Agenda item

This report makes recommendations to improve the experience for

young disabled people transitioning from social care services for

children, to social care services for adults.

Councillor Vaughan welcomed Jo Baty, Mandy Lawson, Steve Miley and Lisa Redfern, who jointly presented the report.  This had been recognised as an important piece of work.  Development of the report had been undertaken some time ago and consideration of the report now presented an opportunity to understand the implementation of its key recommendations. 

Mandy Lawson explained this had been a long journey which represented a significant amount of work marking the end of shared services.  Disaggregation had presented an opportunity to create a new department and establish a sovereign service, with a commitment to co-produce at its core. To date, a disabled children’s manager and support team had been recruited, and was expected to launch on 26 March.  The Special Educational Needs (SEND) team would be brought into the integrated team, with the aim of having one practitioner per child. The approach would be piloting new ways of working, aiming to have a single pathway, replacing the previous multi-pathway method to access Adult Social Care (ASC) provision. 

Lisa Redfern said that the most exciting aspect was to unite ASC and children’s social workers, working jointly to plan care from the age of 14 through to 25 years of age. The aim was to have a fully integrated service and ensure there were no more gaps in service provision for 14-25 year olds in transition.

Steve Miley observed that at the time of the task force, many aspects appeared obvious.  Radical changes were made to reconfigure services within the new department, which reflected officer commitment to do something differently. This represented a significant change where parents and children would experience a seamless service.

Jo Baty emphasised the importance of co-production in the new service, referring to the recommendations of the Disabled People’s Commission (DPC). Tara Flood, who chaired the DPC, continued to work with officers and they had also been assisted by contributions from parents as critical friends.  This had helped officers to evaluate, address mistakes and make changes as necessary.  Hammersmith & Fulham was an exciting borough for children’s work and mainstream schools had expressed an interest in exploring work pathways.

Councillor Coleman commended Councillor Vaughan’s commitment in driving forward the work of the task group, which represented one of the Administration’s key manifesto pledges: that ASC and children’s services work together. He welcomed report which was timely in its alignment with a key recommendation from the DPC to prioritise co-production. 

Co-optee Victoria Brignell referred to page 94, section 11, opportunities for adults with learning disabilities, and asked about the possible timescales, dates, performance measures and next steps.  Mandy Lawson responded that they had just opened a new disabled children’s centre.  Employment had been offered and declined by a young person to work within the new centre, illustrating that further work would be required to improve the low numbers of employed learning disabled in the Borough.  Phase one had focused on ‘Moving On’ and establishing the new service.  Phase two would be piloting new ways of working with ASC social workers.  Timescales were difficult, but it was anticipated that planning would begin within the next 6 months.  The aim was to initiate conversations with young people and their families from 13 years of age.  In terms of next steps and performance measures, it was anticipated that Lisa Redfern would formulate and finalise an action plan to support this. 

The measure of success would be that no young person should slip through the net, so that everyone would have a transition plan, without exception.  It was expected that a survey to monitor engagement would also be included in the action plan, together with individual reviews, to continually test the service methodology.  Councillor Coleman observed that the question of measurement was hugely important and fundamental to developing the service and that this required further consideration.

Merrill Hammer commended the report and asked the extent to which the project would have SEN children placed mainstream schools, with behavioural and numeracy issues.  Jo Baty explained that the biggest group of SEN children were already in mainstream schools and would continue to be supported.

Co-optee Jim Grealy welcomed the report and was interested in how the service would be resourced, referencing section 7 of the report.  Steve Miley explained that Education would also become a sovereign service in the Borough.  He acknowledged that pressure on resources was an issue for every local authority and recognised by central government.  Lisa Redfern continued that there were also significant budget pressures in ASC funding. However, where a young person was identified earlier at age 14, who required specific help, this became easier to resolve. The cost of supported housing became cheaper, so there was better, joined up provision.  There was potential to save costs if provision was better planned with a longer lead in.

Councillor Vaughan thanked all the officers for their work and commitment to the new services and welcomed the new joined up approach that saw ASC and Children’s services working together.  He looked forward to receiving an update on this exciting development and wished officers well with its implementation.  It would be a real achievement to take away the struggles that parents and young people must deal with and to improve outcomes for them. 

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.