Agenda item

To update the Committee on the progress of the improvement journey in respect of services for Blackpool’s ‘care experienced’ young adults.

Ms Sara McCartan, Head of Adolescent Service introduced a report on the progress of the improvement journey in respect of services for Blackpool’s young adults who had experienced care. She informed the Committee that during the Ofsted inspection of Children’s Services in December 2018 the experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers had been judged as ‘Requires Improvement to be good’. The inspectorate had stated that a strategic and coordinated approach to providing support for care leavers to improve their outcomes, including in education, employment and training was required. Ms McCartan reported that this had been a key priority within the Children’s Social Care improvement plan and outcomes for Blackpool’s care experienced young people had improved as a result.

The Committee noted that five per cent of Blackpool’s care leavers had been identified as living in accommodation defined as ‘unsuitable’ and sought clarification of what the term meant and how long care leavers were permitted to remain in such accommodation for. Ms McCartan informed Committee Members that the majority of those cases reported as ‘unsuitable’ were young people in custody. Further to those cases, there were also a small number of young people who elected to stay with friends rather than securing their own accommodation and this would be deemed as ‘unsuitable’. She also noted that whilst Blackpool would always aim for 100 per cent of its care leavers to be living in suitable accommodation, at 95 percent the service was performing above the national average of 86 per cent. Committee Members appreciated the clarification and suggested that such an explanation be recorded alongside the data to improve clarity.

The Committee raised the reporting of those young people who left care in another local authority area and then moved to Blackpool, questioning whether such cases would be included within Blackpool’s data. Ms McCartan advised that in such cases, the data would be included within the figures of the responsible authority which the young person had move from and likewise, Blackpool Council maintained responsibility for any young people leaving care who moved to another part of the country. Further to this, the Substance Misuse and Sexual Health element of Blackpool Council’s Adolescent Service would receive referrals for any young person living in Blackpool up to the age of 25 years, which would include care leavers who had moved to Blackpool from other areas of the country and the service would link up with the young person’s personal adviser from their responsible authority.

With regards to the noted figure that half of all Blackpool’s care leavers were not in employment, education or training, the Committee sought further details of any plans in place to improve the situation. Ms McCartan assured Committee Members that assisting young people into education, employment or training remained a key priority for the service and reported a number of interventions being introduced to help achieve this. These included, a financial support package for care leavers wishing to pursue higher and further education routes; employment vacancies within the Council being ring fenced, with priority given to our young people; ‘Kickstart’ placements were being targeted towards our young people and close working with the Council’s wholly owned companies continued to provide work placement opportunities for Blackpool’s young people.

Members discussed the findings from the recent Ofsted focused visit, with the Committee questioning the stability of the Children’s Social Care team due to vacancies across the service and reliance upon newly qualified social workers. Ms Jeanette Richards, Interim Director of Children’s Services acknowledged that recruitment remained a challenge and a key priority but that progress had been made from the service’s previous recruitment position. In response to a question on whether staff who left Blackpool decided to leave the profession entirely or if they sought employment at another local authority, Ms Richards reported that due to the current high demand within the sector nationally, a current trend was being experienced of staff leaving to become agency workers. Councillor Lynn Williams, Leader of the Council (Children) highlighted that whilst recruitment remained a national problem, Blackpool was increasingly being recognised as a supportive authority in which to work, in addition to the attractive financial packages being offered to prospective applicants.

The need, as identified by the findings of the Ofsted monitoring visit, to improve the consistency and quality of work for children subject to child protection plans in order to reduce drift and delay was highlighted by the Committee as being essential to address. Ms Richards agreed that continuing to improve the quality of practice delivery to children was Children’s Social Care’s priority, pointing out that input from other key partners was also a prerequisite for continued improvement.