses, and disabilities to prepare for, alongside finding and maintaining paid employment. Of the current 129 people supported, 83 have a learning disability and/or autism. The EST have also delivered 2 work skills courses involving 13 people across 2023/24, one group had learning disabilities, and the other was for individuals with mental health concerns. This is of significant benefit in terms of supporting people through their journey to employment. We have sought to strengthen our response to positive outcomes of transitions to (learning disabilities) day opportunities. During 2023/24 we created the post of a transition worker to help streamline and improve the transition processes. This has ensured a consistent person works in partnership across education and SCOPE, in collaboration with parents and the young person, to navigate the pathway from Children to Adult services via day opportunities. This has improved open, honest, transparent communication and the building of trust. Empowering individuals, enabling problems to be identified, and resolved quicker. The role also identifies any gaps, or additional resources required before the young person transitions to Adult services. Our attendee numbers at Gleneagles and Kinnoull day opportunities have remained stable, with individuals leaving the service to progress towards identified outcomes such as independent living and further education, and new attendees joining. We have noticed an increase in complexity of individuals referred to the service, with work ongoing to clarify criteria and capacity within services to respond to this changing need. Gleneagles and Kinnoull Day Opportunities continue to improve and develop services through the inclusion and involvement of service users. Collaborative work with Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) which concluded in 2023 provided opportunity for stakeholders including those with lived experience to lead and direct the delivery of day opportunities. This led to a successful application to the Angel’s Share Fund having identified the need to improve the sensory room and garden area to create a more welcoming and safer environment that meets the needs of all who attend. Attendees and staff co-wrote the application and pitch video and presented the final in-person pitch to the Angel’s Share Panel. They pitched for just over £2000, but were offered an award of £5000, evidencing the strength of the application. Please refer to Appendix for further details on the project. Employment Support Team (EST) Day Opportunities Gleneagles and Kinnoull Day Opportunities
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 32 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality This commenced with the development of their accessible and sensory community garden in 2023/24. This has been achievable through community fund monies, with further funding being sought from the Helping Hands funding stream. Progress so far has been possible through partnership, working with Paths 4 All, who have provided professional input, and the Council’s social work Unpaid Work team who have provided physical support to clear grounds, prune, and general maintenance. FUN in Perth and Kinross is an initiative designed to provide social opportunities for people with learning disabilities. It offers a variety of activities such as discos, karaoke, meals out, theatre visits, cinema trips, dance, drama, and bowling. These activities help individuals develop friendships and lasting relationships. Unfortunately, our FUN Coordinator post has been vacant since October 2023, which we have struggled to recruit to. We are now examining alternative models, recognising that demand remains high for services. At present, there are 150 individuals registered with FUN. This service has shown continual growth over the last 4 years (an increase of 74.4%), as detailed in the chart below. Chart 29: Friend Unlimited Network (FUN) 86 92 103 138 150 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 The number of people registered at FUN Blairgowrie Day Opportunities Friend Unlimited Network (FUN)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 33 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Overall, the total number of people accessing Day Opportunities for Kinnoull, Gleneagles, Blairgowrie and FUN increased compared to the previous year (245 in 2022/23 and 267 in 2023/24). As shown previously there has been a steady increase for FUN attendance levels since 2020. Chart 30: Learning Disabilities Day Opportunities 53 30 24 138 60 30 27 150 Kinnoull Day Opps Gleneagles Day Opps Blairgowrie Day Opps FUN The number of People Accessing Day Opportunities (as at 31st March) 2023 2024
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 34 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Demand for the MHO service has remained high throughout the reporting period, in relation to both the Mental Health Act and Adults with Incapacity Act. We have met this demand within our existing MHO resources. We have ensured that all patients who are subject to compulsory measures of care, under the Mental Health Act, have an allocated MHO to support them in their recovery journey, working with them from admission to hospital, throughout treatment and enabling them to return home with an appropriate level of support. Social Circumstances Reports (SCRs) are a key component of the patient journey, with a report being completed to explore the circumstances leading to compulsory admission to hospital under the Mental Health Act. This is a key tool in planning for safe and successful discharge for patients and ensuring that their health and social care needs are met in the longer term. In their annual monitoring report 2022/23 (latest reporting period), the Mental Welfare Commission noted that Perth and Kinross Council’s completion rate for SCRs was 84.5%, compared to a national average of 46.9%. This is a significant achievement, and we aim to ensure that this completion rate is improved on. Our goal is to complete a SCR for all patients who are subject to a Short-Term Detention Certificate, where one has not been completed in the past 12 months, or where circumstances have significantly changed. The service has recognised and responded to national pressures relating to recruitment and retention of MHOs. The SSSC Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2023 noted that in 2023, 52% of MHOs nationally were over the age of 50. Similar demographics were observed in our own workforce and therefore succession planning has been central to our workforce plan. We are engaged in an ongoing process of recruitment and development to support social workers to undertake MHO training and to externally recruit MHOs. We are now seeing the benefits of this, with a stable MHO workforce, and with plans in place for further future development through continued training and development of our workforce. We plan to embed MHOs in locality social work teams to promote the role as an option for career progression and to ensure that this specialist knowledge is available within teams throughout the Council. The MHO team has close working relationships with HSCP Mental Health Service colleagues and are directly involved with transformation workstreams, including the development of a Primary Care Mental Health service and NHS Tayside service re-design of the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) and in-patient pathways. The team is involved with providing training on aspects of MHO and mental health work to the wider HSCP workforce, on areas including legislation, mental disorder and issues relating to capacity. We have also developed links with local universities, providing regular input to social work training courses on aspects including report writing, mental health social work practice and preparing for interviews. Our MHO service operates an emergency duty rota, to ensure a prompt response to requests for MHO assessments, both within and out-with office hours. The chart below shows rates of MHO duty call outs over the reporting period, with rates for the previous 12 months shown for comparison. Total rates have remained relatively constant, with 286 calls in 2023/24, compared to 290 in 2022/23. 2.7. Mental Health Officer (MHO) Services
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 35 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 31: Mental Health Officer Duty Calls The rates of Emergency Detention Certificates (EDCs) were relatively stable during 2023/24, the Short-Term Detention Certificates fluctuated over the 12-month period. Chart 32: Emergency Detention and Short-Term Detention Welfare Guardianship (WG) provides a legal decision-making framework for adults who lack capacity to make decisions about their welfare, but who have not appointed a Power of Attorney. This is particularly important when long-term care is being considered or when decisions required about the adult’s community care needs are complex. All applications for WG require a report from a MHO, commenting on the appropriateness of the proposed order and suitability of the proposed guardian. The chart below details rates of request for MHO reports, showing an increase for both Adults with Incapacity Case Conference and WG reports compared to the previous year. 0 10 20 30 40 50 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar The number of Mental Health Officer Duty Calls Recieved 2022-2023 2023-2024 0 10 20 30 40 50 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Rates of Emergency Detention and Short Term Detention Certificate during 2023/24 Emergency Detention Short Term Detention
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 36 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 33: Mental Health Officer (MHO) Reports In this reporting period we have seen a small overall increase in total requests, from 223 in 2022/23 to 234 in 2023/24. During the reporting period, we did not operate a waiting list for this work, ensuring that applications were able to be lodged in court as soon as practicable and minimising delays in discharge from hospital or commencement of care packages. Work has been underway for the past 2 years to bring services together from across health, allied health professionals and social care with the iDART being the first fully integrated team in the HSCP. The Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards have given a focus and a voice to substance use services to ensure that they not only adhere to these standards but are future planning to make sure that those individuals who use substances are listened to and that services respond appropriately by changing processes and pathways to meet their needs. Following our successful implementation of standards 1 - 5 in 2022/23, the final year of the implementation plan, in 2023/24, saw a focus on three key areas of work: MAT Standards 6-10 implementation; continuing to develop the work of our Integrated Substance Use service, iDART and an expansion of our recovery work. • “Probably would not be where I was today if not for worker.... have experienced periods of abstinence and I am doing so again,” • “I could not be happier or gladder that I got in touch with my worker when I did as I can’t imagine where I’d have ended up. Cocaine is the worst thing ever,” • “I feel lucky to have been given one of the peer workers she understands me even when I don't understand myself, I think when talking to someone who has not walked in my shoes it can be difficult to explain things,” • “I am very happy with the support I am receiving I feel it is helping me very much on my recovery journey and I am glad I came into the service now, before I had no hope now, I have lots,” • “My experiences have been excellent. The support my worker provides is top notch. He is knowledgeable and approachable and uses language I can understand. He has supported me to understand and cope better.” 112 120 111 114 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Mental Health Officer Report Requests - AWI Work AWI Case Conference Private Welfare Guardianship Report Integrated Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team (iDART) Testimonials: MAT Standards feedback from Service Users and Families included
