Chief Social Work Officer Report 2023-2024
Renfrewshire Council · 26 September 2024
Back to Council — 26 September 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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To: Council On: 26 September 2024 Report by: Chief Social Work Officer Heading: Chief Social Work Officer Report 2023-2024 ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The Chief Social Work Officer provides an annual update report to Council in Autumn each year. The requirement for every local authority in Scotland to appoint a professionally qualified Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) is set out within Section 3 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. The particular qualifications are set down in regulation and this is one of a number of statutory requirements which local authorities must comply with. In Renfrewshire Council the role of Chief Social Work Officer is held by the head of Children and Justice Social Work. 1.2 The annual reports of all CSWOs are submitted to the Office of the Chief Social Work Advisor at the Scottish Government in order that a national overview report can be produced. The annual report from the Renfrewshire Chief Social Work Officer provides a summary of activity relation to the role of the Chief Social Work Officer during 2023/24 and is attached at appendix 1. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Elected Members: Note the key activities in the Chief Social Work Officer Annual Report; ___________________________________________________________________
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3. Background 3.1 The principal role and purpose of the Social Work Service is contained within the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, which gave local authorities the responsibility of “promoting social welfare”. The Social Work Service has a statutory duty to provide care and protection to the most vulnerable people across Renfrewshire, often meaning that many of our service users do not engage with us on a voluntary basis. The role of Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) is critical in terms of achieving this purpose. 3.2 The CSWO is a “proper officer” in relation to social work function: an officer given particular responsibility on behalf of a local authority, where the law requires the function to discharged by a specified post holder. 3.3 The qualifications of the CSWO are set down in the regulations and stipulate that the postholder must be a qualified social worker registered with the Scottish Social Service Council. The CSWO must be able to demonstrate extensive experience of operational and strategic management at a senior level within social work or social care services. 3.4 The overall objection of the CSWO is to provide professional advice on the provision of social work services to elected members and officers; advice which assists authorities in understanding of the many complexities which are inherent across social work services. The CSWO should also assist authorities in understanding the key role that social work plays in contributing to the achievement of national and local outcomes, to improving local performances and in terms of management of corporate risks. 3.5 The annual report to Council, along with CSWO reports from other local authorities, and now being used nationally to create an overview report. 3.6 The scope of the CSWO roles covers all social work and social care services, whether provided directly by the local authority, or in partnership with others. Where these services are purchased or commissioned from external providers, the CSWO has responsibility to advise on the specification, quality and standards or service commissioned. Current guidance for the role reflects the strategic nature and the particular function in relation to Integration Joint Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. 3.7 The CSWO has a range of other strategic responsibilities including oversight of professional standards in social work services, as well as undertaking the leadership of the profession through Chief Social Work Officer function through promotion of the values and standards.
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3.8 Social work services have a statutory duty to provide care and protection to the most vulnerable people across their local authority area. Access to the majority of services is assessment on the basis of need, and social work staff in partnership with individual, carers, families and communities to meet the need within the resources available to the service and partner agencies. ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Local Government Arrangements 4.1 Within Renfrewshire Council the Head of Children and Justice Social Work also acts as Chief Social Work Officer. As well as the responsibilities associated within the directorship, as CSWO he retains professional leadership for adult social work and social care services delivery by the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). 4.2 The CWSO has a number of general and specific duties including: i. Providing regular reports to Elected Members on the key activities of the Chief Social Work Officer. ii. Leading for Social Work on the Renfrewshire HSCP Executive Governance Group and the Integration Joint Board (IJB). iii. Reporting directly to the Education and Children’s Services Policy Board and Renfrewshire Council. iv. Member of the Council’s Corporate Management Team and Chief Officer’s Group and reporting directly to the Chief Executive and senior Elected Members. v. The CSWO is accountable to the Chief Executive, the Corporate Management Team and the Council as part of the Chief Officer’s Group which manages public protection risks on a partnership basis. Heads of Service have responsibility for the management of risk within their respective service areas. vi. Representing Renfrewshire Council at local, regional and national level. vii. Chairing the bi-annual meeting of all social work managers from both Children’s Services and the HSCP. viii. Management of risk. ix. Specific Duties associated with the position, the CSWO within Renfrewshire Council acts as: Final point of appeal in relation to Adoption and Fostering decisions; Recipient of all Mental Health and Adults with Incapacity Orders and Guardianship cases; and Decision maker in relation to Secure Care application for children. ___________________________________________________________________
