The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Short Reviews of Social Work Services in Scottish Local Authorities

Renfrewshire Council

Overview

As a medium-sized authority, Renfrewshire has to deal with changing patterns of population as well as social problems like drugs misuse. Its home care services are becoming more flexible, and this looks good for the future, but it must also make sure it is providing a stimulating environment for children and young people who are looked after.

The Council's achievements include:

• improving services for older people, including a large increase in the number of people receiving an intensive home care service;
• smoothly introducing Free Personal Care;
• receiving its second Charter Mark for providing excellence in day care for older people; and
• providing good information on young people who were looked after.

Renfrewshire Council needs to take urgent action to:

• make sure that all children and young people who are looked after at home have care plans;
• improve the education attainment of children and young people who are looked after; and
• improve its very poor performance in relation to the lateness of its reports to children's panels (three-quarters are late), make sure that all children's panel requirements are actioned within the 15 day target and make sure that all referrals are made within five working days of the case conference.

The authority should also give priority to:

• reaching agreement on future funding and service models for specialist models such as respite, challenging behaviour and low level forensic services for people with mental health problems;
• continuing to improve waiting times for assessing and providing equipment and adaptations, including wider access within and between organisations through Single Shared Assessment;
• recruiting and keeping more foster carers;
• developing a strategic approach to youth justice;
• monitoring the effectiveness of the measures introduced to support front-line staff; and
• speeding up its joint working arrangements with health.

Community Care

Services for older people

Following a reduction in the number of older people receiving a community care service in 2000-2001, the number increased in 2001-2002 (the authority report that the apparent reduction was due to inaccurate reporting). The number of older people in private nursing homes increased significantly from 528 in 2000 to 758 in 2002. The number of older people receiving home care reduced from 2,044 in 2001 to 1,664 in 2002. However, the number of older people receiving an intensive service increased substantially from 31 in 2000 to 127 in 2001 - and this rate is now higher than in many other authorities.

The Council has reviewed home care services and now provides these services from 7am to 10pm instead of from 9am to 5pm, and a community alarm service works 24 hours a day. The number of home carers has increased, and there is no waiting list for assessments and no waiting list for services. A shopping service is available in all three area teams. The Council is piloting new meals-on-wheels services, and has given users their own microwaves and freezers. These more flexible and responsive services are a positive example of the improvements that can be achieved by redesigning services.

The Council introduced Free Personal Care without difficulty. A helpline dealt with enquiries when it was being introduced. Individual assessments were carried out and payment backdated if the local authority assessment was late.

Services for people with learning disabilities

The number of people receiving a service for learning disabilities reduced from 506 in
1999-2000 to 387 in 2001-2002 (again, according to the authority, this reduction is due to poor data quality).

The final financial framework for patients being discharged from hospital is still being negotiated. In 2001-02, 53 people were discharged from hospital and some ward closures have been delayed. At the moment, 25 people are waiting to be discharged. This delay is unfortunate, and has a serious effect on the quality of life of those people waiting for community placements. There is an urgent need to settle the financial negotiations between the Council and the NHS.

Carers groups' have reservations about setting up a single register.

Services for people with physical disabilities

The number of people receiving a service for physical disabilities fell from 1,678 in 1999-2000 to 1,215 in 2001-2002.

Short-term arrangements are in place with GCVS to provide a support service for people choosing to use Direct Payments to pay for their care. Social Work are supporting a disability network group (led by service users) to develop the support service for the future. They are working with a coalition of voluntary organisations to take on this role.

Every month, the senior management team and the local area manager monitor the SWIFT reports on equipment and adaptation. In one locality, a system is being piloted giving nursing staff access to small pieces of equipment. Evaluation is needed to make sure that equipment is being provided satisfactorily. An inter-agency working group is developing plans for a joint occupational therapy equipment store. The joint store is expected to open in 2004.