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 37 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality During 2023/24, our work included engaging with our partners to review our work, which included: • revising our training plans for psychological therapies. • improving staff awareness and referral routes to independent advocacy. • holding joint meetings with mental health and substance use workers to improve patient care. • developing a suite of trauma training opportunities for staff working across different services. As part of our partnership work, collaboration was undertaken with Justice social work to co-design and co-deliver the specified persons test of change. This enables service users who come through the justice system to have streamlined support between the two services, delivered by Justice addiction support workers. During the reporting period, 30 full assessments were completed, and 20 alcohol and drug treatment requirements were made by the court. The success of work undertaken by the iDART during 2023/24 has resulted in improved outcomes for individuals supported by the service: • a reduction in near-fatal overdose incidents: from 89, in 2022/23, to 83, in 2023/24. • an increase in the number of approved residential rehabilitation places: from 0 in 2019/20 to 26, in total, by 2023/24. • an improvement in treatment waiting times: from 94.4% in 2022/23 to 95.9% in 2023/24. • an increase in the number of Naloxone kits distributed: from 653, in 2022/23, to 694, in 2023/24.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 38 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Justice social work plays a key role in the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals who have been in conflict with the law, into society. By addressing the underlying social, psychological, and economic factors that contribute to offending behaviour, social workers help reduce recidivism and promote public safety. They provide essential support services, such as counselling, substance misuse treatment, and support to engage in the employment market, which are crucial for them to rebuild their lives and become productive members of the community. Additionally, social workers advocate for fair and humane treatment within the justice system, ensuring that the rights and needs of individuals are respected and met. Furthermore, Justice social work contributes to the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the justice system. By working closely with public protection partners, courts, and prisons, social workers help to develop and implement evidence-based interventions that address the root causes of offending behaviour. This collaborative approach not only improves outcomes for individuals but also alleviates the burden on the justice system by reducing the need for prison sentences, keeping individuals in their communities with family and support networks. Ultimately, the integration of social work into the Justice system fosters a more holistic and humane approach to crime and punishment, benefiting individuals and society as a whole. Please refer to Appendix for case studies. Our CJSS is a core member of the Perth and Kinross Community Justice and Safety Partnership which launched a new Community Justice Outcome Improvement Plan (CJOIP) in June 2023. The plan is in line with The Vision for Justice 2022 and National Strategy for Community Justice. The plan was based on a multi-agency Strategic Needs and Strength Assessment (SNSA) with a number of specific priorities identified for the CJSS. During 2023/24, the service progressed a number of initiatives to address the increased activity from the courts. Bail Supervision is a programme that provides oversight and support to individuals released on bail, ensuring they comply with court conditions and attend all required legal proceedings. An additional Bail Officer was employed during 2023/24 which increased capacity and enabled more assessments to be carried out, but this did not translate into a higher volume of individual’s receiving Bail Supervision. As detailed in the chart below, the number of assessments undertaken increased from 268 in 2022/23 to 336 in 2023/24 (increase of 25%) and there was a reduction in the number of people receiving bail supervision from 63 to 40 (reduction of 36.5%). 2.8. Justice Services Community and Justice Safety Service (CJSS) Bail Supervision
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 39 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 34: Bail Supervision There are a number of factors which may have contributed to assessments not translating to open cases, e.g. A transitional period during the year, with visiting Sheriffs attending local courts; and adverse weather resulted in flooding at court premises affecting where cases were heard. We also observed higher volumes of people in custody with no fixed abode, from out-with the area, or appearing on warrant. Diversion from Prosecution (DfP) is a legal process that redirects individuals away from traditional criminal justice proceedings and towards rehabilitative programmes. This approach aims to address the underlying causes of offending behaviour, such as substance abuse or mental health issues, by providing appropriate interventions and support services. The service established a rolling programme of multi-agency diversion training. The purpose of this training was to improve understanding of the diversion journey including: • Interconnections between partners and how they can maximise diversion opportunities. • Understanding of roles and responsibilities - and the relevance of recording wider family context. • Improved recording of antecedent information. A Diversion Agreement was developed to ensure people progressing with diversion have a clear understanding of the process they are entering. Unfortunately, we experienced a significant turnover of staff delivering diversion during the reporting period and the agreement was not consistently used. This will be progressed during 2024/25. 33 268 336 16 63 40 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Assessments and Cases Commenced for Bail Supervision No. of Assessments Undertaken No. of Cases Commenced Diversion
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 40 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 35: Diversion from Prosecution As shown in the chart above, the number of DfP cases increased from 63 in 2022/23 to 84 in 2023/24. We are aware that the Procurator Fiscal and Crown Prosecution Office have been undertaking a concerted effort to deal with a backlog of referrals which may account for the increased numbers, rather than an increase in prevalence. In particular, we have seen an increase in DfP cases for 16 to 17-year-olds. A Structured Deferred Sentence is a judicial measure that allows a court to delay sentencing for a specified period while the individual engages in structured social work support and interventions. This approach is designed to address underlying issues such as substance abuse, mental health problems, or social challenges that contribute to offending behaviour. The SDSRTS works specifically with young people using a trauma informed approach designed to stabilise their chaotic lives. The service supports an average of 25 to 27 young people at any given time. The service, delivered at Westbank, is coordinated by a Justice social work assistant, and is supported 2.5 days per week by two social workers. SDSRTS brings relevant services to the Westbank site i.e. drug and alcohol workers and employability agencies. Young people continue to be supported in areas identified by them using the Right Track Life Wheel and personal development plan. During the reporting period, the following outcomes were received in respect of SDSRTS (14), admonished (5), community payback order supervision (2), custodial sentence (0), monetary penalty (1). The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Social Affairs visited OWLS on 20 July 2023. The Minister took time to listen to the experiences of woman in the justice system, and how OWLS had supported them, and addressed the underlying causes of their offending behaviour. Through collaborative work, OWLS has built a strong network of service contacts. This has enabled women to access a broad range of services and meet their specific needs at the right time for them, thereby offering a bespoke service for each person. Central to the operation of OWLS is the involvement of service users who support and empower their peers and are a key asset to the development of the service and how it continues to grow and evolve. 108 107 63 118 115 84 No of Referrals No of assessments undertaken No of cases commenced during 31 Mar 24 The number of Referrals Received, Assessments Undertaken and Cases Commenced 2022/23 2023/24 Structured Deferred Sentence Right Track Service (SDSRTS) One-Stop Women’s Learning Service (OWLS)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 41 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality OWLS accessed iPads to support women to take part in online training modules for basic literature skills. These women were from a minority background and were unable to read or write due to having little or no education. One of the women who completed the course was able to address and overcome a number of personal barriers which stemmed from her lack of access to education. OWLS secured funds through Tayside Counsel on Alcohol (TCA) to run Cook-it. This is a community health initiative delivered in partnership with NHS Tayside, Dundee City Council Communities Health team and Perth and Kinross Council. The programme is delivered by OWLS staff who undertook the necessary training and is a rolling programme. Staff provided basic nutritional knowledge and how to use the C.A.N. (Cheap and Nutritious) Cook-it Resource to educate women about nutrition, healthy eating, and cooking on a budget. As a package, this provides valuable, up-to-date information on family meals, nutritional requirements and how to convey key nutrition information into practical advice that women can put into practice. This is a project targeted at men given a community payback order (CPBO) - supervision requirement. Similar to OWLS above, the project is gender specific and aimed at the needs of males. The project develops interventions and assessments and works with men in a trauma informed manner, using a combination of intensive one to one work, and a focussed programme of group work. Intervention is designed to increase positive life chances and pro-social decision making for males. It helps them find purpose, improve their wellbeing, and rebuild relationships within their communities and families. During 2023/24, learning from the project was used to determine wider applicability across the broader justice service. This trauma groupwork intervention was initially trialled within EVOLVE and then extended to the wider team during 2023/24, following the independent evaluation of the programme. Feedback was positive from both participants and staff. The Caledonian Programme is an integrated approach to addressing domestic abuse perpetrated by men toward a female partner or ex-partner which continues to be available in Perth and Kinross. Court reports for offences that required an assessment of suitability for the Caledonian Programme has reduced slightly over the past year, with a total of 96 being completed. This, compared to previous years’ totals of 52 in 2020/21; 85 in 2021/22; 103 in 2022/23 (detailed in the chart below). As in the previous year, more staff members have been trained in use of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment-Version 3 (SARA-v3), so now all social workers in the team can complete court reports for domestic offences. The EVOLVE Project Connecture The Caledonian Programme
