Every Child Matters Forum (Children, Young People & Families Services Network)

Notes from 20th March 2018 @ Formby PDC

1. Welcome and House Keeping Actions/Information

SMc welcomed members to the March Forum; SMc chairs the Every Child Matters Forum. The forum meets bi-monthly at 3 different venues which are spread across the borough.

Members were advised that all information from today’s meeting will be available on our webpage www.sefton.org.uk/network-forums/ecm and were encouraged to follow the twitter page at @ECMForumSCVS. Uploads of news and information shared by members is also available at this page and in monthly bulletins distributed. If anyone has information which they would like to include in the monthly bulletin please send information to Simone.2. Minutes and Matters arising from the 24TH January 2018

SMc informed members that over the last few months we have asked members to think about what themes you would like to see at the ECM Forum.Thematic areas raised as important to consider via ECM Forum:

• * Increasing the use of volunteers• * Impact of locality working on the VCF sector/ the Locality Model• Reducing resources• Increasing community demand• The need to work in a more collaborative way• SMBC challenges with child protection• Increasing mental health concerns• New data protection issues

*Themes would be the focus of todays agenda in response to this consultation

3. Mike Howlett – Volunteer & Citizenship Lead (Sefton CVS)

Mike Howlett introduced himself as Volunteer & Citizenship Lead, MH manages the Volunteer Centre and Sefton 4 Good. Volunteer Centre Sefton provides support to both volunteer-involving organisations and those looking to volunteer.

The support provided includes: Groups can promote their volunteering roles via our website and online database Bespoke support around volunteering policy, procedure and best practice Volunteer Coordinator Forums Training through the Sefton CVS Masterclass programme Free Volunteer Recognition Certificate Scheme

Last year, Volunteer Centre Sefton provided direct support to 1,127 prospective volunteers.Volunteer Centre Sefton supported 1,014 local groups and organisations with management, recruitment and training of volunteers.

116,952 hours of formal volunteering was recognised in 2017 through the Volunteer Centre’s volunteer certificate scheme. This equates to £1.541 million contribution to the local community.

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Volunteer Centre Sefton is currently advertising 506 live volunteer opportunities on behalf of 335 separate organisations.

MH then went on and informed people about the Year of the Volunteer 2018 -Sefton Council in partnership with Volunteer Centre Sefton and Sefton CVS is dedicating 2018 as the Year of the Volunteer. Following on from 2017 Year of the Coast, Sefton’s thousands of volunteers are currently being celebrated in a year long joint campaign to raise awareness of how much volunteers do for the borough. As part of the Year of the Volunteer, each calendar month will have a focus on a particular theme highlighting volunteers in action.

The Year of the Volunteer launch event was held on Tuesday 6th February at The Atkinson in Southport. As part of the campaign, a dedicated grants initiative called Volunteering 4 Good was announced specifically to support volunteer-involving projects across the borough. The Volunteering 4 good grants pot currently has £15,000. £1000 grants will be given to groups to support volunteering programmes, applications will be opening early April.

MH informed members there were 2 workshop questions he’d like to explore with each table to inform future support that could be provided by Sefton CVS. Each table had 10 minutes to discuss with other members and then we would feedback the information. (Jenny to type feedback up)

Questions:What support or information do you need from Volunteer Centre Sefton?Including how you would like that support deliveredOrWhat challenges do you currently face when involving volunteers in your organisation?

MH informed members if they have any volunteering enquiries then contact him and he will be happy to advise. The volunteer centre is also able to help promote any volunteering roles that you may have. SMc thanked MH for attending today’s forum.

Workshop notes

4. Jacqui Finlay (North Area Manager -Sefton Council) – Locality Working / Nigel Bellamy - Deputy Chief Executive Sefton CVS – Restructure

4.1 Jacqui Finlay introduced herself and informed members that she would be giving a presentation on Locality working & Family well-being (the way forward). The new working title ‘Locality Work’ is part of Sefton’s agreement to a new way of working as part of its Transformation work, which includes finding significant cost saving. The overall aims are to: Work together so everyone has access to excellent information and advice and also to

improve access to digital technology Work together share information and explore new solutions with our community to make a

positive difference to peoples lives. Encourage people to be more self efficient Bring together council teams/services to provide more joined up support for people and

families.

