Chapter 7 Leadership and direction
We evaluated the leadership and direction of the social work services to be good, having important strengths with areas for improvement.
Over the previous two years, social work services in City of Edinburgh Council had experienced several important changes in leadership at senior officer level and in 2007 at political level. An organisational restructuring took place in 2005 which many staff did not support. As indicated in staff surveys, morale was low and perceptions of senior managers and elected members were not good but there were signs of confidence returning amongst middle managers and some staff perceived benefits in the current structures. Senior managers knew that communication within the services needed to improve, and had taken steps to do so.
Given the level of overspend in children and families, it was clear their previous leadership had lacked strong strategic focus in relation to the required reconfiguration of social work services. In health and social care some progress had been made in modernising the delivery of services over the previous two years, though further work was necessary to ensure the most efficient and personalised services were provided.
Senior politicians we met were knowledgeable and supportive of social work. The chief executive conveyed personal commitment to the services and a determination to see improvement, in an extremely difficult financial climate. Both directors were facing significant challenges in relation to budgets and service redesign. A major challenge in children and families would be to bring about a cultural change in staff attitudes at all levels to ensure a more effective and cost efficient approach. In health and social care, the service was poorly resourced in relative terms. In the current financial climate it was unable to deliver preventive services or to assist people with substantial levels of need. Both directors were clear about their plans to achieve change, though it would require full political backing to deliver them. On balance, because of this focus, we evaluated leadership as good
Context
The social work service in Edinburgh had experienced considerable change over the previous three years. Following a long period of operation within a generic social work organisational structure, the previous single department of social work was reorganised into a department of health and social care, in partnership with NHS Lothian, and children and families social work services was merged with education within a new department of children's services.
Within health and social care, the reorganisation had taken place in two stages, with the present structure being in place for nearly a year. Changes in key senior positions in both departments had occurred in 2007.
At political level there had also been important changes in leadership over the previous year. As well as a change of administration and an influx of new councillors, there had also been three different council leaders.
As has previously been stated, at the time of the inspection the council was in the middle of a serious financial crisis. There had also been a recent inspection of child protection which was critical of some aspects of the children and families social work service.
Vision, values and aims
Elected members we spoke to from across the political spectrum impressed us with their knowledge of social work and their support for its importance in improving citizens' lives. Most were concerned at the survey finding that staff did not feel valued by elected members, but did not express surprise, usually attributing this to the 'difficult' history over the past three years. There was overall consensus on the key challenges for services in Edinburgh. With some, there was perhaps a lack of realism about the need for radical service redesign in key areas to achieve better effectiveness and value for money.
The senior members in the administration were keen to be accessible to staff and to try to improve their perception of elected members. For example, the chair of children and families had met practice team leaders to discuss the child protection inspection report along with the director, and the chair of health and social care routinely attended induction courses for new staff.
In response to questions about how policy was formulated within the council, the leader of the council volunteered her view that she strongly supported evidence-based practice and the relevance of academic research to the development of policy. She considered that it had been largely officer-led in the past and she wished to change that. This was a view shared by the chair of health, housing and social care, who strongly disagreed with a view of members' roles as 'rubber-stamping' officers' recommendations. The chief executive expressed the view that he believed there was proper challenge and scrutiny from members in the previous council, both in terms of policy and service development and management of performance. It should also be noted that Audit Scotland praised officer-member working within the council in their Best Value Audit, published in 2007.
The chief executive expressed a strong commitment to partnership working, which was integral to the achievement of the vision for services for adults and children. He had also fully recognised the need for his senior team to operate in a corporate fashion when addressing key budgetary challenges. In his view, elected members had made an important commitment to child protection and children's services generally by the level of investment they had been prepared to commit to the service. Nevertheless, we were concerned that this investment had not been matched by significantly improved outcomes, and that this situation appeared not to have been challenged at the most senior officer and political level until recently. Both the chief executive and the leader of the council were clear that further overspend in children and families services must not occur.
The vision for each service was well articulated by the directors who were committed to defining action plans for what needed to be done, though at the time of the inspection activity was dominated by the need to bring spending back into line with allocated budgets.
The context of change for social work services had had an impact on staff morale and the perception of how strong the vision was for social work within the council. The very difficult financial climate was having an adverse effect on the confidence of staff and on external stakeholders. In response to our survey, staff and some stakeholders were not confident that there was a clearly articulated vision.
Senior members and the chief executive were aware of the 'corporate parenting' role of the council. A council report in March of this year had fully described the duties involved, and the CSWO had provided further briefings to members in September, as part of their induction.
Leadership of people
Staff surveys indicated not only low morale but a low level of confidence in senior managers. In meetings with staff, there was a more positive response, particularly from middle managers. One manager stated that things were 'beginning to get better after a long downward spiral'. Other comments included that the atmosphere was more open and that it now felt more like a 'learning organisation'. Some managers in health and social care were of the view that the joint senior management with health presented 'a real opportunity' to take forward joint working.
Some managers in health and social care also thought that the quality of the senior management team had improved and individuals were now much more visible. Both directors made strongly supportive comments about frontline staff commitment and dedication to public services. Nevertheless there continued to be low morale amongst this group.
The staff surveys were also critical of the quality of communication from senior managers, as referred to in an earlier chapter. Senior managers were aware of this and had tried different forms of communicating in an attempt to be more effective. For example, the directors set aside diary time each week to visit offices, homes and centres and to meet staff.
We attended the senior management teams of both departments, at which the agenda items were appropriately strategic in nature. At both meetings, the directors took the opportunity to set out firmly what needed to be done in the short and medium term.
Role of the chief social work officer
At the time of the division of the social work service, the council had found it difficult to resolve issues around the role of the chief social work officer. Eventually, the role was attached to a head of service post within the department of health and social care, but with professional leadership responsibilities across all social work services. This was not an easy arrangement to make work, and responses from some staff in the children and families department confirmed they perceived it as 'confusing' in practice, between line management and professional leadership. They clearly appreciated the higher profile given to social work by the CSWO, who had made visits to practice teams, but were not now sure 'who was steering the ship'.
There was evidence that the chief executive and senior staff had made considerable efforts to ensure that the role was given proper recognition and status. All were aware of the 'Changing Lives' agenda particularly in respect of professional leadership. The director of health and social care indicated that the head of service post was made intentionally 'light' on line management duties in order that attention could be devoted to professional leadership.
The chief executive expected all directors to consult with the CSWO on any reports or policy developments which might impact on the social work function. She was invited to attend the council management team for appropriate items, and also makes an annual report to the full council. She had also given briefings to councillors and been involved in induction of new elected members.
We had access to a recently agreed summary of reporting arrangements to the chief social work officer which helpfully set out the service areas in which she was expected to be consulted or involved in decision making. These included complaints, specified performance information, significant occurrences and case reviews, external scrutiny, safer recruitment and the specific requirements of the post in relation to secure accommodation, mental health and others according to statute.
Making this arrangement work across two departments required not only clarity of role but a willingness of senior colleagues to cooperate. We found both directors fully supportive of the need for professional leadership of social work, with a strong, shared commitment to overcome any difficulties that might arise.
Initially there had been tensions when the present CSWO had tried to exercise the role in relation to children and families social work, when it was reported that some managers had regarded her involvement as 'interference'. With new appointees in post, there appeared to be a more positive approach being taken to the role. Following the recent child protection inspection, the chief executive and the director of children and families intended to further extend the role of the CSWO in quality assurance of children and families' social work, including her attendance at senior management team meetings.
These were all positive moves, but we remained concerned that some staff, including managers in children's services, were unclear about future lines of management and accountability. It will be important that this is addressed to ensure that there is no scope for ambiguity.
Leadership of change and improvement
There had been extremely strong views expressed about the organisational changes which had been initiated in 2004. Many staff had disagreed with them and some still referred to the experience as being 'painful' and 'traumatic'. Though it was obvious this continued to account for some of the low morale, there was also acknowledgement by some staff that they saw changes for the better. Neither of the two directors nor the CSWO had been in post at the time of the division of the previous social work department.
Some practitioners expressed frustration that the new children and families department was too education dominated with little interest in the kind of work they did with children and young people. They believed it needed the director to get involved to give a positive example. Our observations of the senior management team suggested that concerns about the social work service to vulnerable children and families was in fact a central concern at this level of the organisation.
Senior elected members in the current administration were clear about their previous opposition to the current structure and were cautious in their views about how well it was now working. All acknowledged, however, that further immediate change would not be in the interests of the service or the public. Strong disappointment was expressed about the negative aspects of the child protection report, and how that might or might not be related to the integrated children's department.
Many senior officers and elected members we spoke to agreed that progress in changing and modernising some services had been slow and that Edinburgh was some way behind other councils in these developments. This was attributed to the disruption of the change process in the move to the separate departments, and, prior to that, to reluctance on the part of the then senior managers to move this agenda forward.
Progress in improving and developing services had been faster in health and social care services. The priorities in the last two years had been on creating the five sector services structure in alignment with GP practices, on the introduction of SWIFT, on the creation of Social Care Direct and the Service Matching Unit and on improving performance reporting and performance management. Many managers expressed support for the director in providing 'clear, strong leadership' in moving forward these issues. Trade union representatives were more cautious, particularly in relation to the future of in-house services. They were enthusiastic about the open approach of the new director of children and families.
We have previously commented that joint working was not as well advanced as we might have expected in a joint health and social care department. In this chapter of the report we reflect on how well the joint management arrangements for the director are working. The director had dual accountability to the chief executives of City of Edinburgh Council and NHS Lothian. His objectives were jointly agreed, he formally reported to both at least once a month, and his performance appraisal was jointly carried out. These arrangements appeared to work satisfactorily but there were intrinsic differences in the nature of the two organisations that had lead to tensions at senior level, and could potentially impact on relations at other levels in the organisations if not carefully addressed. Several managers expressed their sympathy with the director in his task of having to 'face both ways' and how that had occasionally placed him in a difficult position. There was a danger of people close to the front line seeing the director as supporting either the health or social care 'camp'.
The two chief executives had already had full discussion about these issues, together with the council leader and the NHS board chair. Their intention was to jointly and formally set out a protocol which would cover agreed behaviours and approaches, binding upon senior staff of organisations, councillors and board members. It was hoped this would set an appropriate tone for constructive partnership working, which would reduce the scope for a 'them and us' culture developing.
Both directors faced significant challenges in managing their budgets, and with the redesign of services. As previously stated, work in some areas of health and social care such as learning disability services, and home care was not well advanced compared to other parts of Scotland. The service was short of examples of leading edge practice in health and social care, which if developed could provide a catalyst for change and improvement. We considered there were opportunities to move forward on this front, particularly in the second phase of the capacity plan for older people, and through a radical rethink of housing, care and employment opportunities for people with a learning disability. This was acknowledged by the director who already had plans to address this. Several reviews had taken place and some in house services needed to be substantially redesigned to be more 'personalised' as well as to ensure best value for the public pound. It is imperative that in the next financial year ways are found to ensure that people assessed as having 'substantial' needs have those needs met. The current situation, though driven by budgetary constraints, was unacceptable in terms of care and support of vulnerable people. A reduction in the shortfall below GAE in the funding of older people's services - currently standing at approximately £6m - would assist with this.
The director of children and families faced a much greater problem, with a significant level of spend above GAE on children's social work services. She has inherited a situation where spend was nearly three times the indicative level, with a very substantial overspend against a backcloth of generous resourcing by the council. There needs to be a much clearer understanding within that service of how this has occurred. She was unequivocal in her assertion of the need to contain current spending, and to reduce the usage of costly out of area placements. Although this was budget driven, it was clearly also in the interests of good quality care that a range of more local options was developed. This will require not only diversion of investment but a major shift in attitudes amongst some children and families' staff and managers.
Further, significant areas to be improved in children and families services included consistency, speed of response and prioritisation. The director and the CSWO were agreed on the urgent need to address these weaknesses.