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 42 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Chart 36: Domestic Violence Court Reports A total of 15 social workers/senior practitioners have completed the Caledonian Case Manager training, which allows them to supervise clients, subject to a two-year Caledonian programme requirement. Currently, the Caledonian women’s worker and children’s worker roles are carried out by staff working with Action for Children. We are working towards bringing these posts in-house to Perth CJSS at some point in 2024/25 and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) negotiations are at an advanced stage. This will have several benefits, most notably, closer working relationships with all workers and improved access to information within our own recording system. Pre-sentence CJSWR requests have almost returned to pre-pandemic volumes. We have seen a small decline in reports submitted on time which was linked to challenges around recruitment for social workers during the reporting period, provided in the chart below. Chart 37: Criminal Justice Social Work Reports A DTTO is a legal order used to mandate individuals with substance abuse issues to undergo treatment and regular drug testing as part of their rehabilitation process. Our capacity to manage DTTOs is restricted to 5 individuals at any one time due to the intensity of resources required. We are working with NHS Tayside and plans are now underway to extend the capacity of DTTOs from 5 to 10, as we are concerned that our recommendations to the Court could be based on capacity and 52 85 103 96 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 The number of Domestic Violence Court Report Requests 97% 98% 96% 95% 93% 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 % of Criminal Justice Social Work reports (CJSWR) submitted on time Criminal Justice Social Work Reports (CJSWR) Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 43 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality not need. Individuals may receive an alternative sentence for example, a CPBO with a drug treatment requirement, supervision, or prison-based sentence. We are aware of the interplay between offending behaviour and alcohol use and have an established partnership with TCA who deliver mentoring support to people on court orders. The partnership delivers a mentoring approach to women within the OWLS Service and to males via the Perth Mentoring for Men service. Interventions are person-centred, formulated on a bespoke agreement/contract between the mentor, mentee, and the referrer. We have found that mentoring has supported engagement/compliance with mandatory requirements and intervention. Individuals have reported that intervention has increased their motivation/compliance, reduced alcohol consumption, reduced illicit drug use, helps maintain progress, supports them to sustain their accommodation, enables them to engage in education, training, and improve their financial position. UPW, also known as Community Payback, is a requirement imposed by the court as part of a CPBO, where individuals are mandated to complete between 40 – 300 hours of work on community projects within 12 months. Our UPW team has continued to explore opportunities to develop partnerships to improve opportunities and outcomes for those subject to unpaid work. During 2023/24, the team based at Westbank have: • relaunched accredited training in Forklifts and Telehandlers – to enhance employability. • joined a partnership arrangement to help clear fly-tipping in Perth and Kinross, which has proved popular with the public and the partners. • conducted a public consultation on UPW. • Invested in an elevated platform to enhance the training offer. • established a partnership with housing to restore gardens of vulnerable tenants before they join the garden maintenance scheme. Westbank has a number of projects under ‘one roof,’ with the Westbank Project’s Employability Service having been established for several years. We recognise the important links between a reduction in recidivism and purposeful activity and consider every individual’s employment circumstances, subject to unpaid work. Those who are not working are supported to access education and training to access the employment market. Uniquely Perth and Kinross is the only local authority in Scotland that has two adult male prisons in its area. Whilst PBSW is carried out within Scottish Prison Service (SPS) premises at HMP Perth and HMP Castle Huntly, the staff group are all employees of Perth and Kinross Council. PBSW staff work in an environment that is unparalleled to other social work settings, which brings additional stresses and strains on the workforce. The two PBSW teams have focused their attention during the reporting period on utilising trauma informed approaches to their working relationships, both with prisoners but also each other. Specifically, a PBSW meditation group has been established during the reporting period, providing individuals an opportunity to take part in guided meditation Access to Alcohol Services Unpaid Work (UPW) Team Prison based Social Work (PBSW)
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 44 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality sessions and more importantly, learn effective self-regulation skills which can be applied in custody or the community. We have worked closely with HMP Perth as part of a Construction Academy (Robertson Construction in conjunction with Fife College) which was established in May 2023, where prisoners build and deconstruct a building during the programme, gaining skills for the construction industry (see Appendix for case study). We have supported the expansion of the Employability Academy by purchasing a Greene King kitchen during the reporting period. This purchase will enable HMP Perth to establish a Greene King Catering Academy during 2024/25, where participants will learn the Greene King menu, providing enhanced opportunities for employment on release. We have promoted better connections with employers and the Local Employment Partnership (LEP), which has led to the Head of Offender Outcomes at HMP Perth joining the LEP, providing a voice to people in the justice system, many of whom are furthest from the jobs market. The TARL report is a joint assessment co-produced between PBSW and CJSW for people being considered for release by the Parole Board. The report was launched in November 2022 and an audit of the quality of reports was undertaken in March 2023. The findings from the audit were shared with the workforce at the start of 2023/24, which showed positive feedback on the majority of reports completed. Learning areas identified formed part of our improvement plan during the period. VT refers to the support services offered to individuals after their release from custody, aimed at facilitating their reintegration into society and reducing the likelihood of reoffending. During 2023/24, a VT Co-ordination Meeting was established to consider the support needs of males serving a short-term prison sentence (sentence of under 4 years/not subject to statutory supervision) due for release within the following 3 months. The meeting was attended by the Community Justice Co-ordinator, Complex Needs Co-ordinator, CJSW, Apex (New Routes), Churches Action for the Homeless, and more recently iDART’s prison/hospital liaison nurse. The Coordination Meeting reviews the individual’s circumstances and offers support to the person from the organisation best placed to provide it. Where appropriate, the VT offer was provided by CJSW (i.e. where a difficult to engage person already had a relationship with a worker) or intensive housing support (where a person was known to have more complex needs requiring a higher level and intensity of support). During the reporting period, 24 individuals signed up for a VT offer. The initiative highlighted that multiple workers can be involved which can lead to confusion and the level of support provided can be worker dependent. Please see Appendix for a case study on Voluntary Throughcare. Complex Needs Coordinator (CNC) The CNC role commenced in September 2022 (a two-year test of change), jointly funded by Justice social work and the Alcohol and Drug Partnership. The role initially dealt with Police Custody Referrals from Positive Steps (Arrest Referral). The CNC offered community-based support to those referred who did not have a support worker allocated to them. During this reporting period, the CNC HMP Perth - Employability Academy Throughcare Assessment on Release on Licence (TARL) Voluntary Throughcare (VT) Co-ordination
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 45 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality started to receive referrals directly from police following the Positive Steps test of change ending. The CNC post has evolved over time following identified gaps in relation to the co-ordination of the VT offer and in relation to support available to the remand population. Examples of the most common requests for support include - mental health, housing, substance use and benefits. Learning from the test of change to date has highlighted that the support requirements of those being released from police custody, remand and short-term prison sentences are largely the same and all require coordination. Please see Appendix for case studies of CNC work.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 46 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality During 2023/24, there was an inspection visit to HMP Perth, which was supported by the Care Inspectorate. In addition, during the reporting period there were a total of 31 inspections to Care Homes, 7 to Supported Accommodation and 1 to Care at Home services. There were no unsatisfactory ratings during this year. Further information on the Enhanced Care Home Support team, which is helping to drive improvement in this area, is available in the Integrated Joint Board Annual Performance Report 2023 - 24. The Care Inspectorate undertook a thematic review of PBSW during 2023/24, with a final report expected to be published in May 2024. Our two PBSW teams based in HMP Castle Huntly and HMP Perth were in scope for the review. The basis of the review included: scoping meetings with Social Work Scotland, the Risk Management Authority, Community Justice Scotland, the Scottish Government, and the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice. In addition, a desktop review of pertinent documents relating to PBSW was undertaken. A staff survey was issued and focus groups with key partners held. Finally, a consultation was taken with people with living experience. A thematic review was also conducted in respect to disabled children and young people’s experiences of social work services, which commenced in May 2023 and is due to conclude in May 2024. We completed a local authority survey which included quantitative and qualitative data from our IT system and working perspective of how well we believe we support disabled children and young people. The Care Inspectorate will be publishing their report later in 2024/25. In 2023/24, the number of complaints for Adult social work increased compared to the previous year, whereas complaints for Children, Families and Justice reduced as detailed in the table below. Key learning arising from specific complaints includes improving the provision of providing information regarding finance and process when people are moving from hospital to care home. This relates to a few cases where better communication was required. Table 2: Overview of Stage 2 complaints Number of Complaints Number of complaints acknowledged on target (3 days) 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Adult Social Work 11 17 13 19 10 16 12 11 Children, Families and Justice 9 9 18 10 8 7 14 9 3. Scrutiny Inspections Care Inspectorate Thematic Reviews Complaints
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 47 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Across our social work services, we continued to experience significant workforce pressures which commenced in 2022/23. The national recruitment crisis of social workers and social care staff was felt by our local frontline services, which led to significant staffing gaps in teams for lengthy periods. It is difficult to identify a single cause, other than to contextualise it with managing the post Covid demand for support, and staff reevaluating their own work-life balance and reducing their working hours. In addition, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis cannot be underestimated, particularly the cost of fuel for staff who require to travel a substantial distance to get to work, choosing to work closer to home. Staff vacancies not only impacted on those needing a service, but also staff who remained in teams and faced a constant prioritisation of their workload. Whilst staff were relocated to teams with the greatest vacancies, this also created instability across our workforce. The ‘Workforce’ and ‘Training, Learning and Development’ sections of this report, provide details of extensive steps taken to proactively offer student placements and learning opportunities across a variety of settings to support future recruitment opportunities. As noted in the ‘Resources’ section of the report, the economic climate during 2023/24 had an impact on increasing cost when purchasing services. In particular, the cost of transporting children to and from family time sessions. Work to fulfil the ambitions of ‘The Promise’ which advocates the importance of ensuring siblings can maintain their bonds if they are living apart and the necessary support that should be provided to nurture these relationships came with a financial cost. Where children are subject to a compulsory supervision order via the Children’s Hearing, we have noticed that mandated family time contact requirements have increased. Taxis are procured to facilitate these arrangements, however recent increases in taxi fares have far exceeded budgeted inflationary uplifts. This additional cost has put significant pressure on budgets at a time of financial constraints, with teams having no influence on curtailing these costs. Our ability to purchase support services for children with complex additional support needs, including personal assistants, became more problematic in 2023/24, with a lack of social care personnel. There is a scarcity of services who can provide this specialist support to children and families in Perth and Kinross. As a result, we are either not able to meet the need or we are forced to use private agencies at a significant cost where need is most acute. During 2024/25, we plan to look at how we can be more creative with SDS funding, to increase providers in the market. This will include honest discussions with families about how the totality of the SDS budget can be used to create a more attractive environment for potential providers to invest in Perth and Kinross. More broadly, despite our proactive recruitment of carers to meet the needs of babies, children, and young people, we have been challenged in recruiting foster carers, adoptive parents, and supported lodging providers. The best efforts of our Family-Based Care team have had a limited impact, which we anticipate will be exacerbated in 2024/25. Whilst this is a national issue, the impact of not having community family-based options for children who cannot remain within their family networks may result in the need to access external residential placements at significant greater costs. 4. Challenges and Improvements
