As one of the UK’s leading Service Delivery partners, Eden Brown Service Delivery joined forces with Bournemouth’s Children’s Services division to provide support with their Child Protection and Children in Need services.
The Challenge
Increasing demand, reduced budgets and burn-out has had an ongoing impact on social workers who have been working tirelessly to deliver to those in need. Bournemouth Children’s Services urgently needed additional resource to enhance the capacity within their team and support their Child Protection and Children in Need teams.
The Solution
Eden Brown Service Delivery were commissioned to provide support their Child Protection and Children in Need teams; managing and reviewing complex cases to ensure that the threshold for intervention was consistently applied.
An initial consultation took place with the Local Authority Sponsor to understand their aims and requirements. The proposal, pricing, duration and KPIs were agreed, and a team of six Qualified Social Workers were mobilised within two weeks.
With a clear project delivery plan in place, an implementation day was held prior to the project commencing. This ensured effective team integration and the successful set-up of systems, processes and IT.
- Swift implementation of a CIN/CP team to address lack of capacity within the service.
- All cases were reviewed and robust management oversight was provided. Timely visits and reviews of existing intervention and planning with family’s adult-agency partners led to the consistent implementation of threshold and effective safety planning.
- Themed audits and dip-sampling were undertaken by the Team Manager and Quality Assurance Manager.
- Fortnightly CIN/ CP surgeries reviewed cases to ensure that planning was SMART, effective and responding to the child's needs.
- Weekly and monthly performance reports evidencing good performance and throughput were provided.
- Regular senior management ‘risks and issues' meetings were held throughout the project duration to ensure effective communication and identify/resolve any emerging issues swiftly.
- Themed audits and dip-sampling were undertaken by the Team Manager and Quality Assurance Manager.
- A midway meeting was held to evaluate progress and outcomes against agreed KPIs. Comprehensive reports were provided at these stages.
- A helpful and collaborative working relationship developed between the EBS senior manager and the sponsor, in which suggestions and feedback were shared and explored. These ideas were taken forward by the sponsor to further develop their service.
Results
Eden Brown Service Delivery supported the Local Authority to manage and review complex cases and ensure that the threshold for intervention was consistently applied. Robust management oversight was provided on all cases, with timely visits reviewing safety plans and escalating cases appropriately. This ensured that plans were proportionate, SMART and responded to the assessed risk.
The quality assurance audit identified good management oversight, driving SMART plans with effective communication with families and good multiagency intervention. The fortnightly CIN/CP surgeries ensured that risk was effectively managed and plans were progressed in timely manner, with the child remaining central to the planning and implementation.
- 93% of CIN visits have been completed within timeframe consistently.
- 95% CIN reviews completed within timeframe.
- 97% of CP visits have been complete within timeframe consistently.
- 100% of supervisions have been completed within timeframe.
- 100% of audits were rated as ‘Good’.
- 83% of audits rated Good.
“Eden Brown has spent approximately one year at such time when Children’s Services was rated inadequate and it was therefore difficult to recruit. It is fair to say that when they started working with us, they were taking on children whose case files were reflective of inadequate practice, and where often there was a lack of recording that would have enabled a clear picture of the child to be gained. Eden Brown has remained with us, providing the stability required as we made progress with our improvement journey. They have managed the children they have worked with well, dealing with any issues stemming from historical practice and working with children and families to improve their experiences of the service. They have brought the much needed capacity, helping to ensure every child is safe, secure, supported, listened to and trusted. In addition, the Service Manager has helped contribute to the improvement journey through joining together with internal Service Managers to relook at policies/ protocols and best practice. This has very much been valued.“
- Director of Safeguarding and Early Help
"I have worked with project teams previously but have found Eden Brown to be particularly professional. They started when agreed, took the number of cases agreed, learned new systems with minimum fuss, and got to grips with families who had been allowed to drift and where decision-making had been poor. As a result, they had to address several formal complaints which were not of their making, which they did in a calm and professional manner. They had to take swift remedial action to protect children, some of whom via the courts after only a few days in situ. They gripped their cases with skill and have been generous in identifying when they have capacity to take on more work. I would say that Eden Brown Service Delivery has set a new bar for project teams and I would recommend them in a heartbeat.”
- Service Manager Bournemouth Children’s Service