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2022 Board meeting summaries

Please click on the plus icon of each header to read the Board meeting summary for the given date.

The Board began the meeting by indicating what they would like to have a positive influence on this year. 

  • The Board collectively discussed their concerns with inflation and costs going up, pressures on recruiting and retaining professionally qualified staff within the workforce; there is now growth in the budget for AfC to become an employer of choice in a competitive market place. 
  • Supporting AfC’s digital transformation journey with lots of changes coming up over the next few years implementing new technologies, supporting this with engagement with our young people and families as well as the workforce. 
  • Continued positive partnership working between AFC and adult services bringing some ideas across to AFC and exploring the learnings. 
  • More engagement with our young people to hear their voices. 
  • The board discussed how to work more effectively with the voluntary and community sector.
  • There have been some interesting conversations that have taken place recently with grant funded providers with some big organisations; there are opportunities to be part of our journey.

Updates from Board members, including safeguarding update

Jeremy DeSouza attended the quarterly safeguarding meeting; there was a good positive engagement from members and a good understanding of the issues. Safeguarding performance for all boroughs was very comprehensive. Directors presenting on performance had clear actions around areas of performance that needed to improve. The Board noted that assurances come through KPIs, DCS reports but also want to be able to influence issues in the whole system, especially with what has been happening in the news of late. Agreed that a proposal would be put forward as to what is appropriate to come to the AfC Board to look at collectively to ensure that the AfC Board have the right assurances i.e around safeguarding.

Nikki Craig attended RBWM Youth Council and again the young people want to be more engaged, involved and give their input. A proposal to have wider conversations about appropriateness of sharing a forward plan with the young people and their involvement will be brought to the next Board.

Charlotte Rohan updated the Board members on her attendance at the last business development working group meeting with discussions around improving the website with the right information, and for the board to engage in networking.

Director of Children’s Services updates (RBWM)

  • The Education Paper being an extensive report that has been scrutinised by RBWM scrutiny panel and endorsed by the cabinet which sets out progress that's been measured during the pandemic, issues with individual children living with disadvantage and or anxieties due to the pandemic, increasing but relatively small number of children struggling to stick with education.
  • Social Care - Safeguarding quarterly review has seen an increasing number of contacts to the front door that are resulting in a section 47 investigation.
  • Budget at council - significant growth to enable growth of recruitment of social workers which will start to bring down caseloads.
  • Business Service development - focus this year on moving IT platforms.

Chief Operating and Finance Officer update

Key points covered: 

  • Quarter 3 finance update which has not dramatically changed since the previous board meetings; significant pressures across the three boroughs continue - overspend, EHCP plans and complexity of EHCP plans, step up in complexity of needs of young people coming into care, national inflation increases, increase in costs of placements and shortfall of specialist placements.
  • Board Assurance Framework - recruitment and retention executive concern has escalated as there is impact on services and finances. 
  • Covid - moved to new normal on the recovery rainbow.
  • External auditors - now appointed and confident the service they will provide will meet AfC’s needs.
  • New recruitment campaign with members of staff talking about their roles and working in AfC.

Quarterly business plan and project update

An officer provided an update for Quarter 3 of AfC’s Business Plan and Projects - currently 84 projects are being monitored with 41.6% completed; 48.8% on track to complete and 8.3% not on target. 

AfC budget and AfC business plan

Budgets and the five year business plan was discussed in detail. Board members raised questions and all were answered satisfactorily. The Board agreed to approve the budget and the business plan.

ICT investment

Officers gave the board an overview of the AfC digital world infrastructure and IT arrangements and business systems. The Board were updated that this investment plan is for Kingston and Richmond; Windsor and Maidenhead is currently being worked on.

Chairperson’s update

Elections in Richmond and Kingston took place at the beginning of May. 