The new structure in which the council will work will be 3 localities of integrated teams which cover the whole of the borough. Appointed so far are 1 service manager in each locality (Jacqui Finlay – North, Ros Stanley – Mid, Ian Willman – South) and a team of 6 managers within each locality. Further workforce restructuring is now to be undertaken to allow for a more generic model of working by staff in each locality.JF informed members that over the past 12 months the local authority have been looking at how they

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achieve a £1 million saving as part of this work across Children’s Centres and Family Centres which is the cost saving target given. A model for a family well-being service has been put forward which would merge the work of children’s centres and family centre’s and enable all centres to remain open across. The offer will be different however as the age range would extend to 0-19 and services and support provided will be reviewed via current consultation activity, e.g. if there are sessions such as stay and play being offered by leisure centres and other settings these arte unlikely to be continued in children’s centres, and if they are a charging policy may be applied. Engagement sessions have been put in place to consult on the model and 200 have people have attended over the 3 sessions.

JF then moved on to talk about ‘Sefton Community First’ - Sefton Community First’ is a joined-up approach which will engage, empower and enable our residents to be ready, willing and able to make positive changes to their lives.Sefton Community First will be a fully integrated model(including the family wellbeing theme discussed) that will see children, young people, adults of any age and families at the heart of what we do. Working alongside our partners, commissioned and non-commissioned services we will strive to deliver the quality the community deserves, in a more efficient and effective way.By working with people earlier we can prevent their needs escalating into more acute, intrusive and costly services.

Sefton Council will achieve this by delivering proposed outcomes within an ASPIRE model which is to:Address worklessness, financial and social exclusionsSupport Families and Individuals in Need by providing the right supportPromote Education, Training, Employment and VolunteeringIncrease attendance at schools, improve speech and language development and levels of progress that children and young people makeReduce Domestic Abuse, risk of homelessness and isolationEngage Children, Families and Individuals with a range of Health and Wellbeing Needs

The principles of Sefton Community First:

• Move away from a ‘done-unto’ assessment process and instead provide an opportunity for shared conversations between the key worker and the individual or family.

• The approach recognises where any individual or family are now and jointly identifies the necessary steps required for them to get to where they want to be.

• It is a joint, time limited approach which empowers those involved to see a lasting change, which will focus on strengths.

• Sefton Community First will adopted a whole family approach to identify what needs to be done and what action needs to be taken

• The offer will promote resilience and strengthen family life through working together and where possible re-engaging with universal services

SMc Thanked Jacqui for presenting at the forum. NF (SWACA) also represented his appreciation for the clarity given in the delivery of the presentation which communicated well the restructure changes and aims.

SMc then welcomed Nigel Bellamy (Deputy Chief Executive of Sefton CVS) to introduce the current locality focussed restructure as lo taking place within CVS.

4.2 NB informed members that Sefton CVS were under going a restructure also; this is due to impact of reduced funding and also to improve ways of working with the sector. CVS are working closer with local authority to avoid duplication within the services provided across Sefton and will be focusing on

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locality level support which mirrors the councils models. Within CVS there will be 3 teams which will include an Area Lead in North, South & Central Sefton. Each area lead will also have thematic specialism. These are, South - Children, Central - Equalities & Mental Health and North - Older People. Thematic work will be cross borough. Area Leads will manage a team of people which will include an Area development office & Volunteer Citizenship officer, as well as any assets in their locality such as the CVS community centre in the North of borough. There will 3 further new roles which are a Policy and Impact officer, Governance, Policy and Research Assistant and IT, Social media & web assistant. The restructure will hopefully be in place by June 2018 and it is hoped there will be a significant focus on engagement work with groups to provide a lot more hands on support with areas such as fundraising and governance. CVS will also be looking at how the forums work e.g. if it would be ideal to merge the adults & children’s forum, how we can best engage with those who cant make meetings on a locality basis etc.A further update can be provided at the May ECM Forum.SMc thanked NB for giving an update to members.5. Updates from ambassadors

Health Watch – Due to Ann Taylor sadly not being active due to ill health, we have an interim vacancy for a member to represent the ECM forum at the Health Watch Steering Group – If anyone would be interested please contact Simone.