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5. Activities of the Chief Social Work Officer 2023/24 5.1 The report attached as Appendix 1 summarises the key activities of the Head of Children and Justice Social Wok in his capacity as Chief Social Work Officer in Renfrewshire during 2023/24. It does not provide an exhaustive description of the full range of duties and responsibilities undertaken but seeks to provide a broad overview of the CSWO role. The report and its appendices will be submitted the Office of the Chief Social Work Officer to inform a national overview report. 5.2 The next report on the activities of the CSWO will be submitted to Council in Autumn 2025. ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Overview Social Work Services 6.1 The CSWO has a range of duties which are detailed in Appendix 1 to this report, this also includes detail of demand and provision in those area. 6.2 The Chief Social Work Officer Report 2023/24 describes the services which are performing well with many other areas evidencing innovative practice; both inspired by the creativity of teams with the aim of improving service delivery, or in direct response to existing or predicted challenges. 6.3 Social work and social care services are delivered by a substantial number of staff from statutory, third and independent sector organisations. Across all sectors involved in the delivery of social work and social care services, workforce remains a key focus, both in terms of recruitment and retention. Key priorities for 2024/25 6.4 Based on an assessment of internal and external factors the CSWO has identified key priorities for the year ahead: Continue to effectively discharge our public protection role and working closely with partners to ensure that vulnerable children and adults live as safely as possible within local communities; Strengthen the approach to supporting children and families in the community through the implementation of the Children’s Service Partnership Plan; Support the delivery of the Promise in Renfrewshire; Supporting the Council to deliver on the corporate and community priorities;
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Continue to ensure strong and positive links between Children’s Services and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership; Ensure that the voices of children and young people are heard and included, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; Refresh our Equally Safe Strategy, underpinning our commitment to eradicating violence against women and girls and providing safety for all. ___________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – none 2. HR & Organisational Development – none 3. Community/Council Planning – this report details the progress made by the service- to protect vulnerable children and adults, reduce offending behaviour, increase community safety, and promote early intervention, independent living and wider health improvement. It highlights partnership working, details the measure which ensure the workforce is skilled and effective and highlights achievements in relation to support to the communities, customer service and consultation. 4. Legal - none 5. Property/Assets - none 6. Information Technology - none 7. Equality and Human Rights – The recommendations contained within this report have no negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights because it is only for noting. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the council website. 8. Health and Safety - none 9. Procurement – none 10. Risk – none 11. Privacy Impact – none 12. COSLA Policy Position – none 13. Children’s Rights – Renfrewshire Social Work Services promotes the rights of all members of our community. In relation to the UNCRC this report doesn’t have a direct impact on any particular article, however does promote and protect the rights of children. 14. Climate Risk – none
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___________________________________________________________________ Report Author: John Trainer, Head of Children and Justice Social Work/ Chief Social Work Officer Contact Officer is Nicola Canavan, Senior Policy Officer Email: nicola.canavan@renfrewshire.gov.uk
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1 Annual Report of the Chief Social Work Officer 2023/24
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2 “Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerments and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central so social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. The above definition may be amplified at national and/or regional levels.” Definition of social work agreed by the International Federation or Social Workers, 2014
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3 Chief Social Work Officer – Renfrewshire Introduction I am pleased to present the annual Chief Social Work Officer report for Renfrewshire for the period April 2023 to March 2024. The Chief Social Work Officer is a “proper officer” in relation to the social work function of the local authority. As such, the Chief Social Work Officer is given particular responsibility on behalf of the local authority in respect of social work functions and also the authority to discharge some functions in law on an individual basis. This report provides an overview of social work and care activity against a backdrop of an increasingly complex and challenging environment. Our communities face a cost-of-living challenge, with social work services also witnessing increases in scale of need and demand caused by households facing financial difficulty. In this annual report I hope to demonstrate the commitment of social work and care staff to ensure that those who were most vulnerable were supported and the care they required was delivered. In discharging my role as Chief Social Work Officer, I am supported by the Director of Children’s Services, the Strategic Manager for Children and Justice Social Work, three Children’s Services Managers and the Justice Services Manager. Within the Health and Social Care Partnership, I am supported by the Chief Officer and the Heads of Service. I want to acknowledge their support in helping me address the delivery of social work and care services in Renfrewshire. I also want to take the opportunity to express my thanks to social work and care staff for their ongoing commitment to those who required support over the past year. This report does not detail all of the social work and care activity within Renfrewshire, but rather serves to provide an overview of services. John Trainer Chief Social Work Officer August 2024
