Issue - meetings

The Board received a presentation, which outlined the structure of the People Directorate and provided a summary of the key areas of responsibility for the Children and Families and the Education, Inclusion and Provision Departments.

Following the presentation Members’ raised the following queries.

Have there been any increases in referrals during the Covid-19 pandemic?

No, in fact they had dropped and were still not at pre Covid levels today.  There had been a slight increase in Children in Care (CIC) referrals – this was attributed to 11 asylum seekers accommodated at the Daresbury Hotel claiming to be under 18, so had to be taken into care.

There had also been a slight increase in non-accidental injuries to children below 4 years of age.  Due to the impacts of Covid restrictions, such as family and friends support being cut off, some parents had struggled to cope with being isolated with small children during lockdowns.

Despite the pandemic there had been a significant amount of prevention work carried out remotely.  Also the Council’s day care centres had remained open throughout all lockdowns, providing crucial support for parents.

What was the current status with the ‘troubled families’ programme?

This was now known as the ‘supporting families’ programme and was continuing throughout the pandemic to support families to help them meet the required outcomes as was integrated into our early intervention locality teams.

Are our social workers working from home?

There were small numbers in the office but they have been visiting and supporting families all through the pandemic and kept track of all children.  Each child know to the service had an individual covid risk assessment to inform the type of frequency of visits.  This included physically attending children’s homes where necessary.  Staff have been supported as well with additional training, provision of Covid risk assessments and provision of PPE.  Also staff had been working in bubbles so the level of infections had been low.

RESOLVED:  That the presentation be received.