Issue - meetings

Purpose of the report:

To provide an overview of the service provided to care leavers with particular regard to support around transitions, educational attainment including post 16 destinations, the impact of out of area placements and accommodation quality and stability.

Witnesses:

Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children and Families

Rachael Wardell, Executive Director – Children, Families and Lifelong Learning

Siobhan Walsh, Assistant Director – South West Surrey

Key points raised in the discussion:

1. The Cabinet Member introduced the item, noting that the Care Leavers Service was subject to close review and scrutiny by the Corporate Parenting Board, in which they focussed on specific areas in greater detail. The Cabinet Member informed the Members that the council was keen to sign up to the Care Leavers Charter and emphasised the importance of the Celebration Fund.

2. The Assistant Director introduced the report, noting that the Service was in a strong position and had received positive feedback from both the Ofsted monitoring visit and the full Ofsted inspection. There was stability in the workforce, with a high number of staff permanently recruited, as well as good skillset of Personal Advisors (PAs). An area of improvement was to ensure that they were consistently responsive to care leavers and to work with PAs to ensure that they understand the complexities of the Service.

3. A Member asked about the changing levels of demand for services over the next few years and how this would be managed, with note to the medium-term financial strategy (MTFS). The Member also asked about the differing needs and funding of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) who often became care leavers. The Assistant Director explained that the Service was well placed in terms of capacity, but there was some work to been done with the 16-year-old cohort. The biggest threat was the impact of international circumstances, as Surrey received high numbers of UASC. There was a dedicated team for this cohort, with a capacity of 100 children. There were currently around 15-16 new arrivals each month, thus, if the predicted arrival rate continued, then this would place a large demand on the Service. The over-18 cohort had increased to 318 asylum experienced care leavers. There were two county-wide care leaver teams for this cohort, who understood the specific needs of these young people. There were also specialist mental health services in place to support those young people who presented a different type of trauma.

4. The Executive Director added that children who grew up in Surrey were likely to leave the Service prior to becoming a care leaver, however, as UASC arrived without family and usually at an older age, they were likely to be eligible for services until 25 years old. It was expected that the demand would continue to rise. Practices within the Safeguarding Service intended to drive down the number of children who became care leavers, however, this was more difficult during the pandemic. The Executive Director commented that care leavers should be funded by the Home Office, although they were not adequately funded currently. As demand could change quickly, this was closely monitored and factored into financial planning.

5. A Member queried whether the accommodation for asylum experienced care leavers was different to the accommodation of the wider cohort. The Assistant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13