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 48 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Our support for CASA remains unwavering, and we have managed to fulfil our obligations to the National Transfer Scheme. However, we have experienced pressure for placements when an individual placed in adult hotel accommodation, in Perth and Kinross, by the UK Visas and Immigration Department, raises an age dispute. In this instance social work are required to undertake an age assessment. An age assessment can be disputed, where an individual has been assessed as over 18, which places significant pressure on our staff if there is a potential for a judicial review on how the assessment was undertaken. This has become particularly acute due to the increasing number of new arrivals and increasing population with the adult hotels. We are utilising our links through the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) working group to raise the issue to both the Scottish Government and UK Home Office. We have liaised directly with the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) to organise age assessment training for our staff, which is scheduled for May 2024. With the burgeoning remand and prison population, we recognised the importance of engaging with our local Sheriffs to highlight different community-based options at their disposal. Building relationships with the Sheriff Clerk’s office and directly with Sheriffs as part of our liaison meetings, we delivered 5 lunch time sessions to them between January and March 2024. This provided a new and innovative opportunity to share information with our local judiciary regarding existing services which are available to them whilst considering what sentence would be most appropriate; this generated a good level of discussion. The sessions were well received, and we will look to build on our established relationships into 2024/25. We undertook a test for change from 1 April 2023 which focused on ensuring individuals who were serving short-term sentences from HMP Perth and HMP Glenochil were registered with a local General Practitioner (GP), which has historically been very challenging. Options were initially explored for the GP registration to be led by Scottish Prison Service staff or Prison Healthcare staff, however neither had capacity. The test of change therefore commenced with the support of VT social work staff. We sought to ensure registration papers were completed for Perth and Kinross residents ahead of their release and achieved agreement from GP practices to accept registration papers prerelease. We are confident we have established a firm basis on which all Perth and Kinross residents released from a local prison will be registered with a GP on release. We will be monitoring implementation over 2024/25. The SCOPE team has developed the Adult Family Group Decision Making (AFGDM) model with the use of Community Change Fund monies. A 12-month test of change commenced in November 2022, of which, 34 referrals were received, with 158 people being supported. This resulted in 15 Family Planning Meetings, 2 reviews, 9 significant pieces of work and 10 no further actioned. The outcome of these involvements resulted in cost saving of £127,100, cost avoidance of £191,700 (Perth and Kinross Council), and £252,000 (NHS). These included savings for 8 transitions cases and the diversion of 2 care provider breakdowns and 1 carer breakdown. The benefits of AFGDM are not only financial, but also to the clients and their families, which is demonstrated through the feedback questionnaires, which showed a 4.7/5 approval rating for the service and comments from families were extremely encouraging and demonstrated the positive impact the service has provided.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 49 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality The role was initially fixed term; however, funding has now been secured permanently and work has now commenced to offer AFGDM to all young people with a learning disability and/or autism as part of their transition journey into adulthood, which supports the Principles of Good Transitions 3.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 50 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Table 3: Finance Net Recurring Expenditure 2020/21 £m 2021/22 £m 2022/23 £m 2023/24 £m Services for Children, Young People and Families 18.40 20.25 22.63 23.69 Justice Services 2.153 2.186 2.417 2.501 Adult Social Work and Social Care 54.56 62.87 77.06 88.32 Proactive budget accounting during 2022/23 by Children and Families social work recognised the need for additional investment in 2023/24. This was in light of the continued impact of Covid and additional external residential childcare placements, which increased by an additional 5 placements. The Council provided one-off funding that was utilised during this period. There have been a number of budget pressures which have been beyond the control of services to influence. As mentioned above, increased costs of taxi provisions over the past few years, is costing far in excess of inflationary increases that are budgeted for. A comparable situation was experienced when purchasing residential and nursing home placements, with inflationary increases through the National Care Home Contract and rising demand for placements pushing placement costs higher. Inflationary increases associated with staff costs were a significant determining factor, with pay settlement for 2023/24 being higher than budgeted for. Additional funding totalling £3.932m was received from the Scottish Government for the pay uplift for adult social care workers in commissioned services and to support free personal care costs. This was fully utilised in partially funding the pressures described above. Whilst the Scottish Government agreed a minimum rate for adult care rates for social care, this was not replicated for children’s care. This resulted in Children and Families social work matching the Scottish Government adult rate to prevent an exodus of providers in children’s care. This placed extra pressures on the Children and Families social work baseline budget. We experienced exceptionally high inflationary pressures for community-based packages of care. This was against a backdrop of sustained elevated levels of demand for services with market forces increasing hourly rates. We witnessed a changing workforce demand during this reporting period. We were unable to recruit to a number of temporary posts in our (early intervention) REACH team, which may have contributed to children being accommodated in high-cost external placements. These posts were converted to permanent posts recognising the longer-term objective of early intervention to keep children at home with their families. Locality teams experienced significant challenges in our recruitment of social workers mirrored by a national crisis in the retention and recruitment of social work and social care staff. Vacancies arose 5. Resources Budgeting
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 51 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality due to retirement, staff choosing to work closer to home, and staff reducing their contracted hours to achieve a better work life balance. The short-term nature of Scottish Government funding for Justice services via the Section 27 Grant continues to be an ongoing issue for medium to long term planning. Effective financial modelling is difficult in an environment where funding is approved year to year. Our recent investment with 3rd sector partners, based on additional Covid recovery funding, if withdrawn, will impact significantly on partners. The additional funding of £311,966 received in 2023/24 has added capacity due to increased activity from the courts as they tackle the backlog of cases. Investment was made in both the CJSS team and PBSW teams focusing on rehabilitative intervention. We are acutely aware of diminishing resources across the public and private sector, locally we are experiencing housing shortages to support effective planning for young people moving on from a care placement, individuals leaving prison and housing options for adults; we are aware the housing situation is likely to become more acute during 2024/25.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 52 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Adult social work continues to work to the HSCP 3-year Workforce Plan 2022-2025. The plan sets out what is required to have a workforce of the right size, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time. The workforce challenges are significant and being experienced locally and nationally in health and social care. Perth and Kinross face challenges due to demographics and geography. We have a higher proportion of older people than the national average and this will increase significantly in coming years. We have an urban centre and a large rural and remote rural hinterland. This poses a considerable challenge in relation to staff recruitment, deployment, and delivery of services. Central to the plan is ensuring Perth and Kinross is an attractive place to work, by offering attractive terms and conditions, clear career pathways, a culture of compassion and learning in which developmental opportunities, skilled supervision, and support for wellbeing exist. A Workforce Steering Group has been established, reporting directly into the group, four sub- working groups have been established: • Learning and Development • Safer Staffing • Recruitment and Retention • Staff Health and Wellbeing Actions are being developed within the sub-working groups to consider new models of recruitment via schools, colleges, youth groups, ‘earn as you learn’ initiatives and long-term unemployed into social care roles. We are also creating a culture of continuous improvement and development to ‘grow our own’ for our current staff. To support workforce retention and recruitment, both internal and commissioned Care at Home providers have embraced the ‘What Matters to You’ approach to support and encourage meaningful conversations and encourage positive behaviours between staff. Following extensive consultation with teams, improvement plans have been created to improve relationships and ensure development ideas from staff are heard and acted upon We participated in a national project delivered by NHS Education for Scotland’s Centre for Workforce Supply Social Care, Scottish Government, COSLA and social care providers to identify opportunities to internationally recruit social care workers. This experience has helped develop an ethical pathway for overseas recruitment. The Council’s People and Culture Strategy 2024-28 was concluded during 2023/24, which included our workforce planning approach. Actions from the strategy will support the following activities: • Embedding the supported year for Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSW). • Development opportunities for social workers to move across care teams as part of their personal development. • Ring fenced recruitment to appropriate social worker roles for NQSW. 6. Workforce