People with sensory impairment

Social services know of 154 people who are partially sighted and deaf, partially sighted and hearing-impaired, blind and hearing-impaired, or deaf-blind. Visual and hearing-impaired units at the Mile End Centre bring together social work and health staff, including occupational therapists, led by two senior social workers. Their range of services includes assessment, equipment and adaptations, demonstrations, interpreting and translating. At the moment, 11 people receive services from both units.

Services for people with mental health difficulties

The number of people receiving a service for mental health problems reduced considerably from 714 in 1999-2000 to 286 in 2001-2002.

Levels of service are limited by a lack of progress in joint working with the NHS, as well as financial problems and a history of shortfalls in funding. There is no funding strategy and locally-based services are restricted by low NHS investment. The tight control by the NHS because of financial difficulties reduces opportunities for new approaches to delivering services. NHS Argyll and Clyde spends much more than the Scottish average on in-patient mental health services.

The Charleston Centre provides a solid base for extending services. The Council is reviewing the roles of Mental Health Officers to help it make decisions on future spending, and local housing staff are working with colleagues in social work and health to develop new services to prevent 'revolving-door syndrome' (going round and round the different services).

Tackling substance misuse

A joint team across social work and health includes family support workers, young people's workers and health workers. 'Family Matters' (a joint education, health and social work project) works with parents and families with children under five years of age where addiction is a major issue.

Spending on residential rehabilitation is limited to 85,000 a year. Some supported accommodation is available. Last year there were 19 referrals for crisis intervention and some people moved on from the crisis centre to residential rehabilitation.

The SWIFT system goes some way to allowing information to be shared. Area teams (childcare) and addiction staff are preparing protocols for exchanging information, particularly for use at case conferences.

The Council uses STRADA training, and 80 staff completed courses in 2002. Also, in-house staff have extended training to colleagues in child care and criminal justice - often jointly with health care staff. Work has started to develop joint training by community education, education and social work addiction staff.

Joining up community care services with health

Progress in improved joint working is measured through the Joint Performance Information and Assessment Framework (JPIAF), which has been agreed by SWSI, Audit Scotland and NHS Scotland. Annual evaluation statements were issued by the Scottish Executive and Audit Scotland to each local partnership in June 2003 and covered progress in 5 areas: joint management, joint governance, human resources, joint resourcing and single shared assessment. The joint arrangements for these 5 areas, as documented in the Local Partnership Agreement can be summarised as still being progressed. It was recommended that the local partners:

• consider their joint management arrangements to apply at operational level;
• clarify the shape of joint services at the front line and what joint management arrangements will apply to them;
• conclude the shape of their joint management arrangements which flow from the Renfrewshire Joint Care (Consultative Partnership Body) and apply to these full joint management arrangements an explicit scheme of delegation, clearly indicating what can be decided by whom throughout the joint management structure;
• consider the development of a service/clinical governance policy to support those staff who currently operate within joint services and to those who may operate in joint services in the future;
• finalise the joint OD/training plan;
• develop financial protocols for strategic arrangements;
• agree a statement of a total service strategic financial envelope for older people's services;
• agree a statement of a joint resourcing strategic financial envelope for older people's services;
• agree a statement of a joint resourcing operational budget for older people's services; and
• involve housing staff in training for single shared assessment.

Joint services up and running include MATCH (multi-agency teams for care at home) bringing together rapid response, hospital-to-home teams, community alarms and out-of-hours help teams to deliver a joint service for discharging people from hospital early, and avoiding people needing to go into hospital. It is estimated that 40,000 bed days were released because of this initiative. This is a good example of how integrating services across partner agencies can have a positive effect on people. A joint community mental health team for older people is jointly resourced, with a single manager providing services for the whole of Renfrewshire. Plans are being worked out for an integrated equipment store.

The local authority and NHS already have protocols in place to share information.