Quality and safety

  • Children’s services in Kingston, Richmond and RBWM remain strong.
  • Richmond received a ‘good’ in January 2022 Ofsted’s inspection of children’s social care and early help.
  • ‘Good’ in RBWM and an ‘outstanding ' rating in Kingston. A huge achievement given the pressures of the last few years.
  • There are follow up inspections: Front door Kingston, focused inspection.
  • RBWM - the unexpected Joint Targeted Area Inspection which primarily found that children are safe. Send transformation has seen progress across the boroughs and in line with the safety value agreement for Richmond and Kingston. RBWM - a draft deficit management plan although a significant improvement. 
  • Children and young people we have a proposal from Nicky and Nathan to discuss and agree improvements in engagement 

People:

  • Recruitment and retention remain one of the biggest challenges, although there has been a reduction this quarter in staff turnover and agency usage. Plans to mitigate.
  • Hybrid working model is in place. Covid recovery rainbow now in business as usual as the risks and mitigation is integrated in everything we do.

Financial sustainability and growth:

  • Financial position did improve in Q4 there were still significant overspends which have been fully-funded via the contract change controls.
  • Two significant risks are the impact of inflation and the ongoing recruitment and retention of staff.
  • Special projects to discuss. 
  • Implement the sufficient strategy

Children and young people Board engagement

Young people are keen to move forward with engagement by board members attending their meetings, board support with AfC and knowledge of what they are doing. The Board fully supports engagement and will work with Officers and Directors to progress this.

Board updates and safeguarding

Board members have attended the SEND Partnership Board and safeguarding meeting held in April. 

Serious incident case review has been completed and there is learning from this. A safeguarding plan will be considered to reassure Board members that there are appropriate procedures in place and being followed, and annual safeguarding reports to the Board.

Good discussions around the schools white paper plan, what would be AfC position around setting its own Multi Academy Trust for special education needs schools. Nothing was agreed as there are ongoing conversations and the consultations are ongoing until the end of July 2022.

HR transformation

HR transformation has been introduced and is now in-house. New system is working well. New occupational health provider and a managed payroll service is in place. Board members noted the hard work involved and echoed their thanks to all involved.

Director of Children’s Services updates

Windsor and Maidenhead highlights

  • A Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) was unexpectedly carried out which reviewed how the Single Point of Access / Front Door identifies and responds to risk and need at the front door. Areas for development have been identified and an action plan will be developed. 
  • Social care performance - increases in contacts through the front door have increased which is increasing work for the Duty and Assessment team; staffing increased accordingly. 
  • Teaching training service secured a ‘good’ judgement.

Kingston and Richmond highlights

  • Two recent inspections with Richmond being ‘Good’ along with the two day inspection.
  • Significant shortage of therapies and therapists; looking to recruit from overseas as not only a national issue but an international issue.
  • Apprenticeships schemes commenced.
  • Workforce strategy and success planning to be developed.
  • With Your Healthcare, looking to have shared posts and secondments to work in partnership in a multi-agency team i.e. speech and language therapy model works well so considering to replicate this in other health areas.

Quarterly business plan and project update

Progress and monitoring takes place on the 84 projects across AfC. There is a framework and templates that the service works with effectively. More communication about project management needs to be cascaded throughout AfC.

Chief Operating and Finance Officer update

Report draws out the significant executive concerns, which mostly align with where we're not meeting the appropriate level of board assurance. The cost of living previously discussed is a new risk following the workshop has now been added to the board assurance framework. Recruitment and retention and the level of vacancies  There are significant overspends across sort of general fund areas as well as the dedicated schools grant areas. Although the overspends are significant, there was some improvement at the end of the year, which is a positive thing.

Report from the Chairperson

Significant inflation issues, new CEO for London Borough of Richmond and Royal Borough Windsor and Maidenhead in the Autumn, Ownership Board taking place in September.

Children and young people Board engagement

Meeting held with the Director of Children’s Services for all three boroughs about CYP engagement with the Board who are supportive to the plan and the following recommendations:

  • Board to have joined up CYP meetings once a term 3 x per year across the three local authorities to have a synchronised approach from September 2022 from the nine CYP groups across the three boroughs.
  • To hold an annual half day event for CYP to celebrate achievements etc and going forward will be more inclusive in the coming years.
  • Full board meetings to include 5-10 minute messages from the CYP directly.
  • The Buddy system - more clarity is needed; to be put on hold until 2023.