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 53 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality • Supporting the sponsorship programme for staff to become social workers and progress their career. Recruitment remains a key challenge to social worker roles, alongside an aging workforce profile, hence the approach we are taking with NQSW ring fenced recruitment. Additionally, there are challenges in the sustainability of social work as a career and the use of fixed term contracts can potentially impact on the attractiveness of vacancies to candidates. As well as the NQSW ring fenced recruitment, which brings in closer connections with universities and student placements, existing arrangements are in place for recruiting on a permanent basis where a post is fixed term in recognition of natural staff turnover. As at March 2024, the number of students who applied for social work vacancies was 18, of which 11 were successful. We encourage students to undertake research as part of their dissertations on areas that are topical for both the student and benefit the organisation. We have been taking part in a pilot with Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), since 2021, to support the planning and implementation of the Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSW) Supported Year. To achieve successful implementation, this has been facilitated by a dedicated post, funded through SSSC. Our NQSW Supported Year initiative meant that we participated in the following evaluation report: 2023 Findings and Conclusions from in-depth interviews with NQSW early implementation sites - June 2023 Our Children and Families training budget has been protected to previous year’s levels and is maximised to grow and develop our workforce. As well as the sponsoring of 1 worker per year to undertake an accelerated degree to become a social worker, we also sponsor staff to undertake the post graduate certificate in both Child Protection and Securing Children’s Futures. As part of our recruitment strategy, we have been encouraging staff to undertake link worker roles and Practice Educator Award, recognising students who have good placement experiences are more likely to join the service when they qualify.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 54 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Our efforts to increase student placements have been highly successful. With the support of a dedicated practice learning post, we have expanded placements in statutory settings from an average of 8 per year in 2022, to 25 in 2023. This increase has involved 16 teams, and we have already planned 40 placements for 2024. Additionally, we have engaged in a new initiative with a university to provide 10 observational placements, 3 first placements, and 27 final placements. Our pool of link workers has grown to 52, significantly enhancing support for students. In 2022, the Council was ranked 26th out of 31 other Scottish Local Authorities for their provision of social work student placements. Whilst foundations were already established for placements, the creation of a dedicated role within the Learning and Development team has meant in 2023 a significant increase in our ranking in the provision of placements to 5th in Scotland. Please refer to Appendix for figures in relation to our student experience development. The LWC project has been a cornerstone of our efforts to support rural areas. We have developed a digital induction framework, incorporating a bespoke Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) framework. Feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the comprehensive content and user-friendly design of the induction package. Quotes from staff about the LWC Induction module include, which can be accessed through this link Living Well Care Team - Induction Guide - Overview | Rise 360 (articulate.com) “I was really impressed with the comprehensive content and user-friendly design of the Living Well care Induction package. We would really like to see this adapted so that it can be used more widely across the service, this would be a real game changer for the service in terms of helping ensure that all our staff have access to high quality and consistent induction regardless of whereabouts in the service they work.” “A real investment in transforming social care delivery leading to improvements in quality learning and development which can be transferred to other areas of the HSCP.” “The LWC Induction is a person-centred induction to support a person-centred way of working. It’s wonderful to see managers from other teams exploring the potential to adapt this for use within their teams.” A range of learning materials are available for all staff as part of an ongoing learning and development investment programme. Investment in staff takes place as part of staff induction and on an ongoing basis to ensure practitioners understand and apply the necessary statutory requirements to undertake their role. Through the SDS National Review that is being facilitated by Social Work Scotland, the following learning materials are available for all staff: • A National Brokerage Framework for Scotland Resource Allocation. 7. Training, Learning and Development Student Placements and Practice Learning Living Well Care (LWC) Project Investment in the workforce
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 55 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality • A new Toolkit for Social Work Practitioners. • The Self-directed Support Library. • PK Learning & Development – SDS. We have offered a wide range of learning opportunities, including ASP Basic Awareness, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Awareness sessions, Difficult Discussions Matter, Palliative and End of Life Care, Carers Act, and Dementia. Some other learning programmes during 2023/24 include: • Mental Health: delivered collaboratively with our MHO team, who bring frontline experience, expertise, and cutting-edge practice developments. • Palliative and End of Life Care Training. This includes End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE). • A range of development forums and communities of practice: These include AWI/ASP Forum, NQSW forum, Community of Practice PK Learning and Development - Community of Practice • Safe and Together; utilising Scottish Government funding to implement the Equally Safe agenda. Our SVQ assessors and verifiers have been pivotal in facilitating person centred SVQs across our social care staff. During the report period, we have introduced a number of improvements. These efforts have ensured that our staff meet the requirements of the SSSC registration and have access to continuous professional learning opportunities. Key achievements in our SVQ programme during 2023/24 include: • Group Induction Sessions: These sessions provide a comprehensive introduction to the SVQ programme, ensuring that candidates are well-prepared for their learning journey. • Feedback Forms: We have developed formal feedback arrangements to gather input from candidates and continuously improve our training programmes. • Medication Administration Training: We have reviewed and updated our training for medication administration, ensuring that staff are competent and confident in this critical area of care. • Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Verification Visit: The report stated – high confidence in maintaining SQA standards in relation to, resources, candidate experience and internal assessment. Supporting the wellbeing and resilience of our workforce has been a priority. We have partnered with Alliance Scotland to host talks, with speaker Tommy Whitelaw, along with facilitating workshops and events. We have also supported learning sessions on mindfulness and self- compassion. Our What Matters to You (WMTY) initiative has created spaces for reflection and connection, fostering a supportive and compassionate work environment. Our wellbeing initiatives include mindful self-compassion courses, spaces for listening and WMTY story collecting. General Learning and Development Opportunities SVQ (Scottish Vocational Qualification) Assessors Wellbeing and Resilience
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 56 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Our learning and development opportunities have been designed to address issues of anti- discriminatory practice. Learning sessions have explored topics such as Welfare Rights, Human Rights, and Sensory Awareness. We have collaborated with various partners to promote values- based recruitment and support diverse learning needs. Specific support to staff has included: • Sensory Awareness: This ensures that staff are knowledgeable about the needs of individuals with sensory impairments and can provide appropriate support. PK Learning and Development - Sensory Awareness • Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Training: We have a rolling programme of training for our staff in Talking Mats; this promotes better communication and provides staff with the skills to work with children, young people, and adults with differing abilities and their families. • Dyslexia Awareness Guidance: We have shared guidance on supporting individuals with Dyslexia, including information on reasonable adjustments and neurodiversity training events. We gather feedback from staff to identify areas for improvement, please refer to Appendix to see some feedback. This process has informed the development of new learning initiatives and the enhancement of existing programmes. Our commitment to continuous improvement is reflected in our ongoing efforts to adapt to the changing needs of our workforce. Equalities Learning needs and wants
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 57 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality We are aiming to continue our reduction in Looked After Children and diverting funding from high- cost placements to early intervention services. During 2024/25, we will be looking to commission an early help and self-referral support service through the WFWF. This will allow families to access supports directly without the need for a referral. We will proactively seek to prepare for the implementation of the Children (Care and Justice) Bill which we expect will come into law later in 2024. This Bill aims to protect and support children under 18, particularly those involved with the Children’s Hearing system and the criminal justice system. We are awaiting the publication of ‘The Promise’ plan, which we will use as a base for the development of our local Corporate Parenting Plan. We are aware of the need to focus on the recruitment of carers, for all age groups, and where siblings cannot live together, that we have a space for them to come together that is nurturing and fun. Furthermore, we are aware of the need to strengthen our self-evaluation, quality assurance, and performance monitoring arrangements in a coordinated way. We will work with our Fieldwork teams to create self-evaluation and case audit processes, with the aim to embed a culture of self- evaluation and improvement across all levels of the service. The APC whose duties include reviewing adult protection practices, improving cooperation among agencies, enhancing skills and knowledge, providing information and advice, and promoting effective communication, has developed an Improvement Plan which identifies several key improvement areas including: • Strengthen the relationship the APC shares with other Perth and Kinross Public Protection partners and identify cross-cutting themes. • Have ASP work more with multi-agency partners, including a commitment to the use of multi- agency chronologies to better assess risk of harm. • A continued focus on addressing financial harm and understanding how trauma can lead to an inability to safeguard. • Using data to help redesign services at an earlier intervention and preventative stage. • Make the necessary changes to our practice that allows adults and their unpaid carers to remain fully engaged in the ASP process. Our local Fieldwork teams will be instrumental in contributing to and delivering on improvements over the coming year. Over the year ahead, we will be investing time in strengthening our multi-agency relationships with partners due to a high turnover of key staff, with whom good working relationships had been established. It is important that the positive relationships established over the past few years are not lost but built on with new personnel. 8. Looking Ahead Children and Families Social Work Adult Social Work Justice Social Work
