How will the government respond to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care?

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 25 January, 2023

At the end of last year minister for children and families Claire Coutinho revealed preparing the government’s response to England’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care was “the thing that is keeping me up at night”.

Not surprising, giving that massive strain on a system that many believe is broken.

Coutinho was speaking during a debate on children’s social care in the House of Commons in which MP after MP highlighted the pressure of high caseloads, rising demand, reduced resources and an undervalued workforce.

Wera Hobhouse, Lib Dem MP for Bath, accused the government of treating social workers “with utter contempt”. She added: “No wonder we are seeing staff shortages. Who would want to work in an industry where people feel overlooked and undervalued?”

This week the Local Government Association underlined the sector’s staffing crisis in a survey revealing eight out of ten councils struggle to recruit children’s social workers. Almost three quarters said they have problems retaining them and are increasingly having to turn to costly agency staff to plug the gaps.

In its latest Phase 8 safeguarding pressures report, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) paints an equally bleak picture of the children’s social care landscape.

It says the average vacancy rate across local authorities has gone up from 14.6 per cent to 19 per cent in the year to June 2022.

The number of children and family social workers leaving their posts increased by 16 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020.

The proportion of roles filled by agency workers rose from 15.6 per cent in 2021 to 16.7 per cent last year, a flight of workers unhappy with local authority pay and conditions.

Workforce disatisfaction was underlined in a survey of 566 social workers by Professional Social Work magazine this month which found 90 per cent are in favour of strike action, citing unmanageable caseloads as the biggest issue, followed by pay and lack of resources. The majority of respondents were from England (87 per cent) and half of them worked in children’s services.

Behind such figures is a beleaguered workforce that has seen the resources around it dwindle during a decade of austerity and beyond.

Early help – such as family centres under the Sure Start programme – has been decimated just as pressures on families and need for support have increased.

New harms, such as social media, have seen the mental health of children deteriorate in recent years with no corresponding rise in provision. Nearly half of local authorities say there is never or rarely enough CAMHS services to support children.

Children’s services have also faced increased pressure from families fleeing war-torn areas such as Syria and Ukraine in recent years. The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children rose 34 per cent last year. Seaside authorities such as Kent say they are buckling under the strain.

The cost of living crisis has resulted in poverty levels not seen for generations. Health visitors warn of “epidemic levels of poverty” with the vast majority (91 per cent) reporting a rise in families using food banks. Three quarters report an increase in domestic abuse.

In a survey by Professional Social Work magazine last September, more than 90 per cent of social workers responding believed the cost of living crisis will have a "castastrophic" impact. Three-quarters believed it would result in more children coming into care; 95 per cent predicted an increase in domestic violence; 90 per cent social unrest and 92 per cent feared people would take their own lives as a result of the crisis.

ADCS warns children are now presenting at a later stage “with greater levels of need and higher risks, and… more children [are] immediately becoming subjects of child protection plans or proceedings”.

The number of looked after children in England is at record levels, increasing by two per cent last year to 82,170. In October 2021, the Local Government Association warned English councils need £2.7 billion by 2025 to keep up with the demand.

In March 2021, the government commissioned Josh MacAlister, former chief executive of children’s social work training programme Frontline, to lead the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

Last May it reported its final findings calling for a “radical reset” of the system, backed by some 80 recommendations. With the government’s response imminent, it’s worth reflecting on some of the key recommendations and how the government may respond...

Family help

The over-riding emphasis of the review is on early help, rather than costly late interventions, backed by a roll-out of family help teams.

Such a “revolution in family help” will mean 30,000 fewer children in care by 2032-33, says the review, reversing a trend predicted by children’s directors to reach 100,000 by 2025. The Local Government Association has warned English councils will need an extra £2.7 billion by then to keep up with demand.

The government has already started rolling out family hubs, announcing £82 million to create 75 hubs last year. They will see social workers working alongside a range of other professionals in one-stop community settings providing universal services from 0 to 19.

Giving the rollout has already started (and ignoring the reinvention of children’s centres under a different name), it’s safe to say the government will go with the shift in focus.

Whether it will invest the £2billion to fund this over the next five years recommended by MacAlister at a time of restricted budgets is another matter.

Expert child protection practitioners

The review recommends creating the post of expert child protection practitioners who have at least five years’ experience in practice. These will lead on more serious and complex child protection cases that are too often currently handed to workers who are too early in their careers, says the review.

Days after the review published its recommendations, a review into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson recommended something similar.

It called for investigative multi-agency child protection teams consisting of social workers, police and health professionals in every local authority in England.

These will connect with the expert child protection practitioners working in family hubs recommended by MacAlister.

It is possible the government will go for a split between family support work and investigative work. Some fear this will lead to a two-tier workforce within children’s services.

Kinship care

The review stresses this as an under-used resource that can provide the “love and safety” vulnerable children need better – and more cheaply – than the care system.