Updates from Board members and safeguarding

  • Board members continue to liaise with staff and be informed of work practices for their areas of responsibility. 
  • Safeguarding contingency plan in place along with a business continuity plan for RBWM.
  • Safeguarding updates for Kingston and Richmond and the SEND Partnership Board work were provided to the Board.
  • Sufficiency planning, mapping and best practice working continues.

Audit and Risk Committee update

The Audit and Risk Committee met in March 2022 and the following was highlighted:

  • Sufficiency Strategy was reviewed
  • Signed-off annual reports and accounts to come to this board 
  • The external audit report by CROWE was positive 
  • Reviewed internal audit plan for year coming up 
  • Risk register and business assurance framework was discussed 
  • Looked into cyber security and approved a proposed plan going forward to review our approach to cyber security across AfC. 

Quarterly business plan and project update

A quarterly update was well-received by the Board. Board members requested the following for future updates:

  • Commentary in future of direction of travel 
  • Colour coding for savings targets if at risk of being achieved
  • Progress of updates to be shown in a new column with a route from amber to green / amber to red etc.
  • Savings targets with risk of delivery for future updates.

Children’s home business case

Business case was presented to the Board for a second provision for RBK - a three bedroom smaller residential purpose built for children with complex needs working in conjunction with Hope House as the level of need has increased by 14% over the last four years. 

A detailed discussion took place and it was agreed that more details about the delivery model, sufficient strategy and occupancy is required over the coming months.

Updates from Directors of Children’s Services for RBWM and Kingston and Richmond

Updates were provided to the Board and covered:

  • JTAI action plan, recruitment and retention continues to be a challenge.

Safeguarding annual reports

RBWM - partnership annual report for 21/22 was distributed to Board members. RBWM has adopted the Berkshire method dealing with the contextual model across oversight and overview. LBR and RBK have a similar model in what’s gone well and priorities with similar themes; a report will be available later this year.

COFO Executive update

Recruitment and retention remains a focus with a social media campaign. Inflation and cost of living continue to make managing budgets difficult. Level of need and complexity is increasing social workers caseloads and impacting on performance. New AfC intranet has been launched, is proving popular and being used by staff. 

 AfC has three websites

  •  1. RBK and LBR on the service users side for parents and young people 
  •  2. Corporate website - for partners i.e. IFA 
  •  3. RBWM children and young people /families

Annual reports and accounts 

The Chief Operating and Finance Officer reported a good closing year for accounts; the Board agreed the accounts. Next steps are for the accounts to be signed off, sent to Companies House and published on the website.

Update from the Chairperson

Numerous quality and safety inspections have taken place.

Big focus on recruitment and retention at the moment.

Inflation continues to have a big impact on meeting demands for young people and the workforce.

Virtual School

A presentation by the Virtual School was given to the Board highlighting 2020 and 2021 work.

Updates from Board members 

  • The Ofsted Inspection was held in Richmond during October. 
  • A SEND Futures Conference was held and attended by one of the Board Members.
  • Two board members continue to engage with the young people across the three boroughs; an information booklet has been produced which shows the likes and dislikes of the board members which will go out to the young people who are involved with the various Youth Councils, Children in Care Council, Young Girls Forum etc. 
  • One board member has been engaging with young people in Kingston to get their views on a design for a youth club. 
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Network organised a successful Black History Month with various events happening across the three boroughs with good engagement from staff.

Audit and Risk Committee update

Most of the Board members attended the last Audit and Risk Committee. A detailed discussion took place on budget setting. No issues to escalate.

Quarterly business plan and project update

Amendments have been made to reporting as requested by Board members at the last Board meeting. This will enable monitoring of direction of travel and track progress. There are currently 78 projects overall being managed by the Projects Team with projects rated GREEN (46%) completed, AMBER (38%) on track to completion and RED (14%) where there are concerns and not on target. Projects that are currently of concern are; Financial and efficiency savings; SEND transport in Richmond; supported accommodation, reducing placements costs and procurement and commissioning of contracts in RBK and LBR; efficiency and best practice RBWM. These projects will be monitored closely.