The Council (with independent agencies) is delivering a respite care scheme based on home care. This scheme is funded by resources that have been transferred to the local authority, following the planned closures of NHS continuing care beds as part of the joint commissioning strategy for older people's services. There are five beds in homes for respite care. The Council is also planning a specialist respite care unit, with the emphasis on dementia, and is block-buying beds in nursing homes in the independent sector and extra respite beds for adults with complex difficulties.

Working with carers

Renfrewshire provides a significant share of the funding for Renfrewshire Carers' Centre. This is now a large organisation which attracts more funding and offers extra services. They were key partners in producing the strategy document 'Caring for Carers' which was launched in June 2003. They have also been actively involved in drawing up the assessment form for carers. It is not discretionary and feedback is available from SWIFT.

The Carers Centre and carers themselves are heavily involved in the strategic joint planning groups, particularly the Learning Disabilities Group in which carers think about issues that affect them. These include how to refine current services and how money should be used.

Children and Young People

Looked after children

The number of children and young people who are looked after increased significantly from 428 in 2001 to 522 in 2002. This rise shows:

• the figure given in 2001 was not accurate, because some children who are looked after by relatives were not counted;
• an increase in the number of children being looked after because of neglect (often related to drug and alcohol problems);
• an increase in the number of parents with learning disabilities and the number of parents who have been looked after themselves;
• an increase in the number of large groups of brothers and sisters being looked after; and
• children are being looked after for longer.

The number of young people in residential schools rose from 20 in 2001 to 29 in 2002, although the Council's long-term aim is to reduce this number. At March 2003, there were 35 young people in residential schools. This figure includes eight young people who have special needs. In cases where offending is a major issue, the Council and an NCH project jointly provide a service to target young people at risk of being accommodated in residential schools. This service is also available to young people who are in residential schools. The work has had a positive effect on some young people, resulting in them staying in, or being returned to, the community.

Figures suggest that the number of children living with friends and relatives increased from 29 in 2001 to 99 in 2002. However, the authority says that 29 was a significant under-estimate. Kinship carers are only paid a third of the fostering rate and are currently campaigning for the same allowances.

Fostering and adoption

About 20 children under 12 are in residential accommodation because there are not enough foster placements. Six children in the residential unit have been approved for permanent fostering or adoption and 30 children in short-term placements need a permanent placement. Some of those who are waiting are teenagers, but children under 12 are the largest group. All the children and young people have been waiting for months and some for years. The pool of carers is restricted and the Council is using foster agencies more and more for placements. A fee-based payment scheme recognises the skills of the carer. At the moment, most carers are on level 1 or 2. A recruitment drive found nine new families to provide two respite places, seven permanent places and six temporary places. Some carers have been taken off the register in the last year but there are still more carers than before. Some children still need a foster placement, in spite of the increase in the Council's own resources and in the placements it buys from independent providers. The Council is continuously addressing the recruitment of foster carers, and at the moment it is assessing 10 carers.

There are 16 children waiting to be adopted. They are of mixed ages but most are primary school age. Finding adoptive parents for very young children is relatively easy, but it is difficult getting adoptive parents for older children, groups of brothers and sisters, and children with special needs.

Educational attainment

In Renfrewshire, fewer than five 16 to 17 year olds who stopped being looked after in 2001-2002 attained Maths and English standard grade so no figures are available. The Council has taken a number of initiatives to improve the educational attainment of children and young people who are looked after, including:

• providing extra support (for example, tutorial support and homework classes);
• providing extra materials, particularly technology equipment for young people, carers and residential units;
• encouraging carers to take part in a programme to make them more aware of educational issues; and
• employing 28 home-link family support workers in the Education Department.

The Council needs to strengthen these schemes if it is to improve the educational attainment of children and young people who are looked after.

All children who are looked after away from home have a care plan which deals with their educational needs. However, children on home supervision do not have the same type of care plan and the Council needs to look at their educational needs. All accommodated children are in full-time education, but the Council does not know the educational position of young people who live at home. It needs to develop better information to make sure that these children are receiving full time education.

