Skip to main content

{{ root_page.title }}

2023 Board meeting summaries

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

Report from the Chairperson

Board members were asked by the Chairperson what their key priorities were for 2023 and the following were noted:

  • understanding the budget and issues, financial constraints, risks in keeping children safe if budgets reduced further, business plan, concern of only being able to offer statutory services if budgets are restricted
  • recruitment and retention of the workforce 
  • how staff are dealing with increased and more complex caseloads and managing their wellbeing
  • voices of the child, young person and families are heard
  • being clear what we are asking of the Councils.

Updates from the Board members

Kingston officers are working with AfC to have young people from the Youth Council represented on the regeneration projects that are being formed across Kingston and Richmond. It is hoped that the young people will engage in dialogue with housing providers, council officers, architects etc to influence policy at council level and be heard.

A video was shown to the board members which had been compiled by representatives of the 9 forums/groups which are young people led and where there is engagement - Kingston and Richmond Youth Council, Windsor and Maidenhead Youth Council, Windsor and Maidenhead Kickback, Mental Health Champion, Young Health Champion, the Esteem Group, Girls Forum, Children in Care Councils, Racism and Recruits Crew for SEND. The video contents covered a range of issues that mean the most to the young people involved in these groups. The Board members were delighted to view this video and hear from the young people directly. 

Windsor and Maidenhead - Director of Children’s Social Care update

  • Very busy times and challenging budget. 
  • Windsor and Maidenhead received a 'Good' rating from the CGC for the Health Visiting School Nursing first inspection held at the end of last year 2022. 
  • SEND - review with DfE on accelerated progress plan on 6 March 2023. If come off plan will go into the inspection window and therefore will be expecting an inspection in the summer.
  • Now in window for the next ILACS window.
  • EHCP continue to be high.
  • Front door drop in contacts coming through; means a drop in referrals going through to social care for assessments.
  • Small drop in strategy meetings required; small increase of number of children on a CIN plan and beginning to see less children in care.
  • Demand high but slowing and beginning to feel a bit more manageable.
  • Challenging times with regard to recruitment and retention - social workers and health visiting. 
  • Employment Tribunal likely to happen at the end of year.
  • Invest to save money being used to create a new team and a project officer role.
  • Building on the Families First model into Ops 2; this will be built into what is already in place.
  • Looking at complex families to see who services can be more joined up to support the families.

Innovative ways in meeting demands to keep statutory numbers of visits and children seen under 5 years of age has been carried out and has been acknowledged by the Board. 

The Board thanked and congratulated staff on the GOOD rating for the Health Visiting and School Nursing first inspection. Great work has been done to maintain being inspection ready throughout the pandemic. 

Richmond and Kingston - Director of Children’s Services

  • Contacts and referrals have plateaued but at a higher level than before.
  • Increase in CIN work, children subject to plans and CP in care are stable, can see where most need is i.e. S17 level.
  • Recruitment of staff continues to be an issue which impacts on caseloads.
  • Placement efficiency is a challenge particular care placements and now seeing a number of high cost placements.
  • Received funding to roll out to all schools mental health practitioners in all primary and secondary schools in Richmond.

SEND Futures update

The Programme Director attended the Board and provided an update on the SEND Futures Plan work. This is a programme of work to improve the outcomes for children and young people 0 - 25 years with SEND across Education, Health and Social Care and financial stability.

Five key areas:

  • Support being provided to mainstream schools to identify need as early as possible and intervene and support where necessary. 
  • SEND Placement Commissioning Team established. 
  • Expansion of specialist places in schools and new schools.
  • Total number of EHCPs issued will come in on target due to EHCPs closing/ceasing though issuing EHCPs has increased.
  • People - there are challenges within local systems eg, shortage of staff in AfC, schools, health and early years providers. Participation officer now appointed and due to start. Ongoing issues with recruitment being reported by schools for support staff as hourly wage less attractive compared to other jobs; this is a vital role for schools and AfC is looking at ways in which to support schools. 

Written Statement of Action

No longer exists for Kingston. Local Area had revised visit in October 2022 - 4 areas all judged to have made significant progress.

