Issue details - Child Protection and Children in Care Improvement Programme

This report presents to the Cabinet Member Meeting the Areas for Development Plan which is one element of the Improvement Plan from the Children’s Social Work Service. The wider Improvement Plan has 4 elements:

i.The Areas for Development Plan (the subject of this report)

ii.The management and delivery structure

iii.Quality Assurance Framework

iv.Workforce Development

     These 4 elements link with the Value for Money Programme.    

The aims of the Improvement Programme are to:

i.Promote an effective management culture throughout Brighton & Hove Children & Families Children's Social Work Service 

ii.Focus on performance and delivery of high quality services

iii.Develop the talents and skills of the workforce and fully engage staff in the strategic development and operational work of the service

iv.Ensure VfM by effective control and the most efficient use of the funding and resources

v.Take account of national developments in social work

  The Improvement Programme is a result of the work undertaken following the unannounced two day Ofsted inspection to initiate a significant step change in quality of social work services provided to children, parents and carers in Brighton & Hove.

Social workers have a unique and pivotal role alongside their professional colleagues in the Police and Health Visiting, in the task of protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

Whilst systems and procedures play an important role in the protection of children, the protection of children fundamentally relies on sound professional practice by social workers equipped with skills in assessing risk, skills in working directly with families and most importantly in a spirit of respectful scepticism, with these skills and confidence in these skills to make inherently difficult judgements.  To do this difficult task social workers need to be supported with the necessary resources alongside professional supervision, training, management and leadership.