Updates from Directors of Children’s Services across Kingston, Richmond and Windsor and Maidenhead

  • All children with complex needs and disabilities placed in residential specialist schools were reviewed and reported on as part of the requirement from the National Child Safeguarding Practice review. This work was carried out in all the three boroughs.
  • Corporate Parenting Forum in RBWM takes on a new format with five workstreams focusing on specific areas: your voice, your health, your education, your independence and your safety and stability.
  • Increased demand and complexity of cases, budgets and Issues with recruitment and retention continue to remain a concern for all through boroughs.
  • The SEND revisit noted significant progress has been made from the SEND Kingston inspection in 2018 
  • School places is an area of concern with a lot of movement into RBK and LBR of families and movement within the boroughs. 
  • RBK and LBR have had just under 700 new arrivals since 2021, from Hong Kong, which means it's really difficult to have any spare school places, putting pressure on the Admissions team.
  • In RBWM, a second refugee hotel has been identified and the council is now over its quota of taking young asylum seekers as part of the mandatory national transfer scheme.
  • High cost specialist placements for a small number of young people puts strain on the budget in RBK / LBR.

Report from the Chairperson of the AfC Board

The chairperson reflected on 2022 which has been a very busy year for AfC with a huge amount of achievement. Thanks go to the whole of the Executive team, direct reports and all the teams. From reports received over the year, AfC are delivering a high quality service and keeping children safe. Thanks also go to the Board for continuing to be engaged, being involved and doing key pieces of work.

Health and safety review

The Board received the Health and Safety Review 2022 which looked back and evaluated what is currently in place at AfC. Health and Safety has a wide remit covering many subjects like, fire, building access, playground equipment and workforce safety. The Health and Safety Action Plan identified old and new tasks which will be taken forward into 2023 and beyond. A new team - Safety and Premises Management - is in place who are building up relationships with Facilities Management across all 3 boroughs and buildings where there are offices and venues/facilities used by the AfC workforce and children and families that we work with. There is a good level of assurance and checks happening and building lead personnel are carrying out audits and working through checklists. 

Updates from Board members

The chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee gave an update on the committee’s activities from the last 3 months. A good internal audit update has been received from Kingston and Richmond Corporate Services. There will be an internal audit programme of activity for Windsor and Maidenhead from 2023. Business continuity and cyber security have interdependencies with the three councils that are intricate and further discussion will take place. 2023/24 budget setting activity is taking place across all three councils.

Each board member has made a short video about their role as a board member and their interests which has been shown at a number of young people engagement events and been well-received. The young people would like the board members to participate in their various events and forums and have asked to be more involved where decisions are made that impact children and young people. The Board recognised that communication and engagement is important for the young people but this can be in a variety of formats - i.e. engagement, consultation, co-production etc.

Updates from Directors of Children’s Services across Kingston, Richmond and Windsor and Maidenhead

  • Budget setting for 2023/24 continues to be a priority.
  • Significant challenges around recruitment and retention continue to be a concern with shortages of therapists, health visitors and social workers.
  • There is an increase in care placements with high complex needs, SEND specialist school placements, high number of admissions, complexities of cases i.e. mental health issues, higher court proceeding cases are all impacting on caseloads. 
  • Workloads are currently high due to post pandemic cases and team leaders holding some cases which is not an ideal situation to be in. Added to this is the cost of living pressures which results in families and young people reaching out / needing AfC support. Staff are getting support from colleagues and managers. AfC recognises that having high cases over a sustained period there needs to be support mechanisms in place and offered as much as possible.

Budget

Councils have been clear that the continued overspend in each year isn’t affordable and the councils have pushed AfC to the limit in this budget setting to find savings and reduce costs of children’s services. Whilst councils are supportive of investing in children’s services, the councils are in difficult financial situations and they have a legal requirement to balance budgets and children’s services falls within this remit.

The number of children and young people that AfC are supporting has increased and the brokerage teams are working hard on keeping inflation increases to a minimum with suppliers of placements. The pandemic, cost of living and buying more of a higher level of service for children and young people has impacted on growth projections. There have been lots of discussions with the councils about building in inflation costs.