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4 Governance and Accountability In Renfrewshire, social work services for children and families and justice social work services are delivered by Children’s Services. Social work and care services for adults are delegated to and delivered by Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (RHSCP). Each local authority is required to appoint a Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO), an officer with an appropriate social work qualification, to oversee the functions of social work. As social work and care services for adults are delegated, as Chief Social Work Officer I have oversight of how the delegated functions are delivered and I am active in the Renfrewshire Health and Social Care governance arrangements. As CSWO in Renfrewshire, I have operational responsibilities in my post as Head of Children and Justice Social Work and am line managed by the Director of Children’s Services. I provide professional advice on social work functions to the Chief Executive, the Corporate Management Team and Elected Members. I also provide professional advice on adult social work and care to the Chief Officer and Senior Management Team of Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership and to the Integration Joint Board (IJB). The table below illustrates further the range of structures in which the CWSO participates to inform the delivery of the role. Structure Role Council • Corporate Management Team (CMT) • Head of Service Meetings • Advice to elected members on social work issues Children’s Services • Children’s Services Management Team (SMT) • Education and Children’s Service Policy Board Integration Joint Board (IJB) • Executive Governance Group • Standing member of IJB • Clinical and Care Governance Board Public Protection • Chief Officer Group for Public Protection (COG) • Child Protection Committee (RCPC) • Adult Protection Committee (RAPC) • Gender Based Violence Strategy Group (GBV) • Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) • Community Justice Partnership (CJP) Community Planning • Children’s Services Partnership Board (CSP) Other Council Policy Boards • Communities and Housing Policy Board (for justice services)
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5 Duty of Candour Statement from 2023/24 All social work and social care services in Scotland have a duty of candour. This is a legal requirement which means that when unintended, or unexpected, events happen that result in death or harm as defined in Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016, the people affected understand what has happened, receive and apology, and that organisations lean from the experience and put in place improvements. An important part of this duty is the requirements for organisations to provide an annual statement detailing how the duty of candour is implemented across the services. This brief statement describes how Renfrewshire Council has operated the duty of candour during the period 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. During this period, there were no incidents where duty of candour applied. (These are unintended or unexpected incidents that result in death or harm as defined in the Act, and do not relate directly to the natural course of someone’s illness or underlying conditions).
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6 Role of Chief Social Work Officer The role of Chief Social Work Officer (CSWO) was originally designed to provide professional advice on social work services to Elected Members and council officers, in order to assist local authorities in understanding the complexities inherent in social work and social care services. The growing incidence of strategic partnerships across the public sector, whether legislated for or developed through good local joint working, adds a level of complexity to the role of CSWO. As CSWO I am a member of the Council’s Corporate Management Team and of the Chief Officers Group. I have a key role in multi-agency public protection arrangements and as such I am a member of the Child and Adult Protection Committees, I co-chair the Gender- Based Violence Strategic Group and a member of the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership. As CSWO I report to Elected Members, primarily through two Policy Boards and the Integration Joint Board (IJB). The Education and Children’s Services Policy Board has the remit for matters relating to Children and Families Social Work and the Communities and Housing Policy Board has the remit for Justice Social Work as part of its overall responsibility for community justice in Renfrewshire. All matters pertaining to Adult Social Work and Social Care are dealt with by the IJB, which has representation from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Board as well as Elected Members. In assessing and supporting the social work and care staff to deliver the best services possible and to make the biggest difference for those who need social work and care support I meet with managers and frontline staff to discuss their work. Regular performance reports are considered at strategic meetings to allow the identification of challenges in delivery and to find solutions to unblocking these for staff and those who need access to services. In accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), we will ensure that the voices of children and young people are heard and included, and that their human rights are respected and at the heart of the planning and delivery of services that affect them. In my role as CSWO, Children’s Services will inform Renfrewshire’s response to UNCRC by promoting awareness of children’s rights, amongst all children, young people and adults. By ensuring that robust child protection procedures are in place, we will protect the most vulnerable members of our communities, including children and young people who are at risk of harm. Our Equally Safe Strategy will be refreshed, and implemented in our education settings, underpinning our commitment to eradicating violence against women and girls and providing safety for all. Children’s Services are committed to supporting and nurturing our children, families and communities, through our approach to the whole family wellbeing model. We will also promote early and preventative intervention, and continue supporting children, young
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7 people and their families to prepare for the move into adult services and greater independence. We aim to engage with, and encourage participation of, children, young people and their families to ensure that their needs are met. Our family wellbeing service and request for assistance system has been formally launched, which will increase capacity to support parents through additional third sector grant funding and identify local areas for family wellbeing hubs. Through the family wellbeing evaluation strategy, we will be able to evidence improvements against the strategic development areas outlined in the family wellbeing action plan. The work and activity around Renfrewshire’s response to The Promise is also at a key stage in the 10-year programme, following the publication of the Scottish Government’s Promise Implementation Plan and The Promise Plan 2024-30.
