Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) recently published a follow-up report on the state of children’s social services in Bridgend County (pdf).
Several risks were highlighted in a check undertaken in April 2021 which are yet to be fully resolved.
Other parts of the media have tied the report to BCBC social services’ failures around the murder of Logan Mwangi. It’s more about children’s services as a whole – though it’s clear there were serious problems at the time of the murder.
A review of the Logan Mwangi case is being undertaken by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board.
What are the ongoing problems?
The views of children are not consistently recorded or taken into account and it’s caused problems – particularly where there are siblings.
Too much emphasis has been placed on the parent’s views. Social services need to properly explain to looked-after children why certain decisions have been made.
High proportions of looked-after children told CIW that they were “rarely” or “never” treated with dignity or respect (33%) and that their views were “rarely” or “never” listened to (47%).
Some serious administrative problems have been highlighted, including parents waiting a long time to receive minutes and documents from meetings as well as short notice being given for supervised visits.
Issues in management have meant some social workers haven’t been able to complete reports on time or have completed reports/filed records with little detail – including some relating to missing children. Workloads don’t seem to be properly managed.
Few training courses are mandatory and there have been recruitment issues (partly blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic). There was a risk that workers were prioritising workload over training – meaning some social workers may not have the skills or experience to undertake tasks they were being asked to perform. Social workers in their first year of practice were handling child protection cases with no assurances they were being properly supervised.
In some cases, social services failed to properly consider risks – including historical concerns – which has led to missed opportunities to intervene early. The report says a “more robust” approach could’ve been taken in some cases as “past behaviour can be a predictor of future behaviour” – particularly domestic abuse.
There are lengthy waiting lists for some services; up to 12 weeks or more for youth mental health teams. Long waits can make matters worse, leading to more serious intervention later on. There’s also a shortage of foster care/foster placements in Bridgend.
Parents complained that they need to “jump through hoops” to access direct payments, with rules being too strict and evidence requirements being excessive. Carers’ assessments were also inconsistent, with CIW saying Bridgend Council must offer carers assessments where required to do so.
Where have improvements been made/what is BCBC getting right?
Despite issues about following through on children’s wishes or being treated with respect, there seem to be few concerns around maintaining contact with children and families by social workers. There’s also an emphasis on early intervention to prevent small problems from becoming big ones – often offering practical support and advice to parents.
The rights of children are generally respected and children are offered access to independent advocacy services. An officer has been appointed to improve the levels of engagement/participation by looked-after children.
Transition from care has improved following the establishment of a dedicated team, while it’s also led to a caseload reduction.
BCBC’s work with regional boards and outside organisations is described as good. Locating teams from different services on the same site helped partnership working – though this was sometimes dependent on individual working relationships (i.e. different workers on different teams/bodies knowing each other).
BCBC has committed to dealing with recruitment and retention problems amongst social workers by sponsoring training and qualifications; 93% of staff who responded to CIW’s survey said they felt supported to do their job.
In response to management and administration issues, BCBC has ordered “back to basics” training for social services managers to ensure they’re on top of the routine work and care day-to-day responsibilities.
