Eden Brown Service Delivery were commissioned to provide support to increase capacity with an Assessment Team as a Managed Service for a period of 12 weeks.
The Challenge
The Local Authority were experiencing significant challenges recruiting Social Workers and, as a result, they had several unallocated cases which required urgent intervention and safety planning.
They also required additional capacity to manage the duty system to ensure children were seen in a timely way following case allocation.
Additionally, due to staff vacancies, some existing cases had experienced drift and delay in assessments being progressed and completed.
The Solution
Eden Brown Service Delivery was commissioned to provide an Assessment Team, consisting of one Team Manager and six Social Workers for a period of 12 weeks.
Several discussions took place with the Local Authority Sponsor to understand their challenges, aims and requirements.
A tailored proposal detailing pricing, duration and KPIs were agreed and the team were mobilised with a clear project delivery plan in place within just two weeks. An implementation day was held prior to the project commencing, ensuring effective team integration, familiarisation with internal managers, systems and processes and IT set-up.
- There was swift implementation of an Assessment Team to address the lack of capacity within the service and to restart a number of assessments.
- The EBS Management Team provided weekly performance progress reports evidencing the team’s throughput and overall performance.
- Senior management ‘risks and issues’ meetings were held regularly throughout the project to ensure effective communication and swiftly identify/resolve any emerging issues.
- Themed audits and dip-sampling were undertaken by the Team Manager and Quality Assurance Manager. Audit summary reports evidencing good practice and positive outcomes for children and young people were provided.
- Midway and end-of-project meetings were held to evaluate progress and outcomes against agreed KPIs. Comprehensive reports were provided at all stages.
- A helpful and collaborative working relationship developed between the EBSD Senior Manager and the Sponsor, in which suggestions about service delivery and feedback were shared and explored.
Results
The Eden Brown Service Delivery solution supported the Local Authority to ensure all the unallocated cases across the Assessment Service were allocated and children were seen promptly. Robust management oversight was provided on all cases and high quality, and timely assessments were completed. The additional capacity and expertise were effective in managing the complexity and demand within the system, ensuring the threshold for intervention was consistently applied. Two Quality Assurance cycles were undertaken to examine the quality of practice relating to the assessments, in the form of detailed case audits. We received positive feedback on the quality and judgements within the audits, with evidence of good quality assessments and appropriate decision-making, leading to positive outcomes for children and their families.
- 100% of children’s cases allocated on day of referral
- 100% of 5-day management reviews completed on all cases.
- 100% of 15-day management reviews completed on all cases.
- 100% of case supervisions are recorded on children’s files within 4-week timeframe.
- 100% of audits were rated as ‘Good’.
- 100% assessments completed (70% of assessments completed in less that 20 days, and 30% completed in 20-35 days).
- 70% of initial visits were completed within 3 working days and 30% were completed within 3-5 working days.
“It was a positive experience for the service. EBSD were organised and professional and worked well within the Assessment Service. The outcomes set out at the start were achieved and we were able to benefit in a number of ways from having the managed team in - such as driving performance/pushing on with short assessments and testing our thresholds and processes”.
- Assistant Director, Cambridgeshire Children's Services