Issue - meetings

Report CS17008

The Committee considered a report providing an update on outcomes from a time-limited project funded through the Social Care Innovations Grant which had been designed to develop a programme of innovation in connection with assessments for short breaks which would be linked to Education, Health and Care Plans for children and young people with disabilities, and reporting on further work being undertaken with a view to testing identified outcomes prior to implementation in September 2016.  The initial funding period for the project ceased in March 2016. 

The Social Care Innovation Fund (SCIF) was a national programme funded by the Department for Education and led by the Council for Disabled Children. The Local Authority had been successful in securing funding of £100k to develop and test innovative solutions to the assessment procedure and the processes by which families received social care services from the statutory sector, with the aim of engaging parents, carers, young people and professionals to develop a seamless and innovative process which delivered improved outcomes for all involved whilst offering value for money.  The project was designed to explore a new approach to proportionate assessment for children and young people as they entered the statutory system and to understand the opportunities for streamlining links to other existing assessment processes, particularly Education, Health and Care plans, to direct resources to support those children and families in most need.

The project had been undertaken in three initial phases which had been completed in March 2016.  Outcomes from the project had so far included the development of an online assessment tool for parents and carers to request low level short breaks, an increase in contracts managed by self-assessment, and a range of other identified service improvements which would require further testing and consideration around how to embed.  The final phase of the project was to review the outcomes from this process and refine and build a pilot programme, for which further funding of £25k had been identified.  As part of this, Bromley’s Local Offer would need to be updated to ensure that relevant services within the community were recorded, and a separate piece of work was underway to identify short break provision in neighbouring boroughs to enable alternate signposting opportunities.

The Interim Director of Children’s Services confirmed that an update on the pilot programme would be provided to a future meeting of the committee, and that mapping information on short break provision in neighbouring boroughs would be provided to Members following the meeting.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.