Agenda item

The Committee considered the Children in Care Annual Survey 2024, presented by Rachael Riley, Service Manager and Lee Peacock, Participation and Engagement Officer (for copy of report and presentation see file of minutes). 

The officers highlighted that surveys were one of the key tools used to ensure children and young people’s voices were heard, to develop services and achieve the best outcomes for young people.  Respondents provided their views on the support they receive, what is working well and areas for further development.

A total of 30 surveys were completed which was lower than the service had hoped for, however, the rate of return may have been impacted by the fact that a number of surveys were being conducted at the same time. Positive views included that 93% of the young people who responded said that their worker did what they said they would do; that they felt involved in decisions about their lives and that they felt safe. 90% of young people said their worker took the time to get to know them; 89% responded that they found their worker friendly and easy to talk to and 86% said their worker helped them to understand.

The responses included areas for further consideration, for example, only 83% of those who responded said their worker helped them to understand why they could not live with their family. Only 89% of respondents said they were helped to see their family and friends as often as they would like, 74% said school was good, 82% said their health and wellbeing was good and only 60% said they found it easy to understand their care plan.

Analysis of the survey found that broadening the survey questions may have led to greater context, for example. the survey asked how many workers young people had since entering care however it did not ask how long the young person had been in care.

Luke commented on the relatively low response rate and he stated the view that young people may need tangible evidence to believe that survey results lead to change. He added that whilst surveys which were quick and easy to complete may have a good rate of return, the information gathered may be too brief to be meaningful. 

In response to the learning from the survey, Rachael Riley, Service Manager acknowledged that changes in the workforce greatly impact young people’s relationships with professionals. She informed the Panel that ‘About Me’ profiles were to be rolled out across the Children in Care teams to ensure young people were provided with details of their social worker.  In addition, there had been investment in ‘Clarity and Confidence’ to empower practitioners utilise tools to develop confidence to support young people during their journey through care.

The survey found that some young people were not happy with their education which highlighted the importance of young people’s views being heard at their PEP meetings. Some young people reported that they did not understand their care plan, therefore the service would continue to improve work around communication and care planning. In addition, the service was planning to develop a consultation group with children and young people to collate questions for the next annual survey for children in care. Surveys for parents and carers were also being considered, to gain their views on services. 

Courtney spoke anecdotally of young people in the care of independent foster agencies who had not been made aware of, or encouraged, to complete the annual survey. The Service Manager confirmed the survey was circulated through the Commissioning service, however, Courtney’s comment would be followed-up. 

Councillor Walton, Vice-Chair, was pleased to hear that local authority foster carers had promoted the survey and she asked whether there had been any follow-up work undertaken with practitioners and carers as to what steps they had taken to encourage young people in their care to complete the survey.  The Service Manager highlighted the competing priorities that exist for carers and practitioners and whilst the Vice-Chair recognised the demands, she stressed that the work warranted a high priority as young people’s views were fundamental to inform the direction of travel in the future. The Head of Children’s Social Care commented that there was more work to be done to review the range of tools available to ensure as many young people as possible share their views and to increase the reach of the ‘you said, we did’ messages to demonstrate to young people that their views make a difference.

The Panel noted that work was ongoing to explore how survey work could be incorporated into engagement activities. 

Councillor Hunt that suggested that as the survey was an annual survey, there would be scope to broaden the questions in the future, to gain better quality information. 

Resolved:

The Corporate Parenting Panel:

(a)          Considered the content of this report.

(b)          Agreed with its recommendations.

(c)           Agreed that the survey should be repeated annually.