Agenda item

(1)  Subject to approval by the Council, the proposal of the time-limited funding for these additional staff (£2.4m) be endorsed and supported.

(2)  The One-off request for use of £250k of Contingency monies to fund the short-term support to the Safeguarding Service be approved.

(3)  It is noted that it is proposed that  the additional funding in the main part of this request is to cover a period of four years. This will be achieved by the following measures -

·  Anticipating a gradual reduction of demand over the next four years which will allow between 5-10 posts to be absorbed into existing agency SW posts and/or vacancies as they arise.

·  The additional capacity will also allow for more effective working of cases ensuring that periods of intervention can be reduced, and cases closed sooner. This means that we should be able to reduce the overall number of open cases across the service by between 65-70 each year for the next four years. 

·  Therefore, the number of posts should be able to reduce by 5 posts per year over the duration of the four years to bring staff funding back into line with present capacity at the end of the four years. 

Report CSD22101

Current demand for support to vulnerable young people across Bromley had been gradually rising since 2018. The Covid-19 pandemic had accelerated this demand, and the Council now had sustained levels of demand that were significantly higher than previously.

This continued to place pressure on many parts of Children’s Social Care, but particularly on “Front Door” services and “Safeguarding” services where the majority of Child in Need cases and Child Protection cases were held.

Currently, caseloads averaged 21 children per Social Worker (SW). The Bromley “Caseload Promise” which was an essential element of the Council’s  pledge to Social Workers to provide them with the right environment in which to deliver good quality practice, put a limit on cases of between 12-15 children. In order to maintain the quality of practice and ensure that we can retain and attract good quality staff the Council wished to make a targeted investment in additional staff for a four-year period that would assist it in meeting the increased need over this period, whilst also allowing for an anticipated gradual reduction in demand as the Council moved forward and was able to work more effectively utilising the additional staff.

The proposal sought investment of £2.4 million over four years to allow for the initial recruitment of 20 additional SW posts. It was proposed that the Council would recruit 20 new posts in year one, and then reduce back down by 5 SWs in each subsequent year of the additional funding. The initial additional investment would allow a return to lower caseloads, which in turn would assist in making effective interventions with families that would lead to better and safer outcomes and ensure the Council was not involved in the lives of families for so long. These efficiencies would allow the Council to work more effectively and so gradually return to the current staffing numbers over the course of the funding.

The report had been scrutinised by the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee at its meeting on 4^th October 2022 and the Committee had supported the recommendations.

RESOLVED that

(1)  Subject to approval by the Council, the proposal of the time-limited funding for these additional staff (£2.4m) be endorsed and supported.

(2)  The One-off request for use of £250k of Contingency monies to fund the short-term support to the Safeguarding Service be approved.

(3)  It is noted that it is proposed that  the additional funding in the main part of this request is to cover a period of four years. This will be achieved by the following measures -

·  Anticipating a gradual reduction of demand over the next four years which will allow between 5-10 posts to be absorbed into existing agency SW posts and/or vacancies as they arise.

·  The additional capacity will also allow for more effective working of cases ensuring that periods of intervention can be reduced, and cases closed sooner. This means that we should be able to reduce the overall number of open cases across the service by between 65-70 each year for the next four years. 

·  Therefore, the number of posts should be able to reduce by 5 posts per year over the duration of the four years to bring staff funding back into line with present capacity at the end of the four years.