Contact: Kevin Allen ext 5389 e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

1. This report contains an overview of the workforce plan for Social Services which will be presented to Cabinet for approval shortly. Included within the detailed plan are the following strategic issues that are likely to affect the workforce during 2004/5, broken down into care groups. A summary table is included at the end of the report showing the numbers of additional posts that are required. The full workforce plan, detailing the individual posts that are recommended will be placed in the Members' Room for inspection.

2. There is some overlap between this plan and the plan prepared a year ago which looked forward beyond the current year. This is particularly evident in the case of the staffing of the new nursing homes which are likely to start coming on stream towards the end of the 2004/05 financial year. A substantial number of additional posts was proposed then and these are included here as it is planned that they will be needed in the coming year

3. The workforce plan supports the Corporate Strategy aim 6 - developing councillors and staff - and, through it, aim 5 - improving services.

Summary of workforce plan strategic issues

4. In Children and Families (C&F) the next year is likely to see significant changes in terms of structure, skills and work patterns in the sector arising mainly from the `Every Child Matters' Green Paper and the recently published Children Bill. The initial stages of a joint programme of development by Social Services and Education Departments to integrate local services for children and families are currently underway. These take account of responses to the Best Value review of Services for Children in Need in the Community. However, these are likely to be in terms of working up responses to this agenda in preparation for 2005/6 and beyond, rather than actual changes on the ground. Exceptions to this are likely as a result of implementation of the Children & Adolescents Mental Health Strategy (CAMHS) in relation to the Pathfinder Children's Trust..

5. Other strategic issues affecting the C&F workforce for 2004/05 include the following:

· The `Choice Protects' programme for foster care

· The `Adoption Support' programme to improve adoption services

· The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy

· `Safeguarding Children' - Child Protection administration, governance and practice arrangements

· Local Preventative Strategy (LPS 0-19) - links with the Green Paper and Information Sharing. The Government requires Local Authorities to design a LPS and this is a key aspect, as is an Information Sharing protocol.

· Recruitment and Retention of field social work staff. This strategy will need to be confirmed.

· New Private Fostering regulations from 1^st April.

· New Advocacy regulations from 1^st April

· Family and Friends, and Kinship Care Strategy. The type and level of social work supervision and support needed by these carers will become clearer during the year and may indicate the need for additional or varied workforce arrangements.

· Family Group Conferences (FGC). Work is in hand to review this which aims to offer alternatives to local authority care, where appropriate, involving the extended family, close friends and community resources in identifying the arrangements.

· HCC Foster Care Service review which may have workforce implications in relation to management, foster care support services or recruitment and assessment.

· Children with Disabilities (CwD) - integrated Care Management Pilots.

· National Service Framework (NSF) for Children. This Government initiative led by the Department of Health aims to redraw priorities and standards in relation to various groups of vulnerable children and the type of settings in which they receive services from a variety of professions and agencies.

· `HealthFit' - the strategic framework for future health services in Hampshire and Isle of Wight for 2004

· Local Delivery Plans

6. The new financial year will see a significant change in the way the finances of the Wessex Youth Offending Team (YOT) Partnership are managed. This change will have implications, over the longer term, for workforce planning. For the first time, the YOT will have a "fully pooled cash budget". This means that each agency will provide a cash payment from which the Head of Service can purchase staff at an agreed price (in the past staff have been provided in lieu of cash). As posts become vacant, the Head of Service will have the flexibility to purchase different types of staff, e.g. a police officer instead of a teacher.

7. In addition, the YOT Partnership has set ambitious efficiency savings targets for the YOT over the next three years (1%, 3%, 6%). Opportunities to achieve savings will be sought by:

· developing opportunities for unqualified or newly qualified posts to replace some qualified posts;

· identifying posts which have a strong administrative element which can be split from the practitioner element, e.g. result-gathering within court duty.

8. The Government's response to the Carter Report on Correctional Services will see an amalgamation of prison and probation services, within the National Offender Management Service.

9. In Older Persons (OP) the senior management team will expand to support the nursing care strategy and staffing levels will rise considerably as nurses and care staff are appointed to the nursing units, care staff are increased to meet the Commission for Social Care Inspection's minimum standards and domiciliary care services develop to meet changing needs. A review of the use of qualified social workers and qualified and unqualified care managers is urgently required to ensure Reception & Assessment teams can function effectively and fining for delayed discharge is kept to a minimum.

10. The main workforce drivers in OP are:

· Joint training with the Health Service on promoting independence and on dementia;

· Recruitment to joint intermediate care and first response teams;

· NVQ2 for 50% of home carers by 2008;

· Additional Service Manager (Operations) for Home Care;

· Additional staff to strengthen the Out of Hours Home Care Service;

· Innovations Project - to improve delayed transfers and reduce emergency admissions to hospital;

· Continuing Care - joint eligibility criteria with the NHS;

· Nursing Strategy - 5 nursing units to go live during 2004/5

- Adaptation training for nurses recruited overseas.

- Clinical Governance systems to be set up and monitored;

- Changes to working time regulations - covering sickness absences, leave, emergencies etc;

· Higher dependency of residents requiring additional night care staff;

· Work with West Hampshire Trust on integrated working for older people with mental health needs.

11. The main strategic objectives in OP are:

· Introduction of an IT system within Home Care to produce timesheets electronically and assist with monitoring lone working;

· Review the Basingstoke fieldwork structure to align more closely with Alton;

· Improve dementia support and training within residential care;

· Ensure fully trained, staffed teams in nursing units that are integrated with existing residential staff on shared sites;

· Review and revise the use of staffing skills and qualifications to ensure best use is made of staff numbers.