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8 Service Quality and Performance Many of the social work services are delivered by locality teams in Renfrewshire or by one of the specialist services. In addition to the locality and specialist services, the council and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (RHSCP) operates 23 services registered with the Care Inspectorate – four children’s houses, three care homes for older adults, five day services for older adults, five day services for adults with learning disabilities, one day service for adults with physical disabilities, one residential respite service for adults with learning disabilities, Care at Home Service, Fostering Services, Adoption Services, and a housing support service for care leavers. The Care Inspectorate undertakes regular inspections of all registered services and indicates a formal assessment of the standard on a graded scale. The Care Inspectorate grades are: • Unsatisfactory – major weaknesses • Weak – important weaknesses • Adequate – strengths just outweigh weaknesses • Good – important strengths with some areas for improvement • Very Good – major strengths • Excellent – sector leading The Care Inspectorate reviews the following quality indicators when undertaking inspections by assessing: • How well people’s wellbeing is supported? • How good is the leadership of the service? • How good is the staff team? • How good is the environment? • How well are care and support planned? During 2023/24 an unannounced inspection wad undertaken by the Care Inspectorate at Hunterhill Care Home, which is operated by RHSCP. The Inspection Teams looked at a selection of the quality indicators which are based on the intelligence they hold about the service, and any risk factors that they may have identified. Hunterhill Care Home was graded ‘good’ overall. Beech Avenue and Barochan Childrens Homes were also subject to unannounced inspections in 2023/24. The Care Inspectorate graded Beech Avenue as adequate, made a requirement and identified areas for improvement. The grading of ‘adequate’ means that areas of strength were identified but these just outweighed areas of weakness. The inspection reports recognised that Beech provided many elements of good care to our children and young people and is showing areas of ongoing improvement but with further progress to be made.
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9 Barochan was also graded as adequate an improvement from the weak grade awarded in September 2022. It was acknowledged at that time there were particular and unique issues within Barochan. A new manager was appointed and made significant improvements which were recognised by the Care Inspectorate. Two areas for improvement were made in relation to Barochan. Individual improvement action plans are in place for Beech and Barochan and the progress against these is being led by the House Managers and overseen by the Strategic Manager for Children and Justice Social Work and me as CSWO. As CSWO I do not consider an adequate as an acceptable grade. I am however aware that improvements are already in place and confident that the next inspection will show that both houses have addressed the areas to ensure a grade of at least “good”. A new Children’s Services Manager has been appointed to lead the improvement agenda in the 4 children’s houses and our ambition is to ensure that our 4 houses and Charleston Square are graded “very good” in future inspections. The following pages set out the performance of each of the three main areas of social work practice in Renfrewshire during 2023/24.
