Agenda item

[Jennifer Rogers, Principal Social Worker, to present report]

The Chair invited Jennifer Rogers, Principal Social Worker, to present her report to the panel. The Principal Social Worker (PSW) advised the panel that the 2020 -21 annual report sets out the progress made during the year and key priorities identified 4for 2021-2022. The report details the work of the PSW in improving the quality of social work practice across both children’s and adult’s services.

The PSW commented that a key area of work has been the response of the service to the Covid-19 pandemic and maintaining the safety and wellbeing of social workers. The PSW advised the panel that new policies were developed in response to the pandemic.

The PSW was responsible for leading the Council’s response to Care Act easements, which allowed adult social care providers to re-prioritise their resources if there was a spike in demand for lower priority needs and if met would mean the Council being unable to meet their statutory duties.

The panel were advised that local guidance was drafted after a short public consultation which had positive responses, including an easy read version, however it was not necessary to implement to any changes to the process.

The PSW advised the panel that she supported social work teams to consider legal and human rights challenges for people living in care home and the need to reduce the risk of infection by restricting visits by their carers and relatives.

A key role of the PSW is ensuring the quality of social work practice and support continual learning and improvement of social workers. The PSW led on quality assurance activity in adults during 2020-2021. The percentage of audited case files rated as ‘good’ or above decreased slightly from 83 percent (2019-2020) to 78 percent (2020-2021). The reduction in quality may have been due to the early impact of the pandemic as social workers adjusted to different ways of working. 

The PSW advised the panel the situation has since improved and in January 2021, 90 percent of case files were rated as being ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ as result of changes in social work practice. The PSW advised the panel of the findings from an external peer review challenge of social work practice completed in October 2020. The case files examined during the review were consistently rated as ‘good’ and there were no causes for concern.

The PSW commented on the work done to develop and deliver the recruitment and retention plan with colleagues in Human Resources, Organisations Development and Communications Team. The PSW outlined a range of other initiatives aimed at supporting the current and future workforce and to further embed good practice.

The Chair invited the panel to comment on the report.

The panel thanked the PSW for the report, which was well presented, and covered progress made during the year in response to the challenges, particularly the pandemic.

The panel queried reasoning for the conclusions about the quality of social work practice based on sample of 80 cases which represents about two percent of people who received a service from adult social care.

The PSW accepted that the number of case files audited included is low compared to previous years and added that in a normal year about five percent of cases would be audited. The PSW explained that impact of Covid 19 has limited some of the planned audit activities during the first part of year.

The PSW reassured the panel that the number of cases audited is expected to increase for the rest of the year and there are other changes planned to get a more accurate picture of the quality of social work practice.

The panel queried the individual case workload of social workers and asked for explanation in future reports of the term ‘strength based’ social work practice. The PSW accepted the point about the term and agreed to give an explanation in future reports to the panel. The PSW reassured the panel that social worker case workloads are closely monitored to check that they are manageable, while accepting that this is a constant challenge in managing demand for support with the resources available.

The PSW advised the panel that members of the independent children's review team have been invited to meet with social workers to give feedback on what they think is working and not working and share this learning. The information will help to shape future recommendations for the service.

Emma Bennett, Director of Children and Adults, added that there is a major independent review ongoing on the recruitment programme for social workers. The findings will be published in 2022 and will comment on the balance between early intervention and the number of child protection investigations.

The Director commented on the contributions of the PSW to the review.

The Director advised the panel that she currently chairs the West Midlands DCS network and a small group of members meet regularly with the lead reviewer working in Wolverhampton and the PSW also contributes to the discussion about how current system works.

The panel welcomed the different routes to becoming a social worker and the support for people with different life experiences to join the profession in recognition of the national shortage.

The panel queried if the PSW had any concerns about the extent to which she can meet the responsibilities of the role as detailed in the report and also if the appointment of  a deputy would make the workload more manageable, if it was an issue. The PSW accepted the demanding workload of the role but this reflected the importance of the role in helping to drive improvements in social work practice in both children’s and adults. The PSW also highlighted the quality of support offered by her team in helping to manage the workload.

The panel queried how social workers currently working remotely who may be concerned about a possible return to the office, would be supported.

The PSW commented that as the country moves into a different phase of response to the pandemic working arrangements may change. There is an acceptance of the limits of remote work for social workers, which is traditionally based on face to face meetings. 

The PSW commented on the difficulty some social workers have experienced from home working and who were keen to work directly with people. However, the experience of the response to the pandemic has highlighted how well social workers can adapt to changes in working practices and the service has learned valuable lessons about what things can be done successfully remotely.

The PSW highlighted the benefits of remote working such as reduced travelling time, getting better and attendance and conversations at virtual team meetings. The PSW added that if there are social workers concerned about a return to the office setting then work will done to develop guidance and provide the level of support needed. 

The PSW reassured the panel that there would be no rush to make changes and social workers would be consulted about any planned changes to the current working arrangements.

The Chair thanked the presenter for the report and invited panel members to ask question

The panel welcomed the report and the focus on offering different career opportunities for both young people and mature students to become social workers. The panel welcomed the opportunity for people to gain skills and knowledge through workplace learning.

The panel queried the feedback from the survey which reported similar levels of satisfaction with learning opportunities from social workers in children’s and adults and wanted further details.

The panel also queried what further work is done to increase the levels of satisfaction in the future.

The PSW commented on the range of career and learning opportunities available to social workers and the encouragement and support offered. The PSW commented on the specific learning and development offer to new and aspiring managers and the work being done to include this work as part of the professional conversations and supervision sessions. The work is being done in recognition of the challenge when social workers or senior social workers want to move into a management role.

The PSW commented on the work being done to listen to and respond to what social work staff say about what they need to help their learning and development and to offer more practice based sessions, for example training in preparation for changes to Liberty Protection Safeguards which is due to be introduced on 2022.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to endorse the report of the Principal Social Worker and the priorities identified for 2021-2022.