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 58 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality We will be building on the progress of working towards the MAT standards in a justice setting. This will provide greater opportunities for collaborative working between healthcare and community justice. We will also be launching the use of Child Impact Assessments (CIAs) which are designed to support children whose parents are involved in the justice system. The primary goal is to focus on the child’s needs and feelings, rather than assessing the parent. We have been working closely with Families Outside (which is a national charity who are dedicated to supporting children and families affected by imprisonment) during 2023/24 on this initiative, the first of its kind in Scotland. We are aware of an increasing prison population, which is resulting in prisoners not being placed in their local prison, adding additional barriers to effective prelease planning. We will continue to work with our colleagues in the Scottish Prison Service, Housing, iDART, and HSCP to provide a holistic consideration of their needs for release, back to Perth and Kinross.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 59 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality A AAC ACSP AFGDM AIS AP APC APCC ASP AWI Augmentative and Alternative Communication Adult Carer Support Plan Adult Family Group Decision Making Adult Information System Adult Protection Adult Protection Committee Adult Protection Case Conference Adult Support and Protection Adults with Incapacity B BH BHF Bairns Hoose British Heart Foundation C CARM CASA CCR CELCIS CJOIP CJSS CJSW CJSWR CLD CMHT CNC COPE COSLA CPBO CPC CPIC CPO CPP CPPM CPR CREST CSO CSWO Care and Risk Management Children Alone Seeking Asylum Child Concern Reports Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection Community Justice Outcomes and Improvement Plan Community and Justice Safety Service Criminal Justice Social Work Criminal Justice Social Work Reports Community Learning and Development Community Mental Health Team Complex Needs Co-ordinator Children and families who are Open to social work services for Planned interventions in the Evenings and weekends. Convention of Scottish Local Authorities Community Payback Order Child Protection Committee Child Protection Inter-Agency Co-ordinator Child Protection Order Child Protection Plan Child Protection Planning Meeting Child Protection Register Connecting Relationships Empowering Supporting Together Compulsory Supervision Order Chief Social Work Officer D DfP DTTO Diversion from Prosecution Drug Treatment and Testing Order E EDC EDP ESOL EST Emergency Detention Certificate Early Discharge Project English for Speakers of Other Languages Employment Support Team F FEC FGDM FST FUN Families Empowering Communities Family Group Decision Making Family Support Team Friend Unlimited Network G GDPR GP General Data Protection Regulations General Practitioner H HACE HART HDT HEAT HIS HMP HSCP Health and Care Experience Home Assessment and Recovery Team Hospital Discharge Team Health Improvement Efficiency Access to services and Treatment Health Improvement Scotland Her Majesty’s Prison Health and Social Care Partnership I iDART IJB IRD Integrated Drugs and Recovery Team Integrated Joint Board (for Health and Social Care) Inter-Agency Referral Discussion 9. Glossary
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 60 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality IT Information Technology J JII Join Investigative Interviews K N/A N/A L LAC LEP LInCS LL Looked After Children Local Employment Partnership Locality Integrated Care Service Lifelong Links LWC Living Well Care M MASH MAT MDT MHO Multi-Agency Screening Hub Medication Assisted Treatment Multi-Disciplinary Team Mental Health Officer N NAAB NHS NQSW National Age Assessment Board National Health Service Newly Qualified Social Workers O ONRS OWLS Overnight Responders Unit One-Stop Women’s Learning Service P PA PBCPPM PBS PBSW PG PKC PVG Personal Assistant Pre-Birth Child Protection Planning Meeting Positive Behavioural Support Prison Based Social Work Post-Graduate Perth and Kinross Council Protecting Vulnerable Groups Q N/A N/A R REACH RTITB Resilient; Engaged; Achieving; Confident; Healthy. Road Transport Industry Training Board S SARA SCIM SCOPE SCR SCRA SDS SDSRTS SHIP SNSA SPS SQA SSSC SVQ Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Scottish Child Interview Model Specialist Community Outreach and Prevention Engagement Significant Case Review Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration Self-Directed Support Structured Deferred Sentence Right Track Service Support Help and Integration in Perthshire Strategic Needs and Strength Assessment Scottish Prison Service Scottish Qualifications Authority Scottish Social Services Council Scottish Vocational Qualification T TARL TCA TEC TUPE Throughcare Assessment on Release on Licence Tayside Council on Alcohol Technology Enabled Care Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) U UASC UBB UPW UV Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children Unborn Baby Unpaid Work Ultraviolet V VPR VT Vulnerable Person Reports Voluntary Throughcare W WFWF WG WMTY Whole Family Wellbeing Fund Welfare Guardianship What Matters to You X N/A N/A Y N/A N/A Z N/A N/A
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 61 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Please note that to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the individuals and organisations involved, case studies have been anonymised. Children, Young People and Families COPE Team Case Study COPE support was required to support mother manage J’s behaviours in the morning’s when father was at work. Mother explained that J displays different behaviours when she is on her own with the girls in comparison to when father is also there. I began by observing the morning routine with mother on her own and then again when father was there, so I was able to assess the most appropriate strategies going forward. I suggested to the family that we implement a family agreement which would include three family rules and consequences if these rules are not followed. Everyone liked the idea, and J helped me create a poster displaying the rules and consequences. It was observed from my visits that J can get heightened very quickly and her emotions can be challenging for her to regulate. I suggested to J a self-soothe box which we made together, and I provided some items which would support her self-regulate if she was beginning to get upset or angry. Over the remainder of visits, it was evident that everyone was following the family agreement and mother was able to implement the consequences if needed, this was something which she said she struggled to do before. I built a good relationship with the family, and the parents were able to be open and speak freely with me. On receiving feedback, the family were happy with the level of support they received and with the family agreement they felt confident and positive about this and have been able to see a difference in J’s behaviour. Bairns’ Hoose The Bairns’ Hoose is multi-agency approach including social work, health, and police. As a pathfinder we have been awarded funds to upgrade our interview facilities to make them more child and family friendly, comfortable places to be. As can be seen below, we have made the facilities trauma informed in keeping with feedback we received. 10. Appendices
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 62 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Family Support Team (FST) – Talking Mats Case Study The following is an example of staff using their skills in using Talking Mats to communicate with a child to understand what is happening. A talking mat was used with this child to explore issues with sleep. The child’s mother reported they would struggle to fall asleep in the evening and would become challenging before bedtime. I selected cards that would lead to discussion about common issues that made sleep difficult for the child such as routines, tablet use, environment, worries etc. It was during the mat that I was able to pinpoint the worries were in relation to their deceased father “watching them” at night. Once I shared this with their mother, it came to light that well-meaning family members would tell the child “Dad is always watching you” or “Dad is always with you” While this was well intentioned, it frightened the child. The child has learning difficulties and did not understand the abstract nature of this phrase. In addition, the child’s father could also be aggressive and unpredictable when alive, so this added to the child’s worry. It also transpired through these discussions that the child had no real understanding of the cause of their father’s death which led to focussed 1 -2 –1 work around grief and coping with feelings of anger. Feedback from families to the Families Support Team Lifelong Links Case Study John is 17 years old; he had been living with his Foster Carer for one year and had been in local authority care for 12 years. John had no contact with any of his birth family and wanted to find out more about his family and explore if there were any family members with whom he could reconnect. A referral was made to the LL Service. John was allocated a LL co-ordinator who spent time getting to know him. The worker used a range of tools: including ecomaps, mobility maps, genograms, and connections plans to find out more about John. John has additional support needs.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 63 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality There was very limited information available about John’s extended family, he only knew about having a sister and an uncle. Using deep file searching, the co-ordinator was able to locate his sister and make links with her and her support workers. John and his sister were supported to have a video call, and this meant a great deal to John. The co-ordinator carried out further searching through files and discovered that he had maternal family who lived quite some distance away. The co-ordinator encountered barriers in seeking information due to GDPR and information sharing protocols, however continued to try and locate family through addresses that were in historical case files. This resulted in her successfully contacting John’s maternal grandmother who was delighted to be contacted and keen to reconnect with John as long as he wished to do so. Gran was able to provide information about other family members, including aunts, uncles, and cousins. The process evoked emotions for the family and they were given the space and time to talk through their joy of being contacted by the LL service and the pain of losing touch with John and his sister. His aunt and gran wrote letters and provided photographs to be passed on to John. John had never seen photos of himself when he was younger and the meaning of this cannot be underestimated. He did not know what his mum and dad looked like, or his sister, and he discovered that he had cousins he did not know existed. This brought John’s family to life and meant the world to him. The co- ordinator supported John to write to his family. John has been working through all sorts of emotions including happiness, anger, sadness, and loss. He did not know that he had family members who loved him. He did not know he had anyone else in the world other than his foster carer, whom he had only known for a year. The co-ordinator continued to work with John and his maternal family, gradually building up trust and understanding. John made all the decisions about the process and the pace of this. John, his gran, and his aunt worked towards them being able to have a video call, seeing one another and talking for the first time. During this process, John’s foster carer informed the co-ordinator that John became happier and appeared more settled, knowing that he had family with whom he could reconnect. This view was echoed by other support workers who worked with John who commented on the positive impact that this process had on John. John spoke about feeling a sense of belonging and was fascinated to learn about where his family came from. The co-ordinator was also able to locate and contact John’s mother. Due to some personal circumstances, they were unable to meet, however John’s mum wanted him to be part of her life and spoke about looking on social media for John. Finding this out meant a lot to John. John and his mum took time to connect in a safe way, they wrote letters, and this built up to them sending messages to one another. After being in touch with his family, the LL co-ordinator supported John and his family to meet in person for the first time. John’s family, his gran, grandad, auntie, and cousins travelled to meet him. This was an emotional meeting and, having met them, John felt ready to exchange phone numbers with his family so that he could contact them independently from the co-ordinator. The co-ordinator continued to support John and his family, and this resulted in his family visiting John and his foster carers at John’s home. John’s foster carer and gran started having regular phone calls and updates with Johns’ permission.