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10 Statutory Service Provision: Adult Social Work and Social Care In Renfrewshire, the delivery of adult social work and social care services is delegated to RHSCP. Mainstream social work services are delivered on a locality basis by two teams – one covering Paisley and the other covering the rest of the local authority area. As CSWO I provide professional leadership and advice to senior officers in RHSCP and to the wider social work and social care staff in adult services. Throughout the period covered by this report social work and care staff in RHSCP continued to deliver services to those most in need. The volume of adult protection work in Renfrewshire continues to increase, and in 2023/24 we received 1,527 adult protection referrals, in comparison to 1,314 for 2022/23. There were 92 Adult Support and Protection (ASP) Investigations completed during the period 2023/24, compared to previous end of year reporting of 98 during 2022/23. The highest number of investigations related to those with Dementia (426); followed by Mental Health (217) and then Learning Disability (138); and the principal types of harm which resulted in an investigation was physical (399); self-harm (197); psychological (168); financial (151); neglect (138); self-neglect (111); sexual harm (52); domestic abuse (10); discriminatory harm (2) and other (124). The location of the principal harm, which resulted in an investigation taking place, remains the adult’s own home, with 626 investigations having been conducted. The demand for both private and local authority applications under the Adults with Incapacity Act has levelled following the end of covid restrictions but the trajectory remains upwards in terms of referrals received. This is significant resource issue in terms of staff needed to complete applications, provide ongoing care management for the CSWO guardianships and supervision for private guardianships. The situation in Renfrewshire reflects the national picture for Adults with Incapacity (AWI) throughout Scotland. There is an added pressure locally for staff in RHSCP to ensure that the Royal Alexander Hospital (RAH) meets it discharge targets and keeps its position as one of the most efficient performers in the country. Staff work hard to ensure that work around hospital discharges is of a high standard and reflects a rights-based approach. Orders where I, as the CSWO, am appointed Welfare Guardian remain high at 124, with 36 new referrals this year (40 in 2022/23). The 124 orders (some are still in progress) which requires a qualified social worker or Mental Health Officer (MHO) to function as the “nominated officer” on behalf of the CSWO for day-to-day management of the case. The 176 additional days added to guardianship orders due to Covid has delayed renewals for many of the CSWO orders and there have been 9 CSWO renewals since April 2023 which require MHO and legal input. The number of private applications has fallen slightly from 158 in 2022/23 to 126 in 2023/24. Although this is a fall in numbers when considering the backlog from the previous year, these numbers represent a real term increase in private
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11 referrals. Private guardianships require a minimum of one statutory visit by a guardianship supervisor after being granted and may need to be reviewed for up to one year. The MHO Service continues to deal with a high volume of work under the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. Demands for MHO consent to detention under the Act continues to rise since the pandemic and shows no sign of slowing. MHOs have a statutory role to supervise and review criminally disordered (restricted) patients alongside a multi-disciplinary team and these procedures are overseen by the Scottish Government. The Mental Health area of work is difficult to navigate as there is no provision for the number of detentions that will occur at any given time. MHO staff continue to meet their statutory duties and work closely with the NHS Consultants and Mental Health Teams. MHOs provide a duty service to consider the need for Emergency and Short-Term Detention Certificate’s. Following from this the MHOs complete Compulsory Treatment Order (CCTO) applications and attended Mental Health tribunals as well as multi- disciplinary meetings. Currently there are 167 long term pieces of work allocated within the MHO team. Enhanced clinical and care oversight arrangements for care homes were put in place early in the pandemic to support care home staff to keep residents safe. The guidance required that clinical and care professional at NHS boards and local authorities will have a leading role in the oversight for care homes in their area. There has been considerable learning and examples of excellent partnership working during this time. On 19 December 2022, the Chief Social Work Advisor and the Chief Nurse for Scotland set out recommendations, for new arrangements for providing continuing enhanced support to adult and older people’s care homes in Scotland. The recommendations have since been adopted in Renfrewshire and a Collaborative Care Home Support Team is in place. Local strategic oversight of these arrangements continues to be provided by the Chief Officer’s Group who regular monitored performance, scrutinised reports and established special meetings of the grouped as and when required. Although our Care at Home services faced significant challenges, RHSCP were able to continue to support existing vulnerable service users whilst remaining responsive to the safe and timely discharge of patients from hospital. Renfrewshire was once again amongst the highest performing HSCP area in Scotland at March 2023 for standard delays in discharge. There were no Large-Scale Investigations (LSI) during the reporting period. Care homes on the cusp of an LSI were managed under a preventative approach, where RHSCP balanced a supportive approach with a statutory duty under Adult Support and Protection legislation. The HSCP was proactive, as soon as issues were identified and deployed the necessary supports, via HSCP clinical teams. As of 31st March 2024, approximately 1,600 individuals had an open involvement with Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service. The Renfrewshire area has welcomed a
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12 reduction in the number of drug related deaths but there has been an increase in the number of alcohol related deaths. As CSWO, I recognise that behind all of these untimely deaths there is a family who experiences grief and distress. Renfrewshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) is committed to continuing to work collaboratively to prevent and reduce alcohol and drug-related harms within communities with a number of key actions and developments currently underway.
