UPDATE NO 359 05 July 2019

Children’s Workforce Network Re-launch

We will be relaunching the network on 30 July 2019 13.00-14.30 (teleconference). Earlier in the year we carried out a survey (receiving 9 responses from the 19 authorities in the region). We have now redesigned the workforce network in light of the findings of the survey. The group will focus on: 

• Identifying innovative solutions to the children workforce challenges experienced in the region
• Sharing good practice
• Collaborative working

The agenda will include

• Recruitment and retention
• Training and development (including the accreditation agenda)
• Promoting workforce resilience
• A regular review of workforce developments and best practice (nationally and internationally)

The meetings are being held bi-monthly  

30 July 2019 13.00-14.30

3 September 2019 13.00-14.30

12 November 13.00-14.30

21 January 2019 9.30-13.00 (face to face meeting at London venue tbc)

The meetings are open to Principal Social Workers, Senior HR officers and others with an interest in the workforce issues. If you would like your authority to be part of the network please contact Mark Evans (details below)

South East Social Work Health Check

We are now collecting returns for the South East Social Work Health Check. If you have completed your health check using our methodology and would like your return benchmarked against others please contact Mark Evans (details below). 

The deadline for submissions is 16 August 2019. 

New Research on Return Home Interviews

Missing People has published research into the value of the return home interview (RHI). Findings from analysis of 585 missing episodes for 214 returned missing children and young people aged 10 and over across three local authority areas in England include:

• 14% of the 214 children were either currently victims of child sexual exploitation at the time of their RHI or had been a victim in the past;
• 8% were either currently a victim of criminal or other form of child exploitation or had been in the past; and
• 21% shared information which suggested they had depression or another mental health issue.

The research found that returned missing children and young people gave more detailed information in RHIs than in interviews with the police. The full report can be found here.

Complex LAC Project

There will be a project meeting for the Complex LAC Project on Wednesday 17 July 2019 – venue somewhere in London. Because all 19 authorities in the South East are now involved, we will need to restrict attendance to 2 people per authority. 

Please contact Rosemary Perry – details below – to arrange your places.

UASC Specific Outcomes Star – Launch 10th July 2019

Launch of UASC Specific Outcomes Star (10 July 2019 10.00-15.30 IOM 297 Euston Road) –  The Outcomes Star is an evidence-based tool that supports and measures change when working with people (children and adults). The South East Strategic Partnership for Migration in partnership with Triangle and Pathways to Independence UK has worked develop an outcome star for use specifically with UASC. The work has been grant funded by the Centre for Controlling Migration and this includes provision for training and licencing costs for all South East Authorities. 

The event is for managers leading work with UASC and more information about the event or the South East Strategic Partnership for Migration contact Roy Millard at South East England Councils – roymillard@secouncils.gov.uk – 01304 872186. The work of SESPM is funded by the Home Office. 

DfE Call for Evidence: Children’s homes workforce. Closes 27 August 2019

The DfE have launched a call for evidence on Children’s Homes Workforce, and invites views on:

• establishing professional registration for roles in children’s homes
• existing approaches to regulating the children’s homes workforce

Responses will inform the DfE’s thinking on where improvements could be made so children in children’s homes receive high-quality care in a safe environment.

The consultation closes on 27 August 2019. Click here for further information

Succession Planning – Needs Analysis

Over the coming months SESLIP will be working with the Staff College to carry out a piece of research about succession planning for senior leadership roles in Children’s Service across the South East. This work is designed to complement a piece of work being undertaken nationally by the DfE which will focus on aspirant DCS’s. Our project concentrates on those who may be interested in second tier roles. 

Your help is needed to ensure the region gets the maximum benefit from this research, please could you assist us by identifying heads of service/service managers and other 3^rd tier roles who would be willing to take part in the online survey and/or the telephone interviews.

Please can you forward names and email addresses to Mark Evans (contact details below).

Data Tools Survey

This is a project we are undertaking with the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, the Christie Foundation, and Social Finance Digital Labs. East Sussex, Brighton & Hove and Bracknell Forest are initially involved in this project. We are interested to find out what tools have been created by LAs, what they are used for, and how far they have spread to other LAs. We have a pretty broad definition of ‘tools’ – anything the sector has created to do analytical or data management tasks and which can be used repeatedly.

Well known examples would be the ChAT, the East Sussex Annex A Child Selector or the Medway LAC 903 Statistics Predictor tool.

We are hoping to find out a bit more about what tools get created, what barriers exist to maintaining and sharing them, and what people might like to see developed in future.

The first steps in this are a survey and colleagues from the What Works Centre and Social Finance have been talking directly to some DCSs. If they get in touch, please take the call and please try to help them help us share better practice across the region.

For more information please contact Alastair Lee (details below).