The Care Inspectorate has published a report following an inspection of the leadership of children’s social work services in the City of Edinburgh Council.
The Care Inspectorate was asked to undertake this inspection by the Scottish Government’s Minister for Children, Young People and the Promise.
Inspectors found that a new senior leadership team, which had been formed in a relatively short period of time, had collectively implemented promising improvements in governance structures and quality assurance frameworks, which contributed towards some improvements for children and young people.
Inspectors also noted that staff were supported and valued within their operational teams, describing a growing culture of trust and respect from their line managers. They benefited from regular and tailored supervision from line managers which built their confidence.
However, staff were not as confident in senior leaders and felt there was not yet an environment in which they could fully trust leaders or engage with them. Despite a range of methods being used by senior leaders to communicate with staff and hear their views, the intended messages had not always been effectively delivered or heard. As a result of this, senior leaders did not benefit from the support of, or constructive challenge from, their staff.
The strategic planning landscape was complex and links with quality assurance activity were not explicit or understood by staff. Governance arrangements between Council committees and senior officers were not as effective as they could have been at driving improvements across children’s social work services. Inspectors found that, while developments across the service had been fast paced, they had not always provided the assurance leaders required.
Staff and leaders now recognised a period of consolidation was required to assess learning and inform further improvement activity.
Kevin Mitchell, Executive Director of Assurance and Improvement at the Care Inspectorate, said: “We have identified progress in some areas of the leadership of children’s social work services. However, some areas of work had only recently started or were at too early a stage to see tangible improvements. More was needed to enable senior leaders to confidently demonstrate the capacity for sustained improvement which would ensure robust and safe service delivery.
“We will provide ongoing support to the senior leadership team of children’s social work services in the City of Edinburgh to make the improvements identified through this inspection.”
The full report can be read here.