Service name: Children’s Services Service Plan
Service Plan 2015-16
Head of Service
Corporate Director
Portfolio Holder
John O’Loughlin
Simon Leftley
Cllr Jones
Version
Publication Date
Review Date
V3
17.04.15
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Contents
Service Profile
Page
1. Overview of Service
3
Service Plan
2. Service Objectives
4
3. Equality & Diversity
5
4. Business Continuity Planning
5
5. Service Plan Actions
6
6. Performance measures
7
7. Risk Register
8
Monitoring
8. Monitoring Arrangements
9
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1. Overview of Service
Children’s Services Structure, funded staffing numbers and net controllable budget:
Chief Executive
Rob Tinlin
Corporate Director for People
Simon Leftley
Head of Children’s Services
John O’Loughlin
Fieldwork Services
Group Manager
Ruth Baker
Integrated Youth Support Service
Group Manager
Carol Compton
Quality Assurance
Group Manager /Principal Social Worker
Laurence Doe
Placement & Resources
Group Manager
Diane Keens
Service Overview
 All referrals of Children in Need (CIN)
 All safeguarding referrals
 Children subject to a Child Protection Plan (CPP)
 Children in Need plans
 Children that are looked after care planning
 Care, adoption & fostering services
 Children with disabilities /complex needs
 Integrated Youth Support Services including Youth Justice, Youth Justice Services, and Connexions
 Troubled families (Streets Ahead)
Fieldwork Services
Fieldwork includes the following teams:
•
First contact
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•
•
•
•
•
Care Management 1
Care Management 2
Care Management 3
CM16+
Children with Disabilities
The teams consist of the social workers working with children and young people in care, children in need and children
subject to child protection plans and their families.
Integrated Youth Support Services
The Integrated Youth Support Service includes the following teams:
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
Youth Offending Service
Connexions
Streets Ahead
Targeted Youth Support
Young People’s Drug and Alcohol Team
Teenage Pregnancy
Community Engagement
The teams work with young people at risk of offending or re-offending, provide support to young people that are hard to
reach and vulnerable e.g. young carers, provide drug and alcohol treatment and support for under 21s, provide support to
families with issues ranging from children not attending school to involvement in crime, work with teenagers both pre and
post natal and also work within the community to make positive changes. The teams also provide a traded service to
schools and work with young people who are not in education, employment or training.
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance includes the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) service, Local Authority Designated Officer (including
the child protection and safeguarding team) and the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) support team.
Placement & Resources
Placements and Resources include the fostering and adoption teams and covers placement availability, foster carer and
adopter recruitment and support. The Allan Cole/Marigold centre provides contact, intervention and assessment services
for families referred by a social worker.
It includes the commissioning of external children’s placements and management of the acute and complex multi-agency
panel.

Provide breakdown of funded staffing numbers and net controllable budget
Key challenges for the service in coming year:
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
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


Ensure effective safeguarding services and services for looked after children.
Reduce the need for young people to be looked after.
Ensure effective youth provision and preventing young people offending.
Improve the support given to more young carers.
Reduce the impact of domestic abuse on children.
Maintaining our ‘good’ rating in the next OfSTED inspection given the new inspection framework and tighter
criteria.
Continue to improve consistency/quality of casework.
Improving the new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Implementing the Youth Service review and prevent young people offending.
Responding to changes to Government policy and Essex/regional developments
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2. Service Plan Objectives
Corporate Aims
SAFE
CLEAN
Corporate Priority
Create a safe environment across the
town for residents, workers and
visitors.
Service Objectives
Work with Essex Police and other
partners to tackle crime.
Prevent young people re-offending
Look after and safeguard our children
and vulnerable adults.
Ensure effective safeguarding services and services for looked
after children.
Reduce the need for young people to be looked after.
Promote the use of green technology
and initiatives to benefit the local
economy and environment.
Encourage and enforce high standards
of environmental stewardship.
Promote healthy and active lifestyles
for all.
HEALTHY
Work with the public and private rented
sectors to provide good quality
housing.
Enable the planning and development
of quality, affordable housing.
Ensure residents have access to high
quality education to enable them to be
lifelong learners and have fulfilling
employment.
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our vulnerable
children and adults, by working to
reduce inequalities and social
deprivation across our communities.
PROSPEROUS
- Ensure effective youth provision and preventing young
people offending.
- Improve the support given to more young carers.
- Reduce the impact of domestic abuse on children.
- Maintaining our ‘good’ rating in the next OfSTED inspection
given the new inspection framework and tighter criteria
- Continue to improve consistency/quality of casework
- Implement the Youth Service review and prevent young
people offending
Ensure the town is ‘open for
businesses’ and that new, developing
and existing enterprise is nurtured and
supported.