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13 Statutory Service Provision: Children and Families Social Work During 2023/24, the service continued to operate a locality-based model for mainstream Children and Families Social Work. There are currently four teams based across Paisley, Johnstone, and Renfrew. Focused support is provided by specialist teams in the areas of Fostering and Adoption, Kinship Care, Residential Services, Pre and Post Birth, Throughcare, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children, Children with Disabilities, and the Whole Systems Team who support children and young people involved in the justice system. This will change during 2024/25 with the implementation of the re-design of children and justice social work. A summary of the changes is provided below: • Embedding of the Early Help service • Dedicated Kinship Carer Support Team • Move to Medium and Long Term Teams instead of locality teams • New staff and leadership structure • Introduction of Senior Practitioner role • Introduction of Independent Decision Makers With the closure of Abbey House in late 2023, the Social Work teams which were based there moved to Renfrewshire House. This was a significant undertaking and included: Paisley North and Paisley South locality teams, Family Support, The Barnardo’s Early Help team who are working with Social Work on the Early Help Pilot and Justice Social Work. Work has continued to implement the National Guidance for Child Protection 2021. The guidance had a two-year implementation period and was updated in August 2023. Renfrewshire worked in partnership with six neighbouring local authorities to update the local child protection procedures. These were launched in January 2024. Following a successful pilot within the Paisley locality areas, the Early Help Service is being embedded within the Social Work structure as part of the Social Work redesign. The service provides an alternative to social work intervention for families who are experiencing difficulties which without support, might escalate to require statutory involvement. The aim is, wherever possible, to prevent children and young people from becoming looked after. Progress continues to develop Renfrewshire’s approach to early and effective whole family support measures through the whole family wellbeing (WFW) approach. There are three main aspects of delivery for the plan agreed by the RCSP for the Renfrewshire Whole Family Wellbeing: Service Redesign; Request a Service Approach; and Building Capacity in Third Sector Organisations. The WFW Manager assumed their post full-time in July 2023, supported by a project manager. Work has been underway with staff from the Home Link Service, Families First Service and the Care Experienced Home Link Team to create a whole wellbeing service with various access points for families from community to school based on the staged intervention approach and building on existing good practice.
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14 The service will aim to provide streamlined and consistent delivery of evidence-based approaches including parenting approaches. Capacity has been enhanced for the delivery of more early intervention and preventative family support through the commissioning of third sector organisations. A monitoring and evaluation framework will be developed with an agreed dataset and quality improvement process built on Supporting Families: A National Self-Assessment Toolkit for Change (Scottish Government). The roll out of the Promise Keeper role has progressed significantly since its inception, and we have ambitious plans to grow this network in 2023/24. There are currently over 200 Promise Keepers across Renfrewshire. A Promise Keeper can be an elected representative, a senior leader, middle manager, or member of frontline staff. Promise Keepers are responsible for championing The Promise within their own expertise/staff teams/professions, ensuring that their colleagues are aware of their responsibility to #KeepThePromise. Promise Keepers are central to ensuring Renfrewshire’s Promise strategic planning and Governance Structure, incorporating The Promise Oversight Group and four workstreams; these have been revisited and clearly aligned to the Children’s Services Partnership Plan and to the Council Plan. Renfrewshire’s Children’s Services Partnership has agreed that “There must be an urgency and demonstratable evidence of a collective understanding, commitment and activity in relation to The Promise.” The Promise Manager is responsible for the Children’s Services Partnership’s response to the implementation of The Promise in Renfrewshire and monitors the effectiveness of the Oversight Group and workstreams and our response to #KeepThePromise will be informed by emerging themes/priorities around The Promise Plan 21-24 and Plan 24-30. Renfrewshire’s Promise Manager and Promise Ambassador are well connected to the Promise delivery mechanisms at COSLA, Promise Scotland and Scottish Government. Renfrewshire Promise delivery mapping and planning tool is informing delivery of the Promise Plan 21-24 and activity around identification of Key Indicators/measures of success has taken place. This mapping tool was developed in conjunction with Promise Scotland Delivery Partners. The Promise Manager has been sharing this mapping and planning tool approach with Local Authorities from across Scotland. The mapping tool is capturing Promise related activity in Renfrewshire, including, but not limited to, Education, Social Work, Employability, Mental Health, Youth Justice, Family Support, Workforce, Children’s Hearings, GIRFEC, UNCRC, Brothers & Sisters, Police, Fire & Rescue Service and Health. A Promise Self-Evaluation Tool has been developed to assess progress and areas for development in key areas across different services in Renfrewshire. The self-evaluation tool has been circulated to a wide range of services in the local authority and to partner agencies. The analysis of this evaluation will inform our future.