Throughcare and aftercare

The throughcare team is currently working with 87 young people - 75 of these were in residential or foster care and 12 were not accommodated. Unlike many other authorities Renfrewshire has very good information about what happens to these young people, showing that:

• fewer than five young people have jobs, eight are in training six are in further or higher education and 50 are unemployed;
• fewer than five young people are in prison custody or secure care, 22 are in local authority accommodation, 24 have their own tenancy, a small number are in a throughcare supported tenancy, fewer than five are with supported carers, 20 are staying with family or friends and 15 are in homeless accommodation; and
• 12 young people have mental health problems, fewer than five are physically disabled, 23 have drug or alcohol misuse problems, nine have hearing difficulties, 30 are showing offending behaviour and 10 are single parents.

There are a range of accommodation supports for young people - some have their own flats, some are in hostels and there are a handful of supported carers. The Council has employed a development officer to develop supported lodgings and prepare for new leaving-care responsibilities in 2004. Some young people are in hostels in Glasgow.

Mental health

Mental health problems are identified in a variety of ways, including by the child or young person himself or herself, and by social workers, health workers, teachers and care staff. A locum psychiatric service is provided, but there are periods when there is no cover, and 34 young people are waiting for a service. Every month, an average of 11 counselling referrals are made for affective disorders, self-harm, mental illness, addictions and autism. An LAC nurse is developing a range of health services. Active consideration is being given to recruiting a psychiatric nurse to work on addiction and mental health issues. The children and family centre at Hawkhead Hospital receives 900 to 1000 referrals a year - 70% from GPs, 5% from social work and 5% from educational psychologists.

Child protection

The number of children referred for child protection increased from 131 in 2000 to 228 in 2002. The number of children subject to a case conference doubled in 2001-02 to 180 and the number on the register increased from 61 in 2000-2001 to 92 in 2001-2002.

The Council has taken a number of child protection measures, including:

• developing a shared assessment framework;
• introducing the recommendations of 'Getting our Priorities Right' through new drug workers;
• appointing a child protection co-ordinator;
• reviewing the Child Protection Committee;
• making presentations on child death inquiries to social work frontline staff;
• finalising protocols on working with threatening families and on domestic abuse;
• up-dating multi-agency child protection training;
• including police, criminal justice and children and families in community protection case conferences for sex offenders; and
• producing a leaflet for the public on referring a child for child protection.

Children with disabilities

Between April 2002 and 2003, 106 young people received an assessment of their needs. The Children with Disabilities Team are currently working with 80 children and young people. Six children are getting family-based respite care services, 80 are receiving residential respite (through NCH and Capability Scotland) and 28 are on the waiting list for respite care. Capability Scotland have won a tender to increase the number of respite carers and expand home-based respite.

There is a backlog of future needs assessments. The Council carried out 129 in the last year, and 55 are on the waiting list. Children and families social workers only go to future needs assessments where they are already involved.

Working of children's hearings

86% of referrals were made within 5 working days of the case conference (standard 2) in
2001-2002. The Council said that referrals are made straight after a conference, but the difficulty is in how this is recorded. Minutes are sent on soon after a conference, but the Council thinks that one team was waiting for the minutes to be produced before referring, so this affected the figures.

25% of reports were submitted within 20 working days of the date of request (standard 3). This very poor performance is attributable partly to requests for reports coming in batches of up to 50 at one time. 70% of reports are submitted by 28 days.

88% of supervision requirements with no condition of residence were given effect within 15 working days of date of issue by the children's hearing (standard 15). This performance was due to an increasing volume of business and problems with recruiting and keeping staff.

Youth Justice

The Community Support Programme provides intensive community-based support to stop children needing to be accommodated and to help them to go home. This runs alongside an NCH project which provides intensive intervention for serious and persistent offenders aged 12 to 17 in both the children's hearing and adult criminal justice systems. Family and school issues, rather than offending, are the major focus of the Community programme. Of all the young people referred to the programme, 85% still live at home and are not accommodated.