12. In Adults, Learning Disability, `Valuing People' remains central to the development of learning disability services in Hampshire. This includes the development of a robust and flexible workforce to meet the needs of a service evolving through a period of change.

13. Developments planned for 2004/05 include:

· A full interagency training programme to achieve minimum knowledge and skill standards for all those involved in planning, purchasing and providing care;

· Integrated working with NHS provider trusts between care management and community learning disability teams;

· Services assisting young people to transfer to adult services to be strengthened during 2004/05;

· A number of service reviews and improvements will be carried out in line with the `Valuing People' agenda.

14. In Adults, Mental Health, the major policy initiative driving developments continues to be the Mental Health National Service Framework (NSF) and the policies set out in the NHS Plan and `Improvement, Expansion and Reform'. Key national targets are planned to be in place across the country by 2006. The targets assume additional investment in mental health services with the aim of strengthening the workforce, with all new funding being channelled through primary care trusts (PCTs).

15. Developments planned for 2004/05 include:

· Partnership Agreements with West Hampshire Trust joining with Surrey Hampshire Borders NHS Trust to form the `Hampshire Partnership Trust' from 1 April 2004;

· Revision of the approved social worker recruitment and retention strategy to achieve parity with competitor authorities;

· Implementation of changes identified in the review of HIV/AIDS services which was carried out in 2003;

· Inclusion of the Appointeeship Service within the Receivership Unit in the second half of 2004;

· A number of service reviews and improvements will be carried out in response to national and local requirements.

16. In Adults, Physical Disability, a number of national initiatives which affect services in the client group are being implemented and will continue into 2004/05. National shortages of key professionals and increasing demand for services makes it critical for the care group to continue to review all its services and business.

17. Developments planned for 2004/05 include:

· Reviews and improvements to be carried out during 04/05, including care management, residential and day services;

· Further changes within Social Services Direct linked to e-government initiatives;

· A Hampshire wide Community Equipment Service, integrated with Health partners to include all except part of the South East during 2004;

· Expansion of Technicians Service in response to improvements achieved through introduction of OT Direct;

· A new grading structure within sensory services.

18. In the Resources sector, there have been several substantial achievements since publication of the last workforce plan, particularly in Information Services. Phase one of SWIFT and a number of functions of SAP have been successfully launched. Phases 2 and 3 of SWIFT will be completed in July and December 2004 respectively, and the remaining SAP finance, procurement and HR functions will be rolled-out in the first half of the 2004/05 financial year. More new multidisciplinary teams have been connected to Hantsnet2000, and the Social Services Direct contact centre has been extended to include OT Direct. Progress has also been made in improving the efficiency of the Administration function, particularly through encouraging more flexible working and securing greater consistency in business processes.

19. The main strategic objectives in Resources that have potential workforce implications are to:

· develop a full electronic social care record capable of integration with the NHS Integrated Social Care Record Service;

· support (by December 2005) the delivery of appropriate services either directly through websites, over the telephone, at council offices, contact centres or in people's homes;

· provide a full Electronic Social Care Record (ESCR) and integrated Children's System by October 2005;

· introduce formal facilities management arrangements for all premises, both service bases and offices, in line with corporate requirements. This will have the impact of ensuring that all premises are safe and efficiently managed.

20. In Partnerships and Supporting People, development of the aim for each Partnership Manager to link with a single PCT continues. The Supporting People team is now operational and staffing requirements have changed to monitor and review contracts. No significant changes are planned in the Performance Management Unit.

Changes in workforce numbers

21. The summary of proposed changes in workforce numbers is shown in the table below. Many of these extra posts are funded from the additional budget allocation (£14.3m) made available to the Social Services Department through increases in the Government's Formula Funding Share (FSS) and special and specific grants. The details of the proposed allocations to care sectors and management and support functions were set out in the Revenue Budget 2004/05 report considered by the Social Care Policy Review Committee on 23 January 2004. This report also gave a broad indication of the purposes for which the additional allocations were being made. For example, within the Older People sector, additional funds were budgeted for meeting national minimum standards for staffing within the County Council's residential establishments (£0.4m full-year effect) and for increasing nursing care capacity through the implementation of the nursing care strategy (£1.5m for 2004/05, £3.7m full-year effect). Funding is sufficient to cover the cost of this strategy in 2004/05 as staffing complements are phased in. The eventual full-year cost will depend on the extent to which the new nursing care places are needed to cater for increased demand and to what extent they allow reductions in current purchases. Insofar as new demand is involved, that will be a first call on any passported FSS increase for Social Care in 2005/06.

22. In addition to the funding earmarked within the Social Services budget, Government money is being channelled through primary care trusts for extra mental health posts.

23. The table below distinguishes between those posts which are funded by the County Council, including Government grants made directly available to the County Council, (I=Internal), those funded by other agencies/sources (E=External) and those where there is a mixture of the two (Joint). External funding accounts for £1.28m (16%) of the total cost, while joint funding accounts for a further £0.17m (2%) leaving a requirement for funding through the Social Services budget of £6.8m.

24. In addition, there are activity programmes and associated proposals for additional posts which are dependent on sources of funding not yet determined. Details of these will be brought forward once funding plans are finalised..

Recommendation

1. That the Committee commend the Workforce Plan to the Cabinet.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. published works

2. documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Social Services Department Workforce Plan - April 2004 to March 2005

Social Care Policy Review Committee 23 January 2004 Revenue Budget 2004/05 Report of the County Treasurer and the Director of Social Services