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15 Renfrewshire Child Protection Committee (RCPC) continues to monitor data in relation to referrals, investigations, child protection planning meetings and registrations. There were 597 Inter-agency Referral Discussions (IRDs) between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, relating to 574 children. There were 84 children on the child protection register on 31 July 2023. This was a rate of 2.8% which is just above the national average of 2.3%. Whilst a slight increase has been seen against the last two years, the July 2023 figure of 84 remains below the highs of 107 in July 2018 and 103 in July 2019. There were 355 investigations, which was a rate of 11.9% and below the national average of 13.2%. In 2023/24, 196 initial and pre-birth child protection case conferences (now called child protection planning meetings) took place – this was a rate of 6.6% and above the national average of 6.5%. There were 136 new registrations and 130 de-registrations in the year ending 31 July 2023. On 31 March 2023, there were 80 children on the child protection register which was an increase from 61 in March 2022. This increase reflects the trend nationally which saw a decrease in registrations during the three-year period up to July 2023 when registration then began to increase. Elected members are advised that the small number of children on the child protection register can result in significant variances due to the registration or deregistration of larger families. Children’s social work continues to engage in a partnership approach with the police, RHSCP, education and other council services to ensure the protection of children at risk of harm is a priority. This partnership has been strengthened further during 2022/23 with education now routinely involved in all IRDs where a child attends a Renfrewshire education establishment. The largest areas of concern pertaining to child protection registration continued to be parental substance misuse, parental drug misuse, neglect, domestic abuse, parental mental health and parental alcohol misuse. There were 17 Child Protection Orders granted during the year which was slightly lower than the previous year’s figure of 23. RCPC and its subgroups continue to meet to discuss key trends and emerging areas of focus. The rate of children in care in Renfrewshire on 31st July 2023 was 2%. This remains higher than the national average. 640 children were looked after on 31 July 2023 which is similar to the figure of 635 in July 2022 (174 children started to be looked after during this period). Of these: • 169 were at home with parents • 266 were with friends/relatives • 115 were with foster carers provided by the council • 28 were with foster carers purchased by the local authority • 9 were in other community • 20 were in local authority home / voluntary home
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16 • 33 were in other residential care
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17 Statutory Service Provision: Justice Social Work Throughout 2023/24 Justice Social Work (JSW) has continued to adapt and respond to the challenges and opportunities presented in supporting the Scottish Government’s vision of shifting the balance between the use of custody and justice in the community. Our busy office-based teams continue to meet growing statutory obligations and achieve expected outcomes set out by the national standards. Using evidence-based assessment and intervention tools, JSW monitors and supports some of the most vulnerable and high-risk members of our communities. JSW also collaborates very closely with key local partner organisations who together, better helps protect the communities those members live within. Much of JSW activity is generated by court and tribunal services. Provisional figures for 2023/24 show that this demand has continued to steadily increase across all its activity. This reflects ongoing measures to address the legacy backlog of unheard cases in Court stemming from the pandemic, the contemporary challenges of a growing prison population and the vison to shift the balance to more community-based supervision. Provisional information shows the service completed 874 Criminal Justice Social Work Reports (CJSW) in 2023/24, a significant increase compared to 706 in 2022/23. This is also evident in the number of new Community Payback Orders made, which has increased from 450 in 2022/23 to 491 in 2023/24, with 368 new Unpaid Work orders also commencing during this period. During 2023/24 we have utilised our ring-fenced funding grant and increased some capacity across the service in response to the growing demand for more community-based options. We have augmented our service response through an increased availability of early intervention services based in both the Court and other teams across the service. This is primarily in response to the national aim of reducing remand and engaging with individuals at the earliest point, and minimising, where safe to do so, further involvement in the wider justice system. Additional paraprofessionals were recruited to support these additional services. This includes providing different services to the Court and Procurator Fiscal Service, such as Electronic Monitoring bail (tagging), Bail Supervision, Structured Deferred Sentences (SDS) and Diversion from Prosecution options. There has been significant activity in these areas, with over 100 people being diverted, 25 people receiving a SDS and 200 bail supervision reports being completed. These cases are also increasing in their complexity and case management demands. Post-custody / throughcare activity is also a growing area of both demand and complexity. This year the service has significantly developed its offer of voluntary assistance (129 individuals) through further improving its links with prisons, albeit currently most of these offers are not taken. This is being explored further as part of how we review our services. A most important role is the one JSW has within public protection. It continues to effectively play a key role, alongside key partners, within the joint Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) with a shared purpose to reduce the risk of serious harm to the public. Our JSW service also recognises that women involved within the justice system