In Richmond, there is still the Written Statement of Action relating to transitioning to Adult Services which stems from Local Area Inspection in June 2021. DE and NHS England continue to monitor progress and July 2022 visit reviewed the four areas of transitioning to Adult Services:

  • quality of outcomes in plan
  • annual report process
  • pathway planning
  • health pathways transitions

First three above were identified as being on track and during the July 2022 visit health transitions were flagged as critical so a return visit took place in November 2022. An additional interim monitoring meeting will be held in February 2023 to look at the health pathway transition. 

Education annual report and performance

The Board was updated on the Education Annual Report and Performance for Windsor and Maidenhead. The Board noted the borough’s good performance, hard work and support being given to schools as well as schools doing outstanding work with children and young people.

Chief Operating and Finance Officer update

The Board considered two issues raised by the COFO which had been reviewed in detail at the Audit and Risk Committee on 15 January 2023.

  • impact of inflation and what the impact that this has on AfC’s financial position and affordability
  • recruitment which then transitions into manageable caseloads, impact on teams, services are safe.

Budget and medium term financial strategy

The Board agreed to the 2023/24 budget that will go forward to the councils for approval. Ultimately this is a reserved matter decision for the three councils, however the AfC Board approval was sought. The combination of inflationary, demand pressures and savings required means that 2023/24 will be another challenging year in financial terms. 

Business plans

AfC’s business planning cycle runs over a five year period, with 2023 being the last year of the current business plan. Therefore work will commence in March 2023 on the next business plan: 2023-2028. AfC’s business plan will have strategic priorities, priority programmes and include the AfC values. There will be activities to engage the AfC Board, key stakeholders, children and young people, parents, partners, staff etc to contribute to the new format of a five year plan.

This was the first meeting of 2023 as the meeting planned for 27 March 2023 was cancelled and scheduled reports for discussion were carried forward to the May 2023 AfC Board meeting.  Observing this Board was the new Chief Executive for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Board members’ main priorities for this meeting were:

  • workforce, recruitment and retention
  • sufficiency strategy
  • engagement and feedback to young people from today’s meeting

Engagement with young people 

A video was shown to the board members which had been compiled by representatives of the nine forums/groups which are young people led and where there is engagement - Kingston and Richmond Youth Council, Windsor and Maidenhead Youth Council, Windsor and Maidenhead Kickback, Mental Health Champion, Young Health Champion, the Esteem Group, Girls Forum, Children in Care Councils, Racism and Recruits Care for SEND. The video contents covered a range of issues that mean the most to the young people involved in these groups and cover the period February - May 2023 activity. 

The Board members were delighted to view this video and hear from the young people directly and acknowledged the young people are confident in articulating activities they are engaged with. The Board noted that all project groups want to continue to engage with AfC Board members and will consider opportunities for young people to see the workings of local government.

The Board notes that If asking for feedback from young people, this shouldn’t be made difficult for them, eg. a lengthy form to complete or a report to write. It is far easier for adults to have conversations and ask specific questions to the young people, seeing them face to face and listening to their views.

Nikki Craig reported to the Board that she attended a Kingston event which looked at regeneration of the borough. There were young people also present and they contributed that their priorities and areas of concerns were homelessness, lack of public toilets, accessibility for disabled people, eg. wheelchair users, and that they would travel to other places rather than spend time in Kingston. Hearing young people’s voices about policy and planning services in boroughs outside of an AfC environment was powerful.

The Board were asked to consider a request put forward by the 14 young people who lead the project groups, CiCC and the youth Council for funding to recognise their commitment, involvement and contribution in these groups.  

The Board agreed they want to recognise the young people for their time and will look at costing this proposal and bring it back to the next AfC Board meeting in July 2023.

Sufficiency strategy

Matthew Edwards attended for this item and gave the Board members an overview of the sufficiency strategy by way of the context, duty, principles, current landscape and deliverables. The board is asked to consider the right form of travel for the councils with tangible plans and then the councils will need to join together and work on this.

A detailed discussion took place with the Board noting that AfC should be very clear about what the organisation does in the space of being a provider for placements. The strategy should link in and connect with the social care model AfC is providing and that more work needs to be done around children and young people with medical needs. The Board acknowledged more joined up working with Health ie work sub regionally with Integrated Care Boards or regional partnerships to be better placed to deliver high cost low incidences placements so as not to be just in a position of being a provider. Currently AfC is, by default, becoming a provider; responsiveness of decision making needs to improve in order to change and act in a timely manner to the changing climate.