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 64 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality This culminated in a LL Family Meeting where everyone came together to talk about and arrange future plans and what they could offer John. At this meeting John was able to meet his mother for the first time in thirteen years and it was a very emotional reunion for everyone. John, his foster carer, and his family all have a sense of optimism about his future; however, they are realistic that it may be a challenging and lengthy process to properly reconnect. John talks about how happy he is now. He knows that he has people who love him and has been able to learn about his history and understand more about his life journey. John is looking forward to meeting more family members through his grandparents and he is starting to build a relationship with his mum. John is thinking about his future and his social worker is exploring whether John may be able to live closer to his extended family. This process has widened John’s world and created options for his future that he never thought would be possible. John feels part of his wider family network and they are willing and able to support him and want him to be part of their lives. Without LL involvement John’s future and support network would have looked very different. Adult Social Work SCOPE Team Multi-Disciplinary Case Study Mr A has learning and physical disabilities and lives at home with his lived-in carer. However, following a prolonged stay in hospital, there was a decline in his mobility, requiring increased support. To enable his discharge, he required Care at Home support 4 times a day, in addition to his lived-in carer. Due to the negative impact his hospital stay was having on his mental health, his guardian made the decision to discharge Mr A from hospital without the level of support required, raising Adult Protection concerns. To support the situation and reduce risk, SCOPE outreach team provided five visits per day to support with all moving and handling tasks. Due to Mr A’s live-in carer being on holiday, an alternative 24/7 care organisation had been sourced by his guardian, however due to the level of Mr A’s care needs at the time, they withdrew. This led to Mr A’s sister moving in, with the Home Assessment Recovery Team (HART) and SCOPE collaborating to meet his needs until a crisis placement was sought. During Mr A’s stay in the care home, the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) worked together towards the shared wish of Mr A and his family to be cared for at home, this included physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and district nurses, as well as social work. Physiotherapy helped Mr A build his strength to increase independence; occupational therapy assessed for equipment required and district nurses visited attending to health needs. The social worker liaised with the HART to secure visits 4 times a day, in conjunction with his live-in carer. As a result, on this integrated multi- disciplinary approach Mr A returned home and continues to make progress. Self-Directed Support Case Studies – Ensuring personal outcomes are achieved Option 1 H is 90 years old and lives alone, with no family supports. Following a period of ill health, falls, and a prolonged stay in hospital, discussions took place about considering a long-term care placement for her personal safety. H agreed this was the best option and went into a care home directly from hospital. Although her physical health improved, it was clear that she was very unhappy living in the care home. The key worker ensured that H had some of her personal belongings brought to the care
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 65 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality home, to try and make her room more homely. Despite this, it was clear that her mental health was declining. H, who has capacity, asked the key worker to find a way so she could return home. Discussions took place to complete a positive risk assessment to address some of the concerns and minimise any risks, and occupational therapist and physiotherapist supported H with rehab work to optimise her mobility and ensure she had all required aids in situ. H had lost the previous package of care provided by HART, and due to being in an area with no Option 3 providers, the key worker investigated a way that an Option 1 package of care would work. Due to having no family support, the key worker needed to do all the preparation on her behalf, and successfully found four self- employed Personal Assistant’s. As H was unable to manage the package of care herself, the key worker sourced a bookkeeping company to do this on her behalf. H returned home, and while nervous to have a new package of care in place, was delighted to be back where she wanted to be. The key worker worked closely with the Personal Assistant’s to ensure a good routine for H, and also put in place a cleaner to support H manage her household, which was in a state of disarray due to her decline, and had been causing her distress as she was unable to keep her home as she would like. H has developed a good relationship with her team of Personal Assistant’s and is delighted with how her life is now, stating she “feels very lucky to have you looking out for me.” H is now a different person to the lady who was in the care home, she looks forward to her carers coming every visit. The intervention reflects the self-determination of H and a personalised approach being taken every step of the way. Option 2 Ms Q had been in hospital for over two months before being transferred to a care home on an interim placement. It was identified that for her to be discharged safely from the hospital and recommence with her SDS Option 2 package of care, her property needed a deep clean, and a suitable recliner chair was required to meet her needs. Ms Q was eager to return home, especially as Christmas was approaching. A community care grant application had been submitted to help with the costs, this on average takes between 15 to 30 days to process. When the key worker contacted them to inquire about the progress, they were informed that the grant was not available for this purpose. To find a solution, the key worker reached out to the Welfare Fund, but the paperwork submitted by the Hospital Discharge Team (HDT) was not sufficient, and the grant was rejected. This news was a massive disappointment to Mrs Q and resulted in a delay in her returning home for Christmas. The riser recliner was critical in getting Ms Q home as she could not sleep in a bed due to her condition. Therefore, the key worker assisted Ms Q in completing a Section 12 form to obtain a loan to purchase a new recliner. To find a suitable riser recliner, the key worker contacted several British Heat Foundations (BHF) where they were able to purchase one and arranged for its delivery to Ms Q's home. The key worker supervised the delivery of the chair to ensure that it met the individuals needs and comfort. To ensure that Ms Q's home was deep cleaned to a satisfactory standard, the key worker met with the manager of the deep cleaning company at her property on two occasions. The key worker consulted with the manager to ensure that the cleaning staff understood the individual’s requirements and completed the job to a satisfactory standard. Ms Q agreed to these requirements, and the key worker supervised the deep cleaning, which was completed on the third attempt. Once the deep cleaning was satisfactory, the key worker arranged for the care package to recommence. The key worker consulted with the manager of the care home to ensure that the care
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 66 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality home was able to transport Ms Q home. The key worker arranged to be there when Ms Q arrived home, to support her, and make sure she was settled in her home and using her new recliner before the carers attended. Ms Q was incredibly happy to be home and thanked the key worker. She stated that she had not been home in over three months and was grateful for the support she had received. Option 3 Mr Y had a prolonged period in hospital following significant health concerns. Mr Y was clear he wished to return home. However, Mr Y required the use of an interim placement as there was a lack of community care provision within the North locality. To ensure a safe discharge back home, there required to be an agreement to a care plan which involved Mr Y, his relatives (one of whom held the role of unpaid carer), the commissioned care provider (SDS Option 3), and other identified social care professionals. Whilst Mr Y was in the care home, concerns emerged over the care provided by one of his relatives (who was Mr Y’s unpaid carer), during visits to him. Such were the immediate concerns, and a high probability of further concerns when they were home, an ASP investigation was undertaken. Due to a history of disenchantment between the relative and social work, communications were strained. Following completion of the ASP investigation, an Adult Support and Protection Case Conference (APCC) was conveyed. This was to ensure the protection plan in place was followed to ensure Mr Y’s safety and both Mr Y and his relative who was an unpaid carer were fully supported. Following the APCC, Mr Y’s relative stated although she had been worried about the meeting, she felt she was part of the wider team supporting Mr Y. She further advised the APCC was open, inclusive and that as her role as an unpaid carer she felt heard and that her contributions were taken on board. Option 3 Locality Integrated Care Service Ms P was admitted to hospital in 2022 following a fall at home and fractured shoulder. She returned home in 2023 but within 24 hours had another fall and fractured her arm. In total, she was in hospital for a year. She was understandably keen to return home but had lost her confidence. A care package became available and the senior charge nurse at the Cottage hospital approached the Locality Integrated Care Service (LInCS) and asked them to offer her support once she returned home. This was good news for Ms P, and she was able to go home knowing that, as well as carers, health professionals would also be keeping a close check on her. She received several visits from the LInCS team who also communicated directly with her carers and were able to address medication issues. Ms P was supported to regain her independence around taking her tablets and this was especially important to her. She now has a community alarm in place, and this helps her to feel safe. Ms P is now doing well and is delighted to be in her own home with her family and friends around her. Option 4 Ms B moved to Perth and Kinross from England to live with her fiancé in 2023. She required support with all aspects of daily living, and experiences poor mental health. The English Local Authority, where Ms B had resided before moving to Perth and Kinross, had provided a direct payment to be supported by a team of Personal Assistant’s. However, due to her care needs, Ms B required support four times daily from two carers to ensure her transfers were managed safely. An option 3 (Local Authority arranged) provider was sourced to provide this support and now work closely with her Personal Assistant’s to ensure Ms B has consistent support from her group of carers. The option 3
