1. The Future of Local Authority Commissioning
Thoughts and Reflections
Martin Samuels
Commissioner for Care
5 June 2014

2. Where we started Good things happening in Children’s Services in 2011:
Fostering service ‘Outstanding’
Adoption ‘Good’
Looked After Service ‘Adequate’
Therefore a shock
Unannounced July 2011 Ofsted inspection issued a priority notice
November 2011 ‘Performing Poorly’ judgement  
Overhaul of way Staffordshire provided children's’ services
Decision taken a year previously
‘Families First’, scheduled to start September  
Performing poorly largely related to the delays in alerting the First Response Team to concerns and in the length of time it took the Team to react, exposing children to the risk of further harm
Decision taken year before to change children’s services moving to a patch-based system predicated on a review of need and shift away from statutory work towards targeted early intervention with the emphasis on “the right help at the right time in the right way”, so that families only had to tell their story once to find support

3. The decision Introduce Families First Overarching change to take place
Still believed to provide the best opportunity to revitalise provision
Overarching change to take place
At same time as focused work on issues identified by Ofsted
Not to address problems in isolation
Understanding role within whole system
Political and managerial commitment to change and improvement
Committed time and resources. We didn’t just tackle the problems in isolation, but within the context of the overall programme to ensure it worked everywhere in Staffordshire.

4. Driving through change: Governance and investment
Reinstatement of Children’s Partnership
Creation of Children’s Improvement Board (CIB)
Chaired by Leader, signalling safeguarding children as number one priority
Regular safeguarding meetings
Including the Leader, Chief Executive, Director of Children’s Services and Head of Families First
Review current and emerging child protection issues
Investment
£3 million invested in new ICT system
£2 million to support staff
The CIB was set up specifically to give political oversight to the changes required by the Ofsted finding, but it developed into a more rounded, cabinet-level, oversight panel. Originally chaired by the leader of the council and regularly attended by other cabinet members, Director of Children’s Services and head of Families First, it received monthly reports on progress and performance
As we were already alert to this various activity was under way in terms of systems changes, procedural developments and staff training to improve this, but following the judgement and report, a bid for investment was put together with lead member support and this was approved by cabinet. (report attached).
This then allowed additional capacity to be brought in to support the other improvements already undertaken, under way or planned. It was this joined up approach that has paid off – i.e. not just throwing additional resource at the problem, but looking at the problem as a part of a whole system and seeking to develop changes and improvements to process, systems, staff skills etc. supported where necessary with additional capacity

5. Driving through change: Integration
Integrating approach across the Council’s services
Predating the change to Ofsted regulations by two years
Review and integration of our structures
New specifications and responsibilities
Focus on service and delivery systems
Integrated assessment pathways
Introduced cross cutting performance reporting
Staff and organisational development
Some areas held competitive selection for posts with no guarantees for incumbents. We’ve also invested in training and supporting managers]

6. Driving through change: Focus
Political leadership committed to council-wide Corporate Parenting campaign and improving the effectiveness of the Corporate Parenting panel
A focus on the children’s choice
Children in Care Council
Evolve Young People project
A renewed focus on life after care
Support into work projects

7. The result Families First programme of change completed summer 2013
Families First has lost only 8 of 138 new social workers in two years
CIB evolved, chaired by the lead cabinet member, now looking at wider children’s agenda, including Families First and education
2012 inspection upgraded assessment to ‘Adequate’
2014 inspection rated service as ‘Good’ in all areas
2012 inspection moved us up to adequate for safeguarding, but identified (we were already aware of it and had actions in place) high case loads and particularly the ability of the safeguarding teams to manage the children in need cases – they were happy that no children were at risk, that CP was responded to promptly and appropriately, and that children in need were seen but follow up activity and through put of work was delayed due to capacity.
We were also focused on the bigger picture of the FF journey to an integrated children’s service and undertook a lot of work with TSU (both in relation to the front door and safeguarding agenda, but also the wider FF portfolio), external partners such as iMPOWER who working with us on improving elements of our fostering services, peer reviews and challenge (we have welcomed external challenge and review of out looked after services, adoption and wider children’s services in the past two years)), including performance across the board so we were also developing management information systems, performance monitoring, reporting and challenge processes, an outcomes based accountability approach, staff development and training opportunities, an OD program etc.
Funding – overall FF budgets have gone down as we have met MTFS targets over past three years, but there has been specific targeted investment in relation to areas of pressure and capacity linked to ofted inspections - see report attached for and

8. Commissioning Model Families First now a fully-commissioned service
Budgets held by commissioners
Agreed service specifications
Formal commissioner / provider governance infrastructure
New models of delivery
Social Work Practice
Small not-for-profit provider covering one district
Prime Provider
Micro-commissioning within provider

9. Benefits & Pitfalls of Commissioning
Clear separation of focus and expertise
Strategic outcomes and system-wide routes to achieve these
Operational design and delivery
Pitfalls
Risk of gap opening between commissioners and operational realities
Overlooking genuine different drivers between commissioners and provider
Challenges
Significant shift in mindset from line management to commissioning models
Council has several ‘hats’
Commissioner of service
Owner of provider

10. External Delegation of Core Functions
CYP Act 2008 gives powers for LAs to delegate core social care functions to third parties
Draft regulations to extend this to almost all functions
Challenges
Provider would be seeking legal decisions on behalf of the Council
Potential for financial incentives to drive decisions
Complexity of formal scrutiny of Third Party actions
Benefits
Facilitates clear separation of commissioning from delivery
Offers flexibility over delivery models
Increases scope for integrated delivery with partners

11. Impact of Budget Pressures
New ways of working
Externalisation of wider range of functions
Clearer commissioner / provider relationships
Greater focus on partnership working, especially with NHS Trusts
Tighter focus
Greater emphasis on delivering key outcomes
Rather than traditional service mix
Moves towards integrated commissioning with NHS
Shared objectives
Emphasis on prevention
Troubled Families model
Early help
Tight grip on costs
Robust review of care packages
Robust review of prices

12. Looking Beyond May 2015 Context likely to remain constant
Financial constraints
Emphasis on child-centred approaches
Choice & control (e.g. SEND reforms)
Growing expectations from the public
Challenges and opportunities
Greater flexibility over models of service delivery
Growing recognition that children’s services are a core part of the Council’s business, not just of the DCS
Increased working with the NHS and other partners
Enhanced scope for service providers to offer innovative means by which to secure outcomes defined by commissioners