Agenda item

The Panel received the quarterly overview of performance, covering the period September to December, in relation to children in our care and care leavers presented by Helen McAloon, Strategy Team Leader. The performance management framework aligns with the Local Government Association’s key lines of enquiry for Corporate Parenting Panel members (for copy of report and presentation, see file of minutes).

It was reported that the net increase in the number of children and young people in our care continues, with an increase in the number of children entering care and the number of young people leaving care remaining steady. During the quarter, the age cohorts experiencing the greatest increase were the 1-4 and 10-15 age cohorts and the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking young people in our care continues to increase.

The number of Social Workers with caseloads of more than 25 cases had reduced and it was reported that over 70% of Social Workers in the Children in Care and Care Leavers teams have fewer than 25 cases. 

Performance with regard to initial and review health assessments had dipped, however the increase in the number of children in care impacted on this indicator. Placement stability continues to be an area of focus and, in response to a request made by the Panel at the previous meeting, the report included data in respect of the number of children and young people placed with friends and family.

It was reported that the colder weather was an influencing factor in the reduction in the number of young people in care with a missing episode during the quarter.

The proportion of care leavers in suitable accommodation was in line with benchmarks, however, the number of care leavers in education, employment or training (EET) had fallen below benchmarks during the quarter. 

Responding to a question from the Vice-Chair as to whether any themes were emerging in relation to missing incidents, the Head of Children’s Social Care explained that trend information is gathered from return to home meetings and further information will be provided when the matter is covered in more detail, at a future meeting.

The Vice-Chair commented on the support provided to care leavers to assist them to progress into post-16 education, employment and training, therefore it was surprising to see that performance had fallen below the benchmark. 

The Head of Children’s Social Care referred to the challenges for care leavers who can often face multiple barriers. In addition, a number of care leavers access benefits which can act as a disincentive therefore work was ongoing to incentivise further education, employment and training.  Councillor Hunt asked whether there was evidence of discrimination against care leavers from employers. The Head of Children’s Social Care responded that she was not aware of any direct discrimination, however, it is recognised that care leavers face barriers. The Head of Children’s Social Care suggested that this may be an area of focus for further discussion, at a future meeting. 

Councillor Reed referred to the young people who go missing and asked whether they do so in an effort to return to their family home. The Head of Children’s Social Care replied that young people who go missing often return to their family home. Assessments may determine that the best outcome for a young person is to return home and when this is the case, intensive support will continue to be provided to the young person and their family on the return home. The Head of Children’s Social Care clarified that those young people who were not offered a return to home meeting had not, in fact, gone missing as their whereabouts were known to the service. 

Luke asked if further information was available as to why EET performance had dipped. The Head of the Virtual School informed the Panel that quarter three data may be subject to a lag as it can take time to gather information when young people leave statutory education and it may be the case that when all the information is available, actual performance may be better than reported. She added that the Virtual School’s Post 16 Officer, together with the Progression and Learning team now track the progress of young people, from year 10, to ensure more information is available.

The Head of Children’s Social Care highlighted that Durham’s EET performance is broadly in line with that of statistical neighbours.  She added that she would follow up the analysis of performance with the service, to identify whether a particular intervention accounted for the peak in performance during 2020-21.

Resolved:

That the content of the report and presentation be noted.