Agenda item
Signs of Safety
This report provides the Committee with the first annual update on the implementation of Signs of Safety in Brent, including progress on Scrutiny recommendations made in the Task and Finish Group Report presented in February 2017.
Minutes:
Gail Tolley (Strategic Director, Children and Young People) noted that the committee had previously considered a Task Group report on Signs of Safety at its meeting in February 2017. Signs of Safety was a practice framework for working with children and families and child protection. The committee had endorsed the Task Group’s four recommendations, including the recommendation that the committee receive annual updates from the Lead Member for Children and Young People on the implementation of Signs of Safety in Brent. The report before the committee was the first such update to be presented.
Gail Tolley explained that the Council, having previously participated in Phase 1 of the England Innovations Project for Signs of Safety, had been successful in bidding to participate in Phase 2 (EIP2). This project provided the council with 2 years of resource to further embed Signs of Safety in Brent and would enable the council to continue to work with project leads, Professor Eileen Munro, Andrew Turnell and Terry Murphy (child protection consultants, MTM consultancy).
Brian Grady (Operational Director, Safeguarding, Partnerships and Strategy) introduced the update report to the committee, outlining both the progress that had been made in implementing Signs of Safety in 2017/18, and the impact of this progress. It was highlighted that leadership of practice change was key to ensuring Signs of Safety was embedded and sustained and all senior leaders were modelling Signs of Safety with practitioners. Quality assurance processes had also been improved, helping to evidence the increased up take and more consistent use of Signs of Safety in the council.
Brian Grady highlighted the use of Signs for Safety in Child Protection Conferences as an indicator of success, with rates of children subject to a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent time at 12 per cent in 2016/17, lower than statistical neighbours and predicted to fall further in 2017/18. Child Protection Conferences were also a key forum for using Signs of Safety with parents and carers and feedback from parents and carers on the conferences had been very positive. Brian Grady concluded his introduction by noting that Brent Council had demonstrated its commitment to continue embedding Signs of Safety by developing the Brent Practice Framework, launched in March 2018, and by realigning social work services in January 2018 to mirror best practice.
In the subsequent discussion, the committee questioned the degree of progress made in fully embedding Signs of Safety in the council and, whilst welcoming the EIP2 funding, queried how Signs of Safety would be sustained after it ceased. Members sought details of how Signs of Safety had been received by social workers, what barriers hindered further progress, and how these barriers could be overcome. Questions were raised regarding agency staff including how to encourage movement from agency to permanent staff and whether the council recorded the issue on its corporate risk register. A member questioned how Signs of Safety improved life chances for children and comment was sought on the quality of multi-agency working and whether this was embedded in the Signs for Safety model. Noting that Professor Munro was referenced in the Task Group report as highlighting the need for professionals to be given space to admit mistakes, it was queried whether this was something that the council actively supported and if so, whether this would be sustained under the pressure of a serious case review or similar. In concluding their questioning, Members sought comment from officers about what support was needed going forward to sustain the progress made.
Responding to the queries raised, Brian Grady noted that an EIP2 staff survey had been carried out in January 2018 to understand confidence and competence in the use of Signs of Safety. The results would be available in April 2018 and would allow the council to benchmark its implementation against the other local authorities and inform next steps in Brent. Gail Tolley advised that the Brent Practice framework incorporated Signs of Safety but also other ways of working such as Social Pedagogy and was a significantly funded initiative to develop tools and skills in Brent. The end result of the initiative was to ensure that the Brent Practice framework was fully embedded.
Stephen Gordon (Head of Localities) explained that the council now had specialists in Signs of Safety embedded in every social work team and whilst every social worker was required to undertake a two day Signs of Safety training course, it was intended that the specialist team member would take forward new research and learning. It was confirmed that Brent’s social workers viewed Signs of Safety very positively and it was also held in a lot of esteem more widely in the social work field. Brent’s use of Signs of Safety was therefore an attractive prospect for social workers considering working for Brent. Turnover in staff, though significantly improved, still presented difficulties for the pace of implementation of Signs of Safety. Stephen Gordon emphasised that Brent did not have difficulties attracting social workers, rather issues such as the cost of housing meant that those looking to settle down were not able to do so in Brent. Addressing the committees queries on agency staff, Brian Grady advised that the realignment of social work services had achieved a number of conversions of agency to permanent staff and added that money was not always the key factor, with issues such as stability of the post and the quality of management systems often very important. Gail Tolley confirmed that the recruitment and retention of social workers was on the Council’s risk register. Four years ago, 66 per cent of social worker staff were agency staff; the council now had 80 per cent of social workers staff on permanent contracts.
Stephen Gordon commented that most of the multi-agency relationships in Brent were exemplary and advised that this was reflected in the fact that Brent was due to become one of the Metropolitan Police hub areas for Safeguarding. Signs of Safety supported good multi-agency relationships by ensuring risks could be broken down into a simple and understandable model, engendering confidence across the partnership. It was clarified that the model helped professionals identify factors of need and to measure the impact of intervention taken. Signs of Safety gave professionals the discipline of identifying family strengths ensuring that Children’s Protection Plans involved the families.
Gail Tolley advised that she had been impressed with the attitude of staff in sessions she had recently attended with managers and frontline social workers, during which a number of staff had accepted her offer of meeting with her to provide challenge on their practice. Stephen Gordon asserted that Brent had a culture where social workers felt safe and could ask questions freely. This was a culture observed in supervision meetings and team meetings. Formal structures which supported this culture included reflective group supervision meetings held in every social work team and in which social workers could bring cases of interest for open discussion. Stephen Gordon added that whilst Serious Case reviews were times of great anxiety and stress for all involved, Brent Council was better equipped than many others in his experience. Gail Tolley asserted that the council was by no means complacent and was conscious that there were still challenges to meet; however, significant progress had been made in recent years and members were asked to reflect on how often social workers were celebrated for the work that they did.
RESOLVED:
i. That the Cabinet/new administration:
a. Embrace and promote a culture of celebration of the work of social workers
b. Maintain a commitment to ensuring that sufficient priority and focus on reflective practice is sustained in Brent’s social work teams moving forward in the context of increasing pressure on resources.
c. Note the committee’s view that if future proposed cuts to resources threaten the continued embedding and use of the Signs of Safety model, an impact analysis should be presented to the appropriate scrutiny committee for consideration.
ii. That Cabinet and the Council Management Team note the committee’s recognition of the significant value of the work taken to implement Signs of Safety.
iii. That the committee write to the Brent Planning Committee, the Housing Scrutiny Committee and the OPDC Planning Committee, to encourage the maximisation of opportunities for the provision of key housing to be delivered via regeneration and other development projects.
Supporting documents: