Inspections Clinic: Multi-agency safeguarding

Joint targeted area inspections (JTAIs), which look at how well different agencies work together to help and protect children, are getting under way again.

However, there are some key changes in approach local authorities and their partners need to be aware of.

Crucially, HM Inspectorate of Probation will not be taking part in JTAIs for the time being.

Together with Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the probation inspectorate have been a key contributor since JTAIs launched in 2016.

However, the body announced in December that it would not be taking part in JTAIs or the Welsh equivalent – joint inspection of child protection arrangements (JICPA) – in 2022/23.

“Following a review, HM Inspectorate of Probation has decided to pause its contribution to the JTAI and JICPA programmes in 2022/23 to allow us to focus on our core and thematic inspections of youth justice and probation services,” it said in a statement.

The inspectorate said it would continue to share learning from its own inspections with Ofsted – which leads the JTAI programme – and as part the steering groups for JTAIs and JICPAs.

“A decision on resuming our contribution to these programmes in 2023/24 will be made at the end of 2022,” it added.

Massive upheaval

The move comes amid a period of massive upheaval in probation with the implementation of a major plan to re-unify part-privatised services for adult offenders in England and Wales.

HMI Probation’s annual report on adult probation services, published in March, shows shifting services back into the public sector as of June last year has proved a major challenge made all the more difficult by the pandemic.

There continue to be serious concerns about the quality of services especially when it comes to protecting the public. However, a separate report on youth offending services shows the majority are performing well (see inspection shorts).

Another key change is the fact JTAIs will now be split into two different types of inspection.

Previously, inspections looked at both “front door” child protection services in a local area and a specific theme. Themes explored to date have included child sexual exploitation, neglect, children living with domestic abuse and sexual abuse within families.

But from now, inspections will either evaluate front door services or a particular theme or group of children, starting with child criminal exploitation.

Part of the reason for the change is to reduce the burden on local authorities and partners and the inspectorates themselves, explains Ofsted’s national director for regulation and social care Yvette Stanley.

Inspections involved a large team of inspectors speaking to numerous professionals across different services. They were complex and time-consuming to co-ordinate.

Dividing JTAIs into two distinct types of inspection will allow inspectors to be more focused and ease pressure on hard-pressed services, says Stanley.

“We’ve always had very positive feedback from the sector about JTAIs, particularly the multi-agency approach and the fact it mirrors what we expect of local authorities and their partners on the ground,” she says.

“But we are mindful – especially in this post peak Covid environment – that they do place quite a burden on local areas and at our end too.”

The new approach was tested in Hampshire where a pilot inspection took place in November last year.

The inspectorates – together with HMI Probation – also used the new approach in January this year to do a government-commissioned review of child protection services in Solihull following the death of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

According to Stanley, these inspections showed there were advantages in doing things differently.

“We had the comparison of an area where things were progressing well and Solihull that was going through difficult times,” she says. “We’d have liked to have done some more trialing, if I’m honest, but we understand local authorities and their partners were under a great deal of pressure over the last 18 months. We proved the concept and think it works well.”

Themes on the cards

Other themes that are on the cards include prevention and early help, and work with older children in need of help and protection.

Earlier this year, Ofsted commissioned Research in Practice to produce an overview of early help provision in England.

“One thing that was very clear in the report is that resources for early help had declined over a period of years for a number of reasons,” says Stanley. “We’re conscious we might see a very different early help landscape in two different places and need to think carefully how we capture that.”

The report also highlighted a lack of clarity about what “early help” means with the term encompassing anything from general advice to families to targeted work with those on the cusp of involvement with social care.

Stanley says Ofsted will work with fellow inspectorates and the sector to ensure the early help JTAI focuses on aspects most likely to be useful.

“As a range of inspectorates, we have all got slightly different perspectives on it so we’ll be talking to the sector about what will add most value,” she says. “We’ve also got an eye on the Care Review and when we know the direction of travel we will want to pick up issues helpful to the pace of change and improvement.”

JTAIs have been done in batches of six, eight or 10 and Stanley says they are likely to continue to follow a similar pattern and three-week format (see box).

She stresses Ofsted is keen to avoid putting additional pressure on “an improving but fragile system” and will look at how JTAIs fit in with other types of inspection.

“Normally, if we do a JTAI, it replaces something like a focused visit. We look across all of our Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services tools, including short and standard inspection and monitoring visits for local authorities rated ‘inadequate’ to try and make sure we’re going out to local areas in a proportionate way,” she says.

The update to JTAIs comes at the same time as changes to the way Ofsted and the CQC jointly inspect services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with greater involvement from social care and more focus on children and young people with the most complex needs, including those deprived of their liberty.

Stanley says the inspectorates are also mindful of the impact of the pandemic and this will be reflected in JTAI findings and reports.

“We will talk very carefully with leaders wherever we are inspecting about the particular context at the time,” she says.

“There have been some inspections in recent weeks where the impact of Covid on staffing has been higher than it was before.”

Inspectors continue to report significant disruption to children’s health services as NHS waiting lists hit record levels and in the courts.

“But through our careful work looking at strategic meetings, individual children’s experiences, talking to social workers we can pick out delays caused by those disruptions as opposed to drift and delay caused by the absence of, for example, purposeful social work and we try, through our inspection reports, to articulate the difference.”

TIMETABLE FOR SAFEGUARDING INSPECTIONS

WEEK 1

• Local leaders get 10 working days’ notice before fieldwork is due to start.

• Inspectors will request a range of information from agencies including child-level data.

• Set-up discussion takes place between inspectors and local leaders – partners will be asked to identify one person to be a key contact for the inspection.

• Inspectors select at least five cases and ask local partners to audit children’s experiences.

• The inspection team does some planning and pre-inspection analysis.

WEEK 2

• Local partners do case audits and share records for the children concerned with the inspection team.

• Inspectors carry out further pre-inspection analysis and review the information supplied.

• A timetable for fieldwork is agreed, which will include looking at which activities will take place in person or by phone/video call.

• Inspectors may meet virtually with leaders, staff and others.

WEEK 3

• Fieldwork is carried out, starting with an initial on-site meeting with senior leaders.

• Inspectors gather evidence about practice with children and families. This will include looking in detail at the case audits and talking to the different professionals involved, case sampling, observations of practice such as attending child protection conferences, strategy meetings or multi-agency panels, and interviews with frontline staff, managers and those in charge of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

• Inspection findings are fed back to local partners through “keep in touch” meetings and then a final meeting to share the main findings, including strengths and areas for improvement/urgent action.

What happens next?

A final version of the lead inspector’s report is expected to be published within 34 days of fieldwork. Ofsted may require local partners to produce a written statement of action to show how they will respond to key concerns. This action plan will be reviewed by the inspectorates.

Source: Joint targeted area inspections of the multi-agency response to identification of initial need and risk, Ofsted, March 2022

INSPECTION SHORTS

EARLY YEARS
The pandemic has continued to affect young children’s development with many early years providers reporting concerns, found a new report by Ofsted. The report, based on inspection findings from this year’s spring term and focus groups with early years inspectors, shows many providers noticing speech and language delays and an ongoing impact on children’s physical development and social skills. Many providers reported difficulties retaining high-quality staff since the start of the pandemic, with staffing shortages affecting the quality of teaching and catch-up strategies.

SOCIAL CARE
Ofsted has confirmed changes to the way it inspects residential holiday schemes for disabled children, following a consultation. The new approach will put more emphasis on the experiences of children rather than the progress they make. Inspectors will also do more work remotely with the aim of reducing the time they spend on site from two days to half a day.

YOUTH JUSTICE
Inspectors found a “disappointing” drop in standards in therapeutic provision at the UK’s largest young offender institution (YOI). An unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby and Keppel in December 2021 found scores for the Keppel unit – which caters for some of the institution’s most vulnerable young people – had dropped in all four areas of the healthy prison test. Positives include a sustained reduction in violence with just three per cent of young people reporting they felt unsafe, down from 27 per cent at the last inspection. Inspectors also found staff had successfully created a supportive and caring environment for a small number of girls now accommodated at the YOI.

EDUCATION
Ofsted is hosting a series of free webinars for school leaders and staff focusing on key issues around the inspection of schools. A webinar on inspections and Covid-19 will take place on 9 May at 3.30pm with another on inspections and teachers’ workloads on 13 June at 4pm. Teachers and others can sign up to attend the events live but the sessions will be made available online afterwards.

YOUTH JUSTICE
Two thirds of youth offending services inspected in 2020/21 were rated “good” or “outstanding” by HM Inspectorate of Probation, shows the regulator’s latest annual report. The report details inspections of 33 services with five rated outstanding and none rated “inadequate”. While caseloads plummeted during the pandemic, the needs of children have become more acute with more committing violent offences.