Workforce report and staff survey 2023 results

The Workforce report was circulated in advance of the meeting and Gill Goouch presented the staff survey results to the Board. A recruitment and retention task group has been set up to focus on both areas but the main focus in the first instance is on retention of staff. The HR team are considering how to recognise and reward the workforce and be supported in the workplace, how to support managers to recruit and bring in capacity to assist managers to source applicants.  A detailed discussion followed. To help with recruitment and retention, Board members were asked to reinforce the staff recognition scheme and encourage staff to recommend people to vacancies. Any suggestions from Board members as to what is being done outside of the public sector would be of value to recruit and retain employees. 

Windsor and Maidenhead - Director of Children’s Social Care update

  • Cabinet member meeting with Lin Ferguson
  • Sadly four young people have recently taken their own lives. Taking individual action and reviewing suicide response across the partnership which will be a focus over the next few months. Support is being offered to peers and students, with Educational Psychology teams reaching out to school personnel and students as well.
  • School admissions - 21 girls waiting for placements, all discussions are open and hoping to rectify the situation.
  • Budget for 2023/24 - both general funding and designated school budget - increase demand, units costs increase. All managers are involved in the process, the budget is being scrutinised and the AfC Board will be kept informed.

The Board noted the Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report in the two versions available - easy read and full. The DCS provided assurance to the Board on key service issues and the Board has had the opportunity to comment and ask questions.

Richmond and Kingston - Director of Children’s Services

  • Hope House - RBK’s registered children’s home has young people and joint working between Hope House and the placements team to identify other suitable young people to live there.
  • Free school meal level of funding provided by the Government from September 2023 for pupils in years 3, 4, 5 and 6.
  • Family Hub update, in line with Kingston’s one stop services into one place 
  • Staffing update of senior managers and succession planning

The Board noted the Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report in the two versions available - easy read and full. The DCS provided assurance to the Board on key service issues and the Board has had the opportunity to comment and ask questions.

Clinical governance

The Board was updated on two clinical risks identified in the last six months:

  • staffing capacity in particular recruit and retain health visitors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists. Positively all children’s nursing roles are filled.
  • one serious incident notification for the AfC Board to note which related to the death by suicide of a child on the waiting list for the Emotional Health Service. The learning from the serious incident relates to information-sharing between services and support for practitioners when dealing with the death of a service-user.

AfC will be looking to work with Health for safeguarding supervision to support professionals in dealing with difficult casework ie a child death by suicide whilst waiting for mental health assessment.

Chief Operating and Finance Officer report

Lucy Kourpas provided the following summary of executive concerns:

  • sufficiency strategy and impact on quality and cost of placements
  • health and safety and wellbeing - staff workloads, impact on staff wellbeing, be proactive in this space

2022/23 priority programme annual report

An overview of progress with projects across Achieving for Children during Quarter 4 of 2022/23 was given to the Board members.

25 key projects have been completed, either efficiency related or priority projects during 2022/23 with 5 notable ones as follows:

  • Implementation of new in-house HR service across the whole organisation.
  • Implementation of the Families First model in Kingston and Richmond, with evaluation planned for October 2023.
  • Completion of the early help strategy, partnership model and operating model in Kingston and Richmond.
  • Successful bid for a new special school in RBWM.
  • Successful planning for two new Specialist Resource Provisions in RBWM in 2023, with a further two planned for next year.

AfC Board approval granted

The Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) Senior Officer Pay Award to be paid for Chief Officers effective from April 2023 of 3.5% backdated to 1 April 2023 was approved by the AfC Board.

Update from Chair of Audit and Risk Committee

An update from the Chairperson of Audit and Risk Committee (ARAC) was provided to the AfC Board from the committee held on 19 June 2023. Positive reports have been received from the external auditors, Crowe, and audit partners - South West London Audit Partnership (Richmond and Kingston) and the South West Audit Partnership (Windsor and Maidenhead). Ongoing savings for the financial year 2023/24 were noted.

