Agenda item
Covid 19 Update
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a verbal update in relation to the continued impact Covid-19 was having on children and young people in Tower Hamlets.
Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director for Children & Culture introduced the item and stated all services were working in partnership to deliver the ‘bounce back’ strategic initiative. He said there were three distinct themes, (1) Bounce back with learning (2) Bounce back through play and (3) Bounce back with support.
Mr Thomas said they were in the recovery stage from the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and as Chair of the Safeguarding Partnership’s silver group they were looking closely at the impact the recent strain was having on social care services as well as schools. He said they needed to understand the demand and needs of children and families. He said there were five areas they were focussing on: (1) Early years and the lack of opportunities to socialise (2) mental health and emotional wellbeing (3) Domestic abuse and violence (4) family poverty and (5) SEND children and families.
Mr Steve Nyakatawa, Director of Education then provided the Sub-Committee with an update on the impact the latest variant was having on Education. Mr Nyakatawa said one of the key pressures was the absence of staff during the term and the shortage of agency staff to cover those absences. He said he was pleased no schools had been closed during the autumn term, with senior leadership teams reconfiguring classes and taking on teaching roles. He said schools were perusing the ‘Every Child Online’ campaign to ensure the issue of digital poverty was being addressed. Mr Nyakatawa said the Tower Hamlets Emotional Wellbeing Service had been providing support to children and schools.
Mr Nyakatawa stated they were working with the Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) to identify and support children with gaps in their reading and maths. He said THEP was supporting school leaders to address these gaps as well as support children taking exams over the Summer.
The Sub-Committee then heard from Ms Beasley- Murray Director of Supporting Families who stated that she had seen clear examples of good practice, since joining Tower Hamlets. She said the feedback from families, chairs and social workers was positive and showed how creatively everyone was working to protect and safeguard children. She said performance had dipped over Christmas due to the Omicron variant, with 77.6% of visits being completed within four weeks however this had recovered in January 2022 to 90%. Likewise, child protection visits had slightly dipped from 94.4% within 10 working days but had now recovered to 96.6%. Ms Beasley-Murray said they continued to put focus on performance and sickness rates and would be monitoring caseloads and impact on staff. Ms Beasley-Murray said the recruitment and retention of staff, whilst not an issue during the pandemic, was seeing a shift with many members of staff deciding to take a career break or return to visit family over an extended period. Ms Beasley-Murray said this shift was not unique to Tower Hamlets however they would work with the Social Work Academy to ensure staffing levels were maintained.
In response to questions and comments from members the following was noted:
- The Chair stated it was apparent the pandemic had had a huge impact on children and young people as well as on the workforce. She said this would have a lasting impact for a long time and thanked Officers for highlighting the issues.
- In response to what staffing levels would be like for February/March 2022, Mr Thomas responded stating the impact of staffing absences had eased over the second half of January however in terms of staff turnover, the Supporting Families Team was still in a favourable position. The locum rates were below the London average.
- Ms Beasley-Murray added the recruitment and retention of new qualified social workers and those with one or two-years’ experience and Team Managers was stable. She said social workers with five or more years of experience were the ones who were leaving the service. She said five people in the MASH and assessment teams had given their notice. She said they were looking to recruit permanent staff and said staff were encouraged to move cross specialism within social work.
- Councillor Wood stated that whilst it was helpful to hear a verbal update on the recruitment and retention of staff, he would like to see a report to the sub-committee, on a regular basis on how stable the workforce is, with figures and percentages provided showing the increase or decrease and the effect this was having in delivering social work to families in need.
- Councillor Salva-Macallan, agreed with Councillor Wood and said a dashboard highlighting the recruitment and retention of social workers was required especially given the proposed cuts to specialist posts such as those supporting African families and Muslim communities. She asked if the risk, because of the cuts is being measured. Mr Thomas said there wasn’t any additional instability to specialist roles, despite the overall reduction in capacity. He said they had not moved rapidly to make a cut and were assessing the situation.
- Councillor Bex White said the dashboard was being worked on by the Directorate and information would be provided to members of the sub-committee, in the new municipal year.
- ACTION: Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director for Children and Culture to provide a note to the Sub-Committee members on staffing levels and the impact the pandemic has had within the next two to three weeks.
The Chair summarised the main point of the discussion as follows:
- The Children’s Directorate had worked extremely hard over the pandemic to help support families in need and would continue to do so. The Corporate Director to provide a written update to Members of the Sub-Committee in relation to the staffing levels for teams within the Directorate.