Managing Risk and Demand

West Midlands Association of Directors of Children’s Services

Presentation at NCAS Conference, Bournemouth

11th – 13th October 2017

The West MidlandsThe West Midlands area comprising14 local authorities and covering 5,000 sq miles. Geographically and politically diverse, it ranges from the large urban conurbation of the West Midlands Combined Authority, including the second most populous city in the country, Birmingham, to the sparsely populated rural areas including Shropshire and Herefordshire.

1.Coventry2.Solihull3. Birmingham4. Sandwell5. Dudley6. Walsall7. Wolverhampton8. Telford & Wrekin9. Stoke-on-Trent

Our ambitionsby 2021

• 12-14 of our LA’s are recognised as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding ‘ by Ofsted

• The WM has the lowest turnover of Social Work staff in the country

Our ambitionsby 2021

• The WM region is in the top quartile for educational outcomes

• The WM has no LA in the bottom quartile of KS2 Primary School results

Our ambitionsby 2021

• The WM has some nationally recognised most efficient and effective services

• The WM has a reputation for innovation to improve effectiveness

Our ambitionsby 2021

• The WM provides best value, reducing costs

• The WM ADCS is a key influencer of government policy

Our VisionCollaborative; solution focused; outcomes based accountability;

,making the difference for children, young people and families

Our values & behavioursTotal commitment ; honesty ; solution focused; ambitious; risk-takers;

learning; ambassadors ; Inclusive

The West Midlands Association of Directors of Children of Services

Workforce and Leadership

• FutureSocial

• Agency cap

• Teaching Partnerships

Quality of Practice

• Permanence (RAB)

• Safeguarding

• Assessment

Managing Risk and Demand

• Regional Children’s Partnership

• Framework

• Early Help and Targeted Support

• Troubled Families

Educational Skills and Economy

• School Improvement

• School organisation / learner place planning

• Vulnerable Learners

• S.E.N.D.

• LA / DfE Funding

GovernanceRelationship with Chief Exec/Lead Members/LGA, Performance Management, Financial Probity

CommissioningResidential provision, Fostering, SEND, Tier 4, Welfare Secure

West Midlands Association Directors of Children Services wmadcs@solihull.gov.uk

0121 704 8295

Managing Risk and DemandThe West Midlands data is:

There are 1,265,789, 0-17 year olds

There are 9506 Children in Care, 0-17 year olds

There are 495 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children

The West Midlands region has the highest infant mortality of all 9 regions

Free School Meals eligibility – 29% of Primary School / 33% of Secondary

Front Door and Assessments:• 16.4% Increase in referrals• 11.7% Increase in section 47 enquiries

What we are trying to achieve - Outcomes

– Healthy, happy and resilient children and families

– Families who are able to make positive changes to their behaviour

– Children are able to attend and learn at school

– Young people are ready for adult life

– Children and young people are protected from significant harm

…. TRIANGLES, WINDSCREENS AND STEPS …

A conceptual model -What we are trying to achieve…

•Establishes direction for ALL

•ALL •Embraces community / neighbourhood / locality approaches• the “universal”

A conceptual model -What we are trying to achieve …

• It’s about the FUTURE (outcomes) for all children and

young people –• Inclusive

• equal outcomes

• safe

• No matter how challenging a start in life you have had,

you can make it….

A conceptual model -What we are trying to achieve

• Suggest three groupings for experience of children, young people and families:

• FEW – looked after children / those on CP plans

• SOME – edge of care; moving in/ out of “few” category

• MOST – Sufficient resilience / resources to live through challenges …do not seek help from public agencies

• f + s + m = ALL

The West Midlands Way

Organisational anxiety

Micro-management

Blame culture

Professional self-belief and

morale corroded

Lack of empathy with families and poor practice

Difficult relationships with partners

Reputational loss

• We do not have all the answers, we are still improving ourselves. We can share our experience. Your journey may be different to ours.

• Some conditions for improvement are not in your hands but you are the most important component in fixing it: you can do lots to make things better, whatever is going on around you. Then you will find improvement has started.