Approval of annual report and accounts 2022/23

The AfC Board formally signed off the 2022-23: 

  • Annual Report and Statement of Action
  • Crowe’s Audit Findings report
  • Letter of Representation

Engagement with young people (video and verbal)

The AfC Board were informed that the young people representing the 9 groups/forums across the three boroughs met together.

A video was shown to the board members which had been compiled by representatives of the nine forums/groups which are young people led and where there is engagement - Kingston and Richmond Youth Council, Windsor and Maidenhead Youth Council, Windsor and Maidenhead Kickback, Mental Health Champion, Young Health Champion, the Esteem Group, Girls Forum, Children in Care Councils, Racism and Recruits Care for SEND. The video contents covered a range of issues that mean the most to the young people involved in these groups and cover the period May-July 2023 activity. 

Two of the Board members, Nikki Craig and Nathan Nagaiah, met with representatives from the nine groups/forums/councils (Children in Care Council and Youth Council) and received feedback from a group of young inspectors who visited two semi independent living accommodation for young people leaving care and unaccompanied asylum seeking children. 

They viewed the accommodation as though they were living there and provided valuable feedback ie what was the atmosphere like, what happens if somebody is having a hard time, do the carers working with the young person know/cook favourite foods, are there social evenings etc. One of the issues raised was around maintenance of the buildings and that the wait times for issues to be rectified was unacceptable. The young people have asked for the support of the AfC board members when the report is circulated amongst the three councils. 

The Board members were delighted to view the video and hear from the young people directly. The Board acknowledged the young people are confident in articulating activities they are engaged with. The Board noted how valuable the young people’s feedback is and will seek further opportunities to engage.

Social Care and Early Help Transformation

The government has set out proposed Social Care Reforms to improve how the national social care system seeks to support children and young people.

AfC has set up a transformation board to consider the six pillars (work areas) which are: 

  1. Family help
  2. Multi-agency safeguarding
  3. Family networks
  4. Care experience: a) Placements and b) Rights for care leavers
  5. Workforce
  6. Improving the system

Under each of the work areas, there will be project groups who will meet regularly and progress the transformation work and initiatives.

The AfC Board had a very useful and detailed discussion about this transformation programme, noting this will be a huge programme of change. The Board were provided with helpful and clear reports which outlined the workstreams and the complex work that will be undertaken. This programme of activity will require careful management over a sustained period of time and involve partnership work and clear communication with partners, multi agencies, children and young people, families and carers. 

Discussion on AfC Future Strategic Priorities and Business Plan

The AfC Board were updated on the work currently taking place on a 5 year business plan to cover the period 2024 - 2025. There was discussion around the use of key words and phrases and what they meant in the wider context: 

  • 'listening'- AfC being a listening organisation and that this could mean as an employer as well as an organisation; dynamic, querying, forward looking, caring, being creative in how AfC works, focus on innovation, continue to do what we do really well ie; keeping children and young people safe; stability
  • sustainability - sustainable element to AfC’s work, financial sustainability
  • working with the three councils, reflecting values and priorities
  • what is at the core and the heart of AfC - young people, children 
  • Use of 'collaborative' instead of 'integrated' word
  • USP of AfC - innovative model, uniqueness comes through, narrative about what makes AfC different.  Important from a recruitment perspective, draw out what is special to be at AfC.

The Board discussed the draft AfC strategic priorities and had the opportunity to input their ideas for the next iteration. The Board fully understood and endorsed the strategic direction.  

Windsor and Maidenhead - Director of Children’s Services update

Key updates

  • No longer have SEND Written Statement of Action
  • System-wide children and young people plan - 2023-26 - launched across the borough
  • HRH The Princess of Wales visited the Windsor Family Hub and visited one of AfC’s families in their own home.
  • RBWM Market Place event held on 29/6/23 for new councillors and staff  - provided opportunities to showcase work, network, build connections and explore opportunities for joint working.
  • RBWM recruitment event - 26/6/23 
  • FUEL - summer programme for families living in RBWM who access free school meals launched for summer 2023
  • Written compliment received by a social worker in the Duty and Assessment Team from a grateful parent when her daughter received help and support at a time when it was needed most to a favourable outcome for the whole family.