In order to promote kinship support, carers should be paid and have access to practical support in the way foster carers do. A campaign #ValueOurLove is calling for this on behalf of England’s 162,000 children in kinship families, claiming 44 per cent of kinship carers are struggling to pay their household bill. The government is supportive of kinship care so expect some movement on this. The key question is whether it will find the cash for payments.

Foster care

A “new deal” is needed to address a massive deficit by recruiting 9,000 foster carers, says the review. This should be backed by a £82 million programme of support and promotion of the Mockingbird model, which focuses on building family-style networks around the child. Giving government focus on fostering and adoption, some form of extra support is likely.

Making care experience a protected characteristic

This recommendation would give people with care experience the same protection under the Equality Act as nine other characteristics including race, age, disability, religion and sex.

It would require organisations to show how they are inclusive to people who have been in care.

A number of local authorities have already adopted this as policy following campaigning by the care experienced community. The MacAlister review urged the UK to be the “first country in the world to recognise care experienced people in this way”. But last week Nottingham’s Conservative council leader appeared to reveal the government is against such a move. Yesterday, the government also ruled out a bid to make the menopause a protected characteristic. It is likely it will leave individual organisations to decide on giving such status to care experienced people rather than mandate it.

IT systems

Poorly configured and clunky IT systems have long been a headache for social workers, often requiring them to duplicate information.

The review calls for a reimagining of case management systems to “drastically reduce” time spent recording cases. It recommends a National Data and Technology Taskforce is set up to create “frictionless” information sharing by 2027.

Expect the government to support this. However, key to success will be listening to social workers on the ground on how best to implement it.

A national payscale and career framework

This would aim to ensure social workers are rewarded for progression and developing expertise in their career.

It recommends creating a five-year Early Career Framework for children’s social workers backed by £253 million for professional development, including the new pay scale. The idea is that clearer career pathways, backed by improved pay, will improve skills and – crucially - retention.

Chief social worker for children and families Isabelle Trowler already has the development of the framework listed as part of her responsibility in her profile so expect this to go ahead.

However, in light of strikes for better pay and conditions by public sector workers who are on national pay scales, will the government think twice about extending this?

Bureaucracy and management

Bureaucracy is the bane of social workers who want to spend less time in front of computers inputting data and more time in direct work with people.

The review sets a target of 75 per cent of social workers holding cases rather than the current 48 per cent.

Better IT and making it a condition of all social work manager and leaders to do at least 100-hours of direct practice a year to retain accreditation is part of achieving this. Currently, 22 per cent of the children's social work workforce are managers (see workforce statistics here).

The review also puts emphasis on workers being able to challenge processes that “do not add value”.

It is likely the government will support the latter, if not the former. Children’s rights campaigners, however, will fear this could result in reduced protection for vulnerable children and services that are more attractive for private sector takeover.

Agencies

The review recommends creating not-for-profit staff banks to rival private providers which, according to a recent BBC study, cost local authorities £227 million last year.

The Northern Ireland government has already announced a ban on using agency social workers from this June. The Westminster government may hope some of the recommendations above will keep children’s social workers within local authority employment. Giving the cost and concern about over-reliance on agency staff, the government may announce new measures. It is equally possible a pro-business Conservative government will not want to be seen to clamp down on private enterprise.

Independent Reviewing Officers

The review recommends these are abolished, believing they are not independent enough from their employing local authority to challenge poor social work practice.

Instead, children should have advocates overseen by the Children’s Commissioner.

This, however, has sparked criticism from the sector, including BASW England. It says: "The equating of the independent review role with the role of advocates demonstrates a misunderstanding of the two roles." The National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers maintains the recommendation was “unwise and dangerous for the welfare of children in care”.

Conservative MP Tim Loughton, speaking in the Commons debate last year, also opposed such a move, calling IROs the “confidantes of young people in the care system”.

In the face of such backlash, the government may push back on this.

Poverty

Rarely does a day go by without reports of the increased hardship faced by people, families and communities. Poverty is “the wallpaper” of practice for social workers and the root cause of many of the problems faced by individuals and families.

Ten years of austerity, the Covid pandemic and the current cost of living crisis have increased suffering and deprivation. The review called on the government to “explicitly recognise” the impact of poverty and inequality and “have a wider plan to address them”.

Last week’s announcement of £2.1 billion for levelling up does little to address this.

BASW England criticises the MacAlister review claiming it “sidelines” poverty and deprivation as “contextual factors outside of scope”.

It also highlights the impact of the cost of living crisis on communities and social workers themselves, some of whom are already resorting to using food banks according to a survey last year by Professional Social Work magazine.

It’s tempting to say a “radical reset” of government thinking is needed to fix a country broken by lack of investment in public services and beset by levels of poverty unimaginable 20 years ago.

Ensuring our most vulnerable children get the support they need would be a good place to start.

Read BASW England's full response here