Ensure continued regeneration of the
town through a culture led agenda.
Work with and listen to our
communities and partners to achieve
better outcomes for all.
EXCELLENT
Enable communities to be selfsufficient and foster pride in the town.
Promote and lead an entrepreneurial,
creative and innovative approach to
the development of our town.
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3. Equality & Diversity
Equality and Diversity cuts across all service delivery and employment functions of the Council. The service addresses how it:
 eliminates discrimination;
 advances equality of opportunity and
 and fosters good relations
through: individual appraisals; team plans; departmental management team; departmental equality group and the Corporate
Equality Steering Group;.
It is also done by including actions, performance measures or risks in this service plan relating to:
 Equality Analyses (formerly Equality Impact Assessments) to be undertaken during the year
 Equality monitoring or customer profiling and
 Planned consultation and involvement with specific communities of interest.
In doing so the service will consider how it will adhere to the Council’s Equality Objectives for 2012-16, namely:
 The Council's workforce feels valued, respected and is reflective of the diverse communities it serves.
 The Council continues to improve outcomes for all (including vulnerable people and marginalised) communities by
ensuring services are fully accessible and responsive to differing needs of service users.
 Partnership working helps to support the aims and vision of the Council along with the objectives of Southend
Partnerships to improve the quality of life, prosperity and life chances for people in the Borough.
 The diversity of Southend is celebrated and the Borough is an increasingly cohesive place where people from all
communities get on well
4. Business Continuity Planning
Ensuring robust Business Continuity Planning arrangements are in place is a critical part of the Council’s governance
arrangements. As such the service will contribute to the Department’s Business Continuity Plan by ensuring it is up to date,
sufficiently robust and covers the required service areas. An action to this effect is included in Section 5.
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5. Service Plan Actions
Code
Description
5. Short Title
Ser
CS
Deliver budget
Deliver budget savings for 15/16
1516
savings for
vic
01
15/16
CS
Continue to
Clear recruitment strategy in line with
e
1516
increase the
updated sufficiency strategy to enable
02
young people to be placed with in-house
Pla recruitment
and retention
foster carers where appropriate
of foster carers
n
Act
CS
Adopter
Target adopter recruitment to increase
1516
recruitment
potential income generation and ensure
ion
03
suitable placements for harder to place
children – Sufficiency Strategy 2013/18
s
CS
1516
03
Child Sexual
Exploitation –
Link to LSCB
business plan
Due
Date
Desired Outcome
Corporate Priority
Assigned To
Managed
By
budget savings achieved
------
John
O’Loughlin
Simon
Leftley
31-Mar2016
Increase core numbers of carers
for 0-16 by 5 between the
1/4/15 and 31/3/16
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Diane Keens
John
O’Loughlin
31-Mar2016
Approve 20 adoptive
households between 1/04/15
and 31/03/16
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Diane Keens
John
O’Loughlin
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Laurence Doe
John
O’Loughlin
To deliver our elements of the LSCB
multi-agency plan on CSE and Missing
Children, specifically to review current
and historical practice in relation to Child
Sexual Exploitation in Southend Borough
Council.
30-Sept2015
Recommendations to DMT and
LSCB in order to ensure that we
are effectively protecting
vulnerable children.
CS
1516
04
Early Help
Review the process of the ‘early help’
offer (prevention)
31-Mar2016
Re-designed Early Help Service
established and delivering to at
least the same good standard of
performance as per 14/15
Look after and safeguard our
vulnerable adults and children.
Cathy Braun,
Ruth Baker,
Carol
Compton
Jane
Theadom
John
O’Loughlin
CS
1516
05
Redesign of
Field work
Services
A revised Fieldwork service operational
structure to be implemented
31-Sept2016
The revised operational
structure improves quality and
timeliness of our response to
referrals, and meets the needs
of the Early Help Assessment.
Look after and safeguard our
vulnerable adults and children.
Ruth Baker
John
O’Loughlin
CS
1516
06
Children and
Young People's
Plan
Develop the Annual Children & Young
People Plan
A comprehensive plan agreed
by partners agencies, Cabinet
and the Health & Wellbeing
Board
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Jenni Naish
John
O’Loughlin
CS
Contact and
Develop contact and assessment services
>85% of cases meet 26 week
Look after and safeguard our
Ellie Hal-Fead
Ruth Baker
7
5.