Issues and concerns 

  • Recruitment and retention remains a significant challenge. New in post is a Recruitment Champion
  • Social care demand 
  • Contacts numbers increased by 6%
  • Referrals - increased by 14% - due to case complexities particularly in relation to the trio of vulnerabilities (co-existence of mental health, substance misuse and domestic abuse), single assessments increased significantly. 
  • Initial child protection conferences - 21% increase
  • Children in care - 12% increase - partly due to Covid effects and also increase in UASC via the National Transfer Scheme.

Positive to report

  • Early Help wait times for families requiring early help support is continuing to reduce.
  • Intensive Family Support Team - now fully staffed
  • Overall performance continues to be good in a range of areas.

Richmond and Kingston - Director of Children’s Services update

Report focused on:

  • South West London project work: Early Careers Network; London Social Work for Children microsite - a platform for all local authorities in London to set out their offer to social workers and to advertise vacancies.
  • Responding to the Government published “Stable Homes Built on Love” strategy in response to the children’s social care review led by Josh Macallister.
  • AfC is seen as an organisation who can lead for groups of other local authorities and be involved to develop work practices.
  • Fostering inspection went well, given pressures across services - in all children’s services  - good outcome and recognition.

Chief Operating and Finance Officer Report

The COFO provided assurance and information on corporate and business service issues and the Board had the opportunity to comment and ask questions. The most significant executive concerns remain the increasing complexity of children's needs, the impact of inflation, availability of local placements and the ongoing challenges with recruitment and retention of experienced frontline staff. 

Board Assurance Framework

Two new risks have been added to the framework:

  • External key pPartners fail to provide an appropriate level of support to children and families to support meaningful partnership working and co-production
  • Failure to respond to changes in regulations, national guidance and best practice guidance

Workforce - flexible working 

Flexible working - 4 day week model was considered and discussed at a Workforce Board meeting. It was agreed to provide a summary version of the flexible working policy, AfC will not progress the 4 day working week, consider more part time working arrangements and be open to more flexible working arrangements in frontline teams.

Quarterly business plan and project update

The AfC Board received the quarterly update on business planning and project work. Progress was noted in the children’s services key projects and there is now a distinction shown between the business plan projects and the efficiency projects so savings targets can be monitored and progressed. 

Focus at this Board’s meeting

The Board members put forward the following areas to focus on at today’s meeting:

  • budget setting and process for 2024/25 and beyond and budget pressures ie increase in placement budget
  • business planning for the future
  • impact of quality of services in light of budget pressures and risks of reducing preventative activity
  • identify areas that matter most for long term success of children and young people in the three boroughs
  • commitment to involving young people in the work that AfC does.
  • choose right strategic priorities to make right decisions ie early intervention or demand led services and have evidence to support decisions
  • strategic priorities to look at independence and locality ie. young people move towards independence.

The Chief Executives from Richmond and Kingston Councils attended this meeting. 

Report from the Chair

Sian Wicks reported that performance is strong and noted the positive LA SEND area inspection held in Richmond earlier in October 2023. There continue to be challenges delivering services in a difficult environment and AfC has risen to the challenges of cost improvements by achieving £3.9m of efficiencies savings, whilst stepping up deliverables by understanding budgets, impact and risk assessments on children and young people and investing in preventative work.

A video of the young people who are representatives on the various young people’s groups and forums was shown to the Board members which added a useful reminder that the number one priority for AfC is to focus on supporting children and young people to live safe, happy, healthy and successful lives.  

Update from Chair of Audit and Risk Committee

An update from the Chairperson of Audit and Risk Committee (ARAC) was provided to the AfC Board from the committee held on 5 October 2023. 

Internal audit for Richmond and Kingston have completed three audits:

  • S17 payments - number of recommendations eg. allocation of payments to correct cost codes and audit trail of decisions
  • short breaks - no recommendations, but one control was identified requiring action
  • advisory report on school health and safety compliance

SWAP (internal audit for Windsor and Maidenhead) has carried out an audit on early interventions - early help referrals by schools to the Hub - with agreed action to ensure that schools are better informed with updates on the progress of a referral and receive appropriate feedback and work is in progress to improve Early Help forms and guidance.