The Council also offers social work groupwork services. There are group workers in each of the three area teams. The group-workers work alongside the allocated social worker. Some young people get a short-term service while others get a much longer service. The group workers link with education family support teams, and Education identify which young people need extra support.

The Reparation and Mediation and Parent Support Project (Ramps) works with 11 to 16 year olds who are at an early stage in offending. The Reporter agrees that the young person should be referred to this project, with the aim of diverting him or her from statutory measures. The project has been developed to include partnership with SACRO and with Victim Support Renfrewshire.

Although it has the different parts needed to make a sound youth justice service in Renfrewshire, the Council itself recognises that these could be better co-ordinated. A more strategic approach is needed to unite the different youth justice activities of the authority under a single policy.

Criminal Justice

Structure

Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire operate as a partnership for delivery of criminal justice social work services. Management direction for the partnership is provided through a senior management forum, comprising of heads of social work services and criminal justice service managers from each of the authorities. A minute of agreement which will form the constitutional arrangements has been drafted and is currently subject to approval by the respective Councils. A grouping co-ordinator was appointed in May 2003.

Workload

The last year has seen a 31% increase in demand for social enquiry reports across the partnership and a 53.8% increase in probation figures. There are variations among the constituent authorities, with Inverclyde experiencing a 52% increase in social enquiry reports, and Renfrewshire a 43% rise in probation orders. This increase in workload is creating pressures for staff. While the authorities assist each other to cope by sharing staff where possible, their capacity is stretched.

Effective practice

The grouping uses the assessment tool LSI-R to measure the risk/needs of the offender and the level of intervention appropriate in each case. There are plans to collate the data to offer a profile of offender risk/needs across the grouping. Despite the workload pressures, the authorities continue to strive to deliver a robust and effective probation service. Most of those on probation in Renfrewshire and approximately half of those in East Renfrewshire attend the structured offence-focused programme, "Constructs" as the core of their order. This is co-delivered by staff from both authorities. Inverclyde intends to adopt the same approach, though its progress has been hampered by the loss of its criminal justice premises through fire.

The grouping wide Drug Treatment and Testing Order scheme became operational in January 2003, and has received 84 referrals since, resulting in 27 orders. All but one client recommended for an order received one.

Public protection

Services to High Risk offenders are provided through the Pathways Sex offender project which is piloting the Community Sex Offender groupwork programme currently being prepared for accreditation. Project staff assess the potential risk posed by the offender by using the Matrix 2000 (sex offender) assessment tool. The grouping does not yet use a more generic risk of harm tool, such as the Scottish Executive's risk of harm framework, but intends to do so. Each authority has established joint police and social work protocols with their relevant police division. Services to mentally disordered offenders who are considered a high risk will shortly be available from a central community forensic mental health team.

Future possible developments are for more consistent provision of throughcare and the extension of the arrest referral service across the grouping.

Quality assurance

Community service and court services are currently being examined as part of a Best Value review which is nearing completion. Further areas of service delivery will be examined incrementally thereafter. The grouping also intends to develop a common monitoring and evaluation system for all its criminal justice activity and establish a performance management framework across the grouping.

Human Resource

Structure of the workforce

The number of social workers in post has increased by around 50% since 2000. Between 2000 and 2002, there was a large increase in the number of whole time equivalent fieldwork staff for adults and a slight increase for offenders and generic services, but a slight reduction in the number of whole time equivalent staff for children. The number of vacancies for whole time equivalent social work staff for adults and generic services remained the same, while there was a slight rise in whole time equivalent social work vacancies for children's services and a greater rise in whole time equivalent social work vacancies for offenders services.

Latest figures provided by the Council but not yet confirmed suggest that, at the end of June 2003, the social worker establishment (whole time equivalent including vacancies) was 150.13, compared with 124 in October 2002, and that the number of social work vacancies was 19.68, compared with 22 in October 2003.