• Look at what you can do, in the circumstances as they stand. Systemic, Solution focussed and SMART and remember step change.

13

What Works?

Organisation Style and Context

Organisations need to develop a culture and environment that both allows and

facilitates good practice to take place

Building that environment involves:

• Leadership

• Support and innovation

• Consistent style

• Managing risk and anxiety

• A partnership approach

Doing With

VS.

Doing To

Relationship Based Practice

• Beginning; middle; end

• Working with families amidst crisis and uncertainty

• Seizes the energy of crisis as a powerful change force

• It has a coherent theoretical grounding, not ignoring intuition but not dictated by it

• Relies on understanding family narratives, understanding how past experience affects current attitude and behaviour and how you work to change both

• Facilitates an environment for workers to be skilled and confident in their ability to confront, challenge and resolve

• Powerful approach for workers and they need the right support to anchor it

15

16

Alternate careSupervised contact

Evidence-based interventionWorking agreement

Multiple hypothesisMultiple points of intervention

Context, belief, behaviourBoth/and – risk/protective

Performance indicatorsWritten agreements

No further police reportsPassive compliance

Unallocated casesAvoidance and inconsistent engagement

Not engaging Missed visits

CERTAINTY

SAFE

UNSAFE

‘Towards Positions of Safe Uncertainty’Barry Mason (2008)

UNCERTAINTY

Workforce Development is key - Culture & Style

Thoughtful ,

reflective &

adjusting

practice

Always doing

the best for children

Remaining

aspirantCulture of

accountability

Open &

honest -

no spin

Ownership

and taking

responsibility

Positive ,

supportive whilst

demanding of

high performance

Risk

management

not risk

adverse

Role

generosity

Allow for

difference

Challenge,

innovate &

be proactive

Actively & consistently model

behaviours, performance and

thinking required to reshape our

service and champion the

necessary culture change

High quality

support and

Supervision

Impact of Improvement Journey

• Reduction of children in care

• Reduction in children subject to child protection plans

• Reduction in caseload better qualityPractice

• ReducedCost

• Early help

• Targeted intervention

• Intensive support

Reinvestment and savings

18

– Healthy, happy and resilient children and families

– Families who are able to make positive changes to their behaviour

– Children are able to attend and learn at school

– Young people are ready for adult life

– Children and young people are protected from significant harm

What we are doing

Promoting one conceptual model across the region

• Dialogue with partners

• A public sector holistic approach

• A framework for staff development

• Social work leadership, high challenge and support through learning and supervision

• FutureSocial – recruitment, retention, professional development for all in S.W.

• Relationship based practice – child and family at centre

• A focus at all times on improving outcomes and life chances for children and young people

Results• FutureSocial - Caring, Committed, Courageous Social Work: DfE Innovation Fund, the FutureSocial

programme will receive £1.5 million to raise the quality, improve the practice and create the best working conditions for social workers in the region.

• Migration Fund - £1.9 million - The West Midlands UASC Forum, sponsored by DCS West Midlands will coordinate the training, workforce development needs and service support across the 14 Local Authorities covering Education, Public Health, Health, Social Care and Community Safety working with all local authorities in the West Midlands who have signed up to the National Transfer Scheme and local authorities supporting Dublin III.

• Agency Protocol for Social Work – 14 authorities managing the market and holding the Agency providers to task so they don’t create instability in the system or cause inflation by making LA’s compete with each other to attract agency staff which results in poor outcomes for children and is unsustainable. The outcome from the protocol is a reduction in churn, stability in their placements and achieving significant savings of £46m by 2019

• Piloting self-improving system

• First region to undertake the Return to Social Work programme

The art of the possible• We work best when we find those things we can work together on – the win:win

• We work best when we are focused on outcomes that make the difference to children, young people and families lives

• We work best collaboratively rather than competitively with a ‘can do’ attitude and determination

So what can you do together?Copies of the Managing Risk and Demand prospectus when published:

Please e-mail: wmadcs@solihull.gov.uk or phone Karen on 0121 704 8295