Overall there has been good progress on completing recommendations from internal audits. The Board assurance framework and strategic risk register were covered in detail at the ARAC meeting. External audit is in the early planning stage. ARAC discussed the process when strategic risks remain outside the risk tolerance (there are currently four strategic risks which are being monitored closely). The Board noted a procurement update was provided to ARAC members, and one waiver relating to the contract management system was approved along with three procurement projects.

Update on AfC strategic priorities and plan

The Board received an update on:  

  • progress to date and the proposed strategic priorities
  • an outline of engagement activity 
  • feedback received from stakeholder engagement sessions, viewing corporate plans and children and young people.

In summary the AfC Board discussed at length the draft strategic plan and priorities focusing on the content, language and words, i.e. best value, sustainability, delivering of services whilst making efficiency savings within the organisation, the three councils and collaboratively with partners. Sian Wicks thanked everyone for their contribution to a full discussion.

Budget setting 2024/25

The Board received a presentation on the proposed budget for 2024/25 and were invited to to discuss and challenge officers. Pressures across all three boroughs with common themes listed below:

  • Number of placement weeks required has increased beyond what was budgeted for across all three boroughs
  • Average cost of placements has increased with price inflation outstripping what was built in - general inflation, complexity and market
  • Recruitment and retention difficulties leading to use of more expensive agency staff
  • Increased spend on legal advice due to more cases and cases taking longer
  • More young people requiring home to school transport and significant price inflation due to transport market, rising complexity if needs and general inflation
  • Councils have been clear that the continued year on year overspending is not affordable

AfC’s spend has to be within the three councils' agreed spending envelope. Placements and home to school transport continue to be huge areas of spend across all three councils and optimistic assumptions are being made for growth which are a cause for concern. Sian Wicks thanked officers and management for all the work that is taking place at every level of the budget process. 

Update from Director of Children’s Services - Windsor and Maidenhead

Lin Ferguson reported that a spending control mechanism is in place with essential spend only and currently working on growth and savings for next year. 

Demand management, ie. demand through the front door, is fluctuating. 

Figures are overall below national average and reason for this is there is robust early help provision.

Caseloads are relatively good, on average about 16 per caseworker. 

Overall performance remains very good and areas to improve are known about. 

Recruitment and retention continue to be a challenge, as people are still leaving for higher salaries elsewhere. 

With regards to RAAC in schools, one school was identified at the last Board meeting and this still remains the case. Temporary classrooms are working OK. 

Concern highlighted around the school placement software system as parents have not been able to apply for school places for their children which has put statutory timelines at risk.  

Update from Director of Children’s Services - Kingston and Richmond

Ian Dodds provided a verbal update on Richmond and Kingston’s performance.

Three key areas continue to be:

  • higher than preferable caseloads and complexity of issues faced by children and their families
  • recruitment and retention 
  • lack of placements for children who need residential care and/or specialist education provision.

The combination of these three issues is placing pressure on budgets and is impacting on the resilience of employees and therefore on teams and services.

Chief Operating and Finance Officer report

The COFO provided assurance and information on corporate and business service issues and the Board had the opportunity to comment and ask questions. The most significant executive concerns:

  • capacity of wider leadership team and invest in transformation and change
  • health and safety - maintenance of buildings
  • increase demand on legal budgets 
  • home to school transport across all three boroughs, though it is noted that Richmond has recently been given additional funding from central contingency funds.
  • cost of social care placements and complexity of need

Quarterly business plan and project update

The AfC Board received the quarterly update on business planning and project work for Quarter 2, 2023/24 (July, August and September 2023).

The Board is responsible for approving pay awards each year and approved the pay award for Windsor and Maidenhead based staff in March 2023 at 4%.

For staff on teachers terms and conditions the recommended pay award is 6.5% for 2023/24. This is the percentage that was agreed at a national level following well documented (in the news) negotiations between teaching unions and the Government.

For staff on AfC terms and conditions the protocol each year has been to mirror the council pay awards in Richmond and Kingston. Both local authorities follow National Joint Council (NJC) recommendations, and pay awards are negotiated at a national level between the NJC and employer representatives.