Ser
1516
07
vic
CS
e
1516
08
Pla
n
Act
CS
1516
ion
09
CS
s
1516
Code
Short Title
Description
Assessment
Services
to ensure that assessment and contact is
streamlined to prevent delay and meet
new court deadlines
Streets Ahead delivery plan
Deliver Phase 2 of the Streets Ahead
programme
Young Carers –
Care Act
Due
Date
Desired Outcome
Corporate Priority
Assigned To
Managed
By
deadline for conclusion
vulnerable adults and children.
31-Mar2016
Phase 2 fully delivered
Include number of families as a
PI measure
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Julia
MacKenzie
Carol
Compton
Identify the strategic implications of the
Care Act for young Carers
31-Mar2016
A fully supported action plan is
developed.
Look after and safeguard our
vulnerable adults and children.
Jane Allen
Carol
Compton
Youth Service
Review
Implement the Youth Service Review
30-Mar2016
Review recommendations are
fully implemented
Look after and safeguard our
vulnerable adults and children.
Carol
Compton
John
O’Loughlin
CS
1516
11
MASH
Explore with partners the opportunities
for the development of a Multi-Agency
Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
30-Sept2015
An options appraisal and
recommendations are presented
to key partners for agreement.
Look after and safeguard our
vulnerable adults and children.
Ruth Baker
John
O’Loughlin
CS
1516
12
Youth Crime
and Anti-Social
Behavior reducing
reoffending
Reducing reoffending by ensuring young
people access criminogenic and noncriminogenic needs led interventions
31-Mar2016
No more than 40% (local
target)
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Richard Meads Carol
Compton
CS
1516
13
Children in
Need
Deliver an improvement in CIN
timescales, quality of plans and reduction
in length of time CIN cases are open Practice Manager to be temporarily
recruited to achieve this
31-Mar2016
1. 20% increase in cases
audited as good or outstanding
2. The average number of days
current CIN cases (where child
has previously been CP or LAC)
have remained open after
CP/LAC ceases reduces by 10
working days
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Ruth Baker
John
O’Loughlin
CS
1516
14
Quality of Audit
Reports
Continue to undertake high quality social
work case file audits.
31-Mar2016
To provide 6 monthly and
annual reports that identify and
analyse the key findings of the
audits and suggest areas for
improvement.
Laurence Doe
John
O’Loughlin
CS
Emotional
Post contract start date – monitoring of
31-Mar-
Service monitoring report to be
Angela Ejoh
Mike Sinden
10
8
Improve the life chances of our
5.
Ser
1516
15
vic
e
Pla
CS
1516
n
16
Act
ion
CS
s
1516
Code
Short Title
Description
Due
Date
Desired Outcome
Assigned To
Managed
By
Wellbeing and
Mental Health
Service –
implementation
post November
15
the implementation of the new emotional
wellbeing and mental health service
2016
presented to Children’s Services
management Team meetings
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Maintain the
decline in
teenage
conceptions
Implement the
Teenage Pregnancy Strategy
31-Mar2016
100% of actions to reduce
teenage pregnancy in Year 1 of
the plan are delivered.
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Wendy Chen
Carol
Compton
17
Supporting
care leavers
into work
Develop further opportunities for young
care leavers to obtain Level 1 and 2
qualifications
31-Mar2016
4 opportunities developed
within Southend Borough
Council
Improve the life chances of our
residents, especially our
vulnerable children and adults, by
working to reduce inequalities and
social deprivation across our
communities
Luke Froment
Ruth Baker
CS
1516
18
Business
Continuity
Contribute to the Department’s Business
Continuity Plan by ensuring it is up to
date, sufficiently robust and covers the
required service areas
31-Mar2016
All essential services have a
plan in place to ensure the
continuity of services in the
event of a major incident.
------
All Group
Managers
John
O’Loughlin
CS
1516
19
Equality &
Diversity
All strategies developed and
implemented during 2015/16 will be
equality assessed. This action will
cascade into all team plans.
31-Mar2016
A suite of equality assessments
are developed during the year.
