Decision details

The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the establishment of a Children’s Resilience and Recovery Programme, which in turn has impacted on
resources, in particular, front line staff to work directly with children, young people and their families.

The current pandemic has simultaneously increased the strain on families and reduced school capacity to manage early help cases, in particular step-downs from social care.
This places a risk in the system for vulnerable children and young people, especially any not in an educational setting. These often end up in a re-referral into Social Care,
placing greater pressure on an already stretched front door. Therefore, providing extra Early Help Officers in the form of Family Lead Practitioners means that educational settings will be better supported. In effect, the officers can catch the step-downs and ensure support is provided in a timely and appropriate manner.

Due to the above, this ODR seeks to establish the following posts:
? 7 FTE Family Lead Practitioners (Grade 7) temporary for 12 months
? 1 FTE Technical Business Support (Grade 6) temporary for 12 months
The Family Lead Practitioners will be managed within the Early Intervention and Localities Service.

Recruit seven temporary Family Lead Practitioners to support schools to manage children and young people who are stepped down from social care, in particular into educational settings, many of whom have Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs, with direct early help support.

Recruit one temporary Business Support Officer (Technical) to support the on-going development of the service.

Allocate funding of £216k from the Children’s Partnership Recovery and Resilience Programme approved by Cabinet on 26th January 2021.

Do Nothing – The impact of doing nothing is not a viable option, as this will result in some vulnerable children and young people not being supported and, ultimately, the
likelihood of them being re-referred into Social Care. It places added pressure into educational settings, which are advising that they are not able to provide the support they normally would due to the current circumstances.