Agenda item

That the report be noted for information as part of the contractual arrangements between the Trust and the Council.

The Cabinet welcomed the Chair, Chief Executive and Director of Finance & Resources from Slough Children’s Services Trust who summarised their Annual Report for 2019/20 to the Cabinet.  The Annual Report would usually be presented to the Education & Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel, however, the scheduled meeting in April 2020 had been cancelled due to Covid-19 and this was the most timely meeting in the calendar for Members to receive the report.

The report set out the further progress that had been made in the past year since the Ofsted report in January 2019 which concluded that the services had improved from ‘inadequate’ to ‘required improvement to be good’.  The Trust had developed a plan following the inspection and significant progress had been made to drive forward further improvement.  However, it was recognised that it had been a challenging year for the Trust as a combination of increased demand for services in the Autumn and significant financial challenges had impacted on key performance indicators.

A wide range of issues were discussed including the factors behind the rising demand for services; the work being done to reduce high caseloads; fostering recruitment; the importance of delivering the Trust’s transformation programme which had been suspended during the year; and the financial stability of the trust.  The Chief Executive of the Trust responded to the points raised by Lead Members.  There had been higher levels of child protection cases and it often took longer to work through cases where families required more support.  One of the major challenges to reduce caseloads was recruitment, and further work was being developed on the workforce strategy.  Fostering recruitment was a challenge, and the process took some time, but some of the transformation funding provided by the Council had helped and the recruitment of 12 foster families was currently underway.  The Trust’s transformation programme was important in the its future plan and it had restarted.

Assurance was also provided that key services had been maintained throughout the Covid-19 lockdown with visits continuing, where necessary, following risk assessments.

The Cabinet recognised the progress that had been made in improving service provision in a number of areas and restated its commitment to continue to work with the Trust to sustain the improvements.  It was recognised that there were challenges to work through, including financial stability and rising demand, and the Council and Trust would work closely to meet the needs of children.

At the conclusion of the discussion the report was noted.

Resolved –  That the report be noted for information as part of the contractual arrangements between the Trust and the Council.