Health and Wellbeing Board – Lorraine Webb advised there is a current review of the Sefton Children’s Plan taking place. Most engagement work is taking place under priority 4 (emotional health) which is being led by Julie Murray (Public Health)

Next CYP Emotional Health and Wellbeing Network meeting:Tuesday 17th April 2018, 4:00pm to 6:00pm @ Our Place, Sefton Care Leavers Centre, Brunswick Place, The Esplanade, Waterloo, L22 5RN – Key areas of work include considering funding opportunities which will enable schools to provide more emotional wellbeing support and the development of an online web resource which promotes support available in Sefton. There is also input to the revisions of priority 4 (emotional health) in the Children’s Plan for Sefton.

Next Children with Additional Needs (CWAN) Network meeting:Thursday 14th June 2018, 1.00am -12.00, Venue TBC – Key areas of work being looked at include the ongoing Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) implementation, Monitoring of Ofsted action plan and Transport. Contact Emma.Lambert@seftoncvs.org.uk

New Ambassadors: Simone welcomed Neil Frackelton (SWACA) and Anne Woodruff (YKids) who joined the ambassador’s team this year and have been contributing to planning of the ECM Forum and voice of the Vol sector.

6. Members information sharing

Sefton Carers Centre – Young Carers Contract Update John Hill & Ruth Kinahan were in attendance to represent the service. Scott Jones had to send apologies. JH informed members of the young carers support service and explained what their role is and what the aims of the service are:

• Provide all of Sefton young carers with the best possible start in life• Prevent young carers from undertaking inappropriate and or excessive caring roles• Normalise childhood as far as it is possible• Raise educational attainment by improving school and college attendance• Improve life chances and help young carers achieve their full potential

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A piece of work they are undertaking as part of the contract is to support all Sefton schools to achieve the Young Carers in Schools Award.Full details of the service are attached..

Sefton National Citizen Service Update - Katherine Cline Senior Project Coordinator (Sefton & Wirral) Catch22 National Citizen Service – Katherine.cline@catch-22.org.uk

Katy Cline from Catch22 informed members of the NCS programme which is offered to 15-17 year olds who are finishing year 11 in school and are from Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton & Knowsley area. The programme is a 4 week programme which includes a residential for the first 2 weeks and the last 2 weeks are volunteering in their community (60 hours volunteering). They usually recruit through main stream schools but would also like to see Children with additional needs attending the programme which it is hoped forum members could support with. For children with additional needs the age can be increased to 15-25 year olds. EL raised that a number of children from her project (Buddy up) had accessed the programme with success. Some children with more complex needs though may not be suited to the programme. It was felt more could be done to plan for this which members could support with advising on. SMc suggested a meeting could take place to explore this which she would be happy to coordinate.For more information please contact Katherine. E katherine.cline@catch-22.org.uk T: 0151 546 5120 M: 07872415996

Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Stakeholder Event Friday 27th April, 10.30am to 3.30pm Venue: Valentines Suite, Aintree Racecourse, Ormskirk Road, Liverpool, L9 5AS E:public.health@sefton.gov.ukTraining Development Focus Group – addressing healthy weights (Food Active Led) Julie.Murray@sefton.gov

E-Bulletin Items – Please send Simone any information you would like to add to the ECM monthly bulletin

Action: KC and CVs reps to meet to explore recruitment of children with additional needs.

7. Next ECM Forum

Laura thanked the speakers for their presentations and members for attending the Forum.Next ECM Forum:

DATE: Wednesday 23rd May 2018TIME: 9am – 12.30pm

VENUE: Waterside Lodge Marine Drive, Southport, PR8 1RYWeb: www.seftoncvs.org.uk/ecm/

Twitter: @ECMForumSCVSFollow the ECM Forum on Twitter @ECMForumSCVS

Check out our web page and fortnightly bulletins at seftoncvs.org.uk/networks-forums/ ecm /

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