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18 need a different response. It proudly does so and will continue to do so by providing all interventions through the women’s service, staffed only by women, from the beginning to the end of their involvement with us. Over the past year, Renfrewshire’s JSW service has continued to flexibly respond to relentlessly increasing demands and a dynamic national policy agenda. It is a very dynamic and fast changing area. In response to this the wider service’s service redesign aims to augment the management capacity within JSW to support meeting this, within existing budgets that are set at a national level. Our whole systems team, which supports young people in conflict with the law, is also now managed within JSW reporting structures. This reflects the growing policy and legislative requirements for this highly vulnerable age group that can fluidly move between both adult and children’s legislative systems. The last year has also brought some challenges arising from staffing changes and recruitment difficulties, something that has rarely been a challenge for justice social work in the past but is reflective of the current national picture surrounding social worker recruitment. Our JSW teams have also undergone the transition to a new information system, ECLIPSE, during the year. Although at times challenging and with areas still to develop, this achievement brings this part of the service into line with the wider social work service.
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19 Resources The chart below shows the breakdown of expenditure on social work services by Renfrewshire Council and RHSCP in 2023/24. As in previous years, the largest area of expenditure is on services for adults and older people, followed by services for children and families. Funding for Justice Social Work comes directly from the Scottish Government by means of a grant. An overspend was incurred within Children & Families relating to external residential accommodation placements, due to a significant increase in the number and cost of complex care packages. All external placements are held under continual review by the service to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of the individual children and young people, and options to mitigate cost pressures continue to be examined. We are currently modelling the coming year financial planning in terms of overall cost/service pressure. In addition, other financial pressures related to inflation, particularly fuel and food prices and also workforce pay inflation will also be factored into this modelling. Addiction Services, £960,000 Justice, £3,691,000 Mental Health Needs, £4,589,000 Physical or Sensory Difficulties, £11,922,000 Learning Difficulties, £24,132,000 Children and Families, £38,120,000 Adults & Older People, £57,171,000
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20 Workforce Ensuring all of our staff are supported in their skills and knowledge development is essential. The children’s service redesign provides the opportunity to revisit our continuous professional development framework which underpins staff learning will be refreshed with all of our staff supported to update their development plans. This will be part of our role out of the national first year in social work practice framework. The process and procedures that we have in place will be tailored for new social workers and support our existing staff. We have introduced virtual learning across our range of learning provision. This innovation allows staff to approach practice scenarios in a safe and supported manner, proving a realistic understanding of practice. A wrap around learning environment is provided to support learners to gain the most from the experience. The feedback from staff has been very supportive to date. Our adult and child protection learning not only focuses on the core task of protection and supporting children and adults, but we also seek to learn from practice, research and national policy and embed this the development. Our programmes are being reviewed to ensure that we can offer learning that is pertinent to those who work with children and adults in joint learning opportunities. It is essential that staff working in both settings support, assist and protect the whole family. Our care at home workforce is a frontline service who support many service users each day. This group of staff are supported with tailored learning and are require to have a national qualification. The demand for qualification across such a large workforce is challenging with the numbers to qualify over the next two years increasing. A plan is in place to meet this demand and ensure our workforce meets the national standards for professional registration. The Promise and Trauma Informed Practice, both national policy initiatives are reflected in a range of social work learning programmes ensuring staff understand and reflect the developments in their practice. Innovations such as our Promise Keeper Network develop front line champions who are leading change from the ground up, partnering with our wider strategic plan. Progress is being made in both areas, but there is more to do with plans in place to take this forward.
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21 “In social services alone, and there, Not only care but cure: a worker assigned To be with her throughout school, helping, calming, A bridge of sympathy between teacher and pupil, A dedication not far from love.” From Brothers and Keepers by Edwin Morgan A poem commissioned by the Association of Directors of Social Work in 2000.