The recommended pay award for 2023/24 is a fixed amount to be added to the pay scales and the amount varies for different pay award bands. The recommendation is as follows: increase of £1,925 on all spinal points between 2-43, £2,226 on spinal points 43-48, £2,352 on spinal points 49-50 and 3.88% on all other grades.

The fixed amount approach means that the percentage increase received by staff will depend on their spinal point, but broadly speaking all staff will receive a minimum of 3.5% pay award. 

The pay award was approved by the AfC Board outside the AfC Board cycle of meetings on 16 November 2023.

A workshop was held with young people to discuss and develop the new AfC Strategic Plan.

Since the October Board, Sian Wicks and Lucy Kourpas have met with the three CEOs. Feedback was that executive leadership engagement and board escalation process are good. Conversation about what good growth looks like for AfC.

A further workshop was held with councillors to get final feedback on the Strategic Plan. February 2024 will see the AfC strategic plan go through public committees in the three councils and there is to be a particular focus on a children and young person’s plan.

Budget 2024/25

Lucy Kourpas provided the following update to the Board: 

  • Working since the summer to set a balanced budget for 24/25. 
  • AfC has been fully engaged in the councils' budget setting processes and the budget setting process is still ongoing across the three LAs. The figures presented are therefore still draft. 

There was a detailed discussion on the budget and the following key risk areas were identified:

  • social care placements, 
  • home to school transport costs, 
  • legal placements / advisory costs and S17 payments
  • achievement of savings

AfC has been commissioned by all three councils to deliver local government services and councillors are key decision makers; Executive directors are working hard to explain the options for balancing affordability and service scope / quality as well as the risk and opportunities of different options. 

Health and safety annual review

The Board acknowledged the good work that has taken place in the area of health and safety over the course of the year. 

  • Good processes are now in place to review, update and publicise AfC’s health and safety policy.
  • Training has been updated. 
  • Mandatory training for all staff launched in October on fire safety training (e-training). Currently the number of staff who have completed this training is low so a reminder will be sent out to line managers to prompt their staff to do the training. If low take up continues, steps will be taken to escalate.
  • The Head of Safety and Premises Management has an action to monitor fire drills more closely in the upcoming year.
  • Maintenance across community buildings in all three boroughs remains problematic and this includes residential settings.

Windsor and Maidenhead Director of Children's Services update

  • The Board noted the positive report from Lin Ferguson, particularly noting the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead agreed to the extension of the AfC contract for another five years. This gives AfC a stable platform to continue to develop and enhance children’s services and reflects the high regard that the borough has for the performance of AfC across the board.  
  • Overall performance across all services continues to be good, despite increased demand.
  • There are wellbeing initiatives, floor walking and managers are keeping in touch with staff; caseloads are reasonable and resources are regularly reviewed.

Kingston and Richmond Director of Children's Services update

  • Local Area SEND inspection Richmond upon Thames: A positive report was received from the inspection carried out 2-6 October. AfC will submit the action plan by 15 January 2024 to Ofsted / CQC.
  • Continue to have Kingston and Richmond state schools - Good or Better rated from Ofsted inspections.
  • The Family Hubs programme is ongoing.
  • Children’s Services transformation work programme continues with reviewing the early help service offer. There have been structural changes made to date and the service model is close to being agreed with shared caseloads.
  • Mental health - Richmond has commissioned a review of CAMHS provision - how well provision is funded, make recommendations. Led by external reviewers who will report back by the end of January 2024.
  • AfC has successfully bid for two grant streams for improving foster care in Kingston and Richmond:
    • Mockingbird is an intensive package to support carers and mainstream foster carers. 
    • Foster carer regional recruitment 
      (RBWM are also part of the regional recruitment approach and have received grant funding).
  • Children’s home in Kingston is progressing. Public consultation completed and planning process taking place.
  • An update was given on local school developments.
  • An update was given on a significant incident.
  • We have mobilised a Placement Working Group to look at increased placement costs.

Updates from Board members including safeguarding update

There were no updates.

Items for escalation to CEOs

Building maintenance issues to be escalated if the respective health and safety boards are unable to progress the concerns and issues.

Any other business

An update was given on youth engagement including:

  • Feedback from young people on how engagement could be improved.
  • The young people would like to adopt a buddying network with the Board members.