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 67 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality provider enables the Personal Assistant’s to have their breaks and feel supported. This arrangement is working well for Ms B, she is delighted to be able to live with her fiancé and could not do so without this level of support. Ms B would need to consider a residential type of placement if she did not have the Option 4 (mix of options) package. Carer Support SCOPE Team - Case Study Fiona’s journey started 32 years ago when her daughter was born. It was clear from those early years that life with her new daughter would be very different than with her two older children; whilst she was still a mum, she was also a carer for her daughter, which was an entirely different role. As a carer she found that the relationship with her youngest daughter was intense, as her caring duties were 24/7. During the night, her daughter would be constantly sick, and this meant no sleep pattern for Fiona. It became apparent that her life was consumed with caring for her daughter, with so many hospital visits and professionals involved in their lives. At the time there was no-one there to hear her when she wanted to say, “Help! I am tired.” Even, her own medical needs were ignored, as caring meant everything else took a back seat. She felt overwhelmed at times, supported only by other families like herself or charities who provided a listening ear when the load became too much. When Fiona heard about carer support, she thought ‘Wow, was this true? Was there someone out there who was going to ask me how I was feeling? Tell me about support that would help me?’ The carer support worker visited with not just a listening ear, but a whole list of practical information and services that were available. Just knowing that there was someone to help support her made her caring duties less of a burden. As a single carer, she felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility caring for her daughter. Having her own carer support gave Fiona confidence knowing that should she struggle in the future; the carer support worker is there; with emotional and practical support; whether that is tangible or just sign-posting in the right direction. Fiona recognises the difference of having a carer support worker in helping her care for her daughter. Whilst her daughter’s needs are high, the family all love her and try to give her the best life possible. The carer support worker helps by being part of that network of support. Gleneagles Day Opportunities – Angels Share Update We would like to start by again thanking the Angels for providing us with this funding which has enabled us to make some fantastic improvements to our service. This project has been led by individuals who attend our service right from the beginning up until where we are now, with our service user forum and group members choosing how we should spend the money in a way that means the most to them. This has shown the power of individuals’ voices being listened to, and individuals being involved in their lives and services in a meaningful way. Our Sensory Space The focus of our project was the improvement and development of our sensory space. We have been gradually purchasing and installing items into our sensory room, and it is really starting to come together! You will see in our pictures that we have purchased the items listed in our initial application along with some additional items that we were able to purchase due to the angels generously providing us with an enhanced award. This money has allowed us to create a safe, welcoming, and relaxing sensory environment within our service following the disruption caused by the roof leak and significant associated works. The room is being used daily, and the newly purchased items have already been well utilised. Having a well- equipped sensory room has allowed us to improve the quality of the service we provide to
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 68 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality individuals with a diagnosis of a learning disability and associated conditions. Sensory input is essential in terms of facilitating communication along with the development of social, cognitive, and motor skills. This room is also available for use by community services that access our building, such as Support Help Perthshire (SHIP) who support children with disabilities, and we hope they have also enjoyed the improvements within the room. Our Outdoor Space Along with the improvements we have made to our sensory room, individuals within our service user forum and our ‘taking care of Gleneagles’ group identified improvements they wished to make to their experience within our garden area. Individuals chose to purchase planters, plants, seeds, flowers, and a greenhouse to complement the great work they had already carried out in renovating our garden space. I am sure you will agree from our pictures that they are doing an amazing job! Before SNOEZELEN MULTIFINITY EXPLORER PANEL UV CARPET MAT TACTILE WALL PANELS FIBRE OPTICS AND STARRY SKY PROJECTOR
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 69 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality After Justice Services Case Studies Complex Needs Co-ordinator Paul, in his 30’s, was on remand in HMP Perth for a period of 6 to 12 months. Paul had been supported by the Complex Needs Co-ordinator prior to the period of remand and had a history of drug addiction and health issues. Work had commenced prior to Paul’s remand to identify suitable supports for him; however, support was not available at the level of intensity that he required. During Paul’s period of remand, a new intensive support service became available. The Complex Needs Co-ordinator subsequently met with Paul to discuss the service, and he consented to a referral. The referral was accepted, and engagement commenced with Paul during his period on remand (weekly visits), supported by the Complex Needs Co-ordinator. Paul was released following a virtual court appearance. The support service was aware that Paul was attending court and maintained contact with HMP Perth regarding the court outcome. As soon as the court outcome was known the support service arranged temporary accommodation, accessed a starter pack (consisting of a toaster, microwave, kettle, pots, plates, cutlery, towels, curtains, and bedding), a food parcel, and appropriate clothing for him on release. Paul’s support worker was able to meet him at the gate, despite the release time being 7pm, and accompanied Paul to the property. Paul spent a short period of time in temporary accommodation (4 weeks) before he moved to a sustainable tenancy. A lack of access to prescribed medications, other than opiate replacement medications, was identified. Enquiries were made with Healthcare and Pharmacy who confirmed this is a nationally recognised issue requiring attention at a national level. Positive Steps, Complex Needs Co-ordinator Stuart was referred to the Complex Needs Co-ordinator by Positive Steps following arrest. Stuart was released on bail following court and was supported by the Complex Needs Co-ordinator to
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 70 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality access homeless accommodation (Stuart had no fixed abode at point of arrest); Stuart was later supported to secure a tenancy; access benefits; attend and engage with court. The intensity of support Stuart required decreased over time, but Stuart continues to contact the Complex Needs Co-ordinator when he encounters difficulties that he does not know how to resolve. Voluntary Throughcare Andrew in his 60’s, was serving a short-term sentence in HMP Perth. Andrew had a history of offending and had been in and out of prison throughout his life (generally short-term sentences). Andrew agreed to the offer of voluntary throughcare from a justice social work assistant (support was offered by Justice social work as Andrew was well known to the service). It was identified that Andew would be homeless on release, and he was referred to the Sustainable Tenancy test of change as part of the pre-release planning activity. A property was identified for Andrew, and he subsequently accepted the offer. In addition to arranging the tenancy, the Housing team also worked behind the scenes to source furnishings for the property so that it was ready to move into prior to release. Andrew had fond childhood memories of the area where the property was offered and was pleased to be moving to a street where he felt he had a connection. Andrew’s worker engaged with him prior to release and spent the entire day with him on the day of his release. Andrew was supported with a range of tasks including setting up a bank account, registering with a GP practice close to his new address, accessing a Welfare Rights benefits check and applying for eligible benefits etc. Skills, Training and Employment Peter accessed training within HMP Perth via Robertson Construction, Construction Academy, as he already had some previous experience of construction working on a building site. Peter was able to learn new skills via the construction academy and help others attending the academy to develop skills linked to his previous work experience. Peter had several interviews with Skills Development Scotland to help him prepare for employment on liberation. Peter was supported to prepare for the job interview process and learn how he could handle questions around disclosure, which was something he had voiced concern about. Peter was successful in securing employment in the construction industry upon his on release.
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 71 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Training, Learning and Development Statistics – Practice Learning and post Qualifying learning April 2023 to March 2024 Social work students Assessed Placements Provided 13 Other PE’s 10 Observational placements provided 10 Universities worked with 4 Staff in our social work sponsorship programme 7 Link workers 52 Practice educators- actively supervising students 9 Practice educators- contributing to teaching/student workshops 6 Independent PEs 1 Teams hosting students 16 Students on placement gaining employment with us 15 Post-qualifying certificated learning MHO programme (PG) 3 Adult Support and Protection module (PG) 3 Practice educator qualifications (PG) 6
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 72 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality World Social Work Day 2024 Feedback from a range of Learning and Development sessions:
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 73 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Newly Qualified Social Work Pilot – Feedback from managers in the Pilot stage: • I haven’t had any induction or support transitioning into a TL role. • I haven’t had any learning on supervision practice. • I really enjoyed the SSSC Supervision learning. Great to hear how others are doing and tools and approaches they use. • Glad to be involved (in SSSC Supervision learning) as it will certainly help with my professional development. • We are going to be a bit behind timescales (for the Initial Professional Development Review and Individual Development Plan) – but we’ve got the discussions in the diary. Trying to work around other diary commitments/reports/leave etc has pushed us back a bit. • This feedback is really helpful. I really enjoyed working…, reflecting on practice and areas for development. I think it was really helpful for ‘their’ confidence to see how much ‘they have’ developed in practice and competencies. Feedback from two NQSWs who came to PKC from the same local authority, was that we have offered more support – both at a team level via their manager and colleagues and from HSCP L&D team re the lead officer’s support through 6-weekly forum and 1:1 support. Social Work Student Feedback
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 74 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Feedback from Learners What learner have said about the content of some of the different learning experiences and what the learning opportunities have meant to them… Different Learning Experiences Images from a range of different learning experiences – These show how we use different tools and methods to support creativity, make sense of situations and enable groups to collaboratively imagine the future, to innovate, to connect, and to enable us to support the people we serve. Home Assessment Recovery Team (HART) Workshops
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Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report 2023-2024 75 A Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) Workshops Autism and Mental Health Services Workshops