The Council has created a new Principal Officer post for integrated childcare to develop integrated services with Education and Health, and create opportunities for single managers. Jointly funded services are also being developed in order to improve access to, and quality of, services for children and families. The main pressures are:

• more staff needed for home care to provide a service to vulnerable children and their families;
• difficulties in recruiting and keeping qualified residential childcare staff;
• competition for qualified staff from other authorities, and for unqualified staff from other care providers in the area and from local shopping centres; and
• 34% of the workforce aged over 50 - this pattern is mainly in the home care and residential care sectors.

Support for staff

New staff receive both corporate and specifically social work induction training and the Council also has a 'buddy' system where a member of staff is on hand to help the new employee. A policy is in place to deal with violence and aggression. The Council is putting communication strategies into practice, with two one-day joint sessions held with health partners.

Managers receive training on managing absence and are supported to carry out return-to-work interviews. A rigorous stress policy is in place. Managing absence is a high profile issue. The policy deals with short-term absence in order to prevent it from developing into long-term sick leave. At the moment, managers and human resources staff are trying to reduce the significant absence levels in residential and day care services for older people. Managers will try a range of measures to help staff return to work, but will take disciplinary action if necessary. As a result, there has been significant progress in reducing absence levels - from 9.6% to 7.8% in a year. Staff have access to physiotherapy sessions and this, with risk assessment, has helped reduce absences due to problems with bones or muscles.

Towards a more qualified workforce

There is a comprehensive and extensive training programme which covers all staff groups and contributes to succession planning. A qualification framework for staff covers SVQs in home care through to DipSW, post-qualifying and training for managers. Six home care staff have achieved SVQ level 2. A further 17 are working towards qualification, and 10 of them are expected to complete the qualification this year. A new intake of around 15 staff will begin the programme in November 2003. At the moment, 13 staff are taking the Paisley diploma course and are due to join children's services once they have passed.

Preparing for registration

At the moment, the Council is drawing up qualification achievement plans with all unit managers to meet the conditions for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), and it will include these in a strategic plan. The senior management team will monitor the plan when it is introduced.

The department is issuing the SSSC code and the Council's code with all new contracts. The Council is exploring the introduction of a local framework for continuing professional development, based on the SSSC framework.

Race Equality

1.2% of the local population are from a minority ethnic group, compared with 2% for Scotland as a whole.

A Race Equality Plan is supported by a Council-wide action plan. The extended senior management team has a role to play in monitoring progress against the action plan.

Council departments use a self-assessment checklist for auditing and monitoring progress at a local level.

At the moment, the Council buys in translation and interpretation services.

Use of Information Communications Technology (ICT)

Social Services Department

Computers are widely used by staff. All users have Intranet access and most have Internet access. The Department operates within a corporate ICT framework in terms of standards and responsibility for delivery of specific technical functions. However, it is responsible for setting its own business priorities, allocation of funding project management and development of management information. It is currently being replaced by the SWIFT system, which is being rolled out across departments. It has already been rolled out to over 20 teams that had no previous access to substantive IT systems.

There is a substantial commitment to staff training on all aspects of IT use.

Partnerships

The Council shares a common protocol with the Health Board for client consent. The development of further protocols with partner agencies is being assessed alongside the development of the SWIFT system. This also has to take into account any changes to the Health Board's system.

Background Profile

Renfrewshire is a mixed urban and rural area, with its main population living in Renfrew, Paisley and Johnstone. Manufacturing jobs have continued to go down but they are still important in the local community. The reduction in manufacturing jobs has partly been made up for by an increase in the transport and communications industry.

The number of jobs in Renfrewshire went down by 5% between 1995 and 2001. Average earnings were 5% higher than those for Scotland as a whole.

Spending for every person on social work in 2001-2002 was 253, lower than the Scottish figure of 267.

Expected population change

Community Care

Expenditure on Community Care has increased significantly in the period 1999-2002.

Children and young people

Expenditure on children's services has remained steady over the period 1999-2002.

Criminal Justice

Human Resources

« Previous | Contents | Next »