------
All Group
Managers
John
O’Loughlin
6
9
Corporate Priority
6. Service Performance Measures
Code
C&L PI 168
Description
Corporate Priority
Annual
Target
2015/16
Number of new clients that have attended
Shoebury Youth Centre [Monthly]
25
Proportion of "Unknowns" within Southend
10%
C&L PI 170
C&L PI 171
Proportion of NEET in the 30% most deprived
areas in Southend
40%
Former NI 111
First time entrants to the Youth Justice
System aged 10-17 [Cumulative]
16 to 19 year olds who are not in education,
employment or training (NEET) [Monthly
Snapshot]
100
Former NI 117
7.0%
Annual
Target
2016/17
Annual
Target
2017/18
Assigned To
Jane Allen
; Carol
Compton
Jane Allen
; Carol
Compton
Jane Allen
; Carol
Compton
Carol Compton
Jane Allen
; Wendy
Hackett
Managed By
John O'Loughlin
John O'Loughlin
John O'Loughlin
John O'Loughlin
John O'Loughlin
Custodial sentences given to young people as
a rate per 1,000 10-17 year olds
1.28
DP PI 02
Reoffending measure
by young offenders
40%
DP PI 06
Young People in the 30% most deprived
areas attending Youth Sessions
Richard Meads; John O'Loughlin
Gareth
Richards
John O'Loughlin
Jane Allen
; Carol
Compton
C&L PI 04
Number of referrals to Social Care of children
per 10,000 population [Cumulative]
450
Ruth Baker
John O'Loughlin
Ruth Baker
John O'Loughlin
DP PI 01
C&L PI 137
Percentage of referrals to children’s social
care going on to single social work
assessment [Cumulative]
87.0%
10
Richard Meads; John O'Loughlin
Gareth
Richards
C&L PI 138
DP PI 05
DP PI 03
Percentage of single work assessments
completed within 40 working days of
referral
The percentage of children reported to the
police as having run away that receive an
independent return to home interview
[Cumulative]
Rate of children subject to a Child
Protection Plan (not including temps)
[Monthly Snapshot]
Former NI 65
Percentage of children becoming the
subject to Child Protection Plan for a
second or subsequent time.
DP PI 04
Rate of Looked After Children [Monthly
Snapshot]
The percentage of looked after children at
31 March placed outside LA boundary and
more than 20 miles from where they used
to live
Average time between a child entering care
and moving in with its adoptive family, for
children who have been adopted 3 YEAR
AVERAGE (Measured in days).
Participation of Looked After Children in
their LAC reviews
Percentage of LAC who started to look
after from 1st April and have had their
initial health assessment within 20 working
days of coming into care (reported a
month behind to allow for the 20 days)
DP PI 19
DP PI 20
C&L PI 66
C&L PI 68a
85%
85%
37.8 - 45.1
12.0%
54.4 - 65
John
O'Loughlin
Carol
Compton;
Julia
Mackenzie
Laurence
Doe
John
O'Loughlin
Laurence
Doe; Sue
Williams
John
O'Loughlin
Ruth Baker
John
O'Loughlin
John
O'Loughlin
John
O'Loughlin
15%
Diane Keens
426
Diane Keens
John
O'Loughlin
95.0%
Laurence
Doe
Diane Keens
John
O'Loughlin
John
O'Loughlin
80%
11
Ruth Baker
7. Service Plan Risks
No
1
2
3
Description of risk
Risk
assessment
Impact (I)
LxI
Score
Contingency (key controls and actions to mitigate the
risk
4
Ongoing discussion with health and other
colleagues to understand the risks, drive forward
and monitor action plans.
All key agencies including Police, Health,
voluntary sector and the local authority are
working together on CSE. Management
systems and case audits are good. We are
increasing workforce knowledge on CSE and
have invested in 3 posts specifically focussed on
CSE.
Current safeguarding processes are safe and
secure. Risk would be around implementation of
any decision to move to a MASH.
Deliver budget savings – achieving this
target is dependent, in part, on the
support of external agencies such as
health achieving their own internal
actions.
Child Sexual Exploitation – risk of
reputational damage if our systems,
policies and practice are demonstrated
to have been historically inadequate.
4
Risk
assessment
Likelihood
(L)
1
4
1
4
MASH – potential risks based decision
whether or not to proceed to a MASH
TBC
TBC
TBC
12
8. Monitoring Arrangements
Arrangements for monitoring actions, indicators and risks need to be clear. ie. who will be monitoring; what will be
reported; how frequently it will be reported; and what action will be taken where progress may be off track eg.
Monitoring
Group
Information
Reported
Frequency
of Report
Action for Insufficient
Progress/Performance
People DMT
Progress on action plan;
performance against targets;
and risk controls/assessment
Quarterly
Heads of
Service
Progress on action plan;
performance against targets;
and risk controls/assessment
Monthly
Understand blocks, barriers and issues, plan for
improvement.
Group
Managers
Review information reported on
Covalent monthly
Monthly
Discuss issues with teams and staff; understand issues and
barriers to success, prepare proposals for improvement.
Additional resource provided to progress action and ensure
completion by deadline
Ensure clear accountability for insufficient progress
Covalent
Once finalised and signed-off by the Head of Service, Director and Portfolio Holder, Service Plan Actions, Indicators &
Risks should be uploaded to Covalent to enable service areas to produce monitor progress as required.
13