Chapter 7 Leadership and direction
We evaluated the leadership and direction of social work services in North Lanarkshire Council as very good, demonstrating major strengths.
The Chief Executive provided effective leadership. The council had restructured services in 2007. Over the last ten years the council had formed strong strategic planning partnerships with the NHS, the police and independent sector organisations. There had also been a clear development of corporate working practices and policies within the council from which the social work service had benefited.
Elected members supported the Chief Executive's proposals for restructuring through 'Service and People First' in 2007. The inclusion of social work targets in the Single Outcome Agreement ( SOA) demonstrated their commitment to the social work service. Important service re-design and change had been delivered well by senior managers, and supported by elected members, over many years, particularly in adult services.
The vision for social work services was well understood throughout the service. This vision was evidenced by a strong commitment from staff towards continuous improvement by achieving better outcomes for people using services and their carers.
The responsibilities of the Chief Social Work Officer had been clearly reported to the Council and to all staff through the Policy and Resources Committee. This had made explicit the range of duties and responsibilities across service management and at other levels in the new structure.
Vision, values and aims
The council and its partners had agreed three key strategic objectives:
- To enable people to remain in their own home;
- to improve outcomes through faster access to services; and
- to provide better quality services.
The vision for social work services was reflected in a number of policy initiatives, including corporate decisions. The Chief Executive had introduced 'Service and People First' to reflect a number of strategic objectives, including improving front line services, and continuing to devolve decision making to localities.
The Chief Executive's aspiration was that the focus and purpose of the re-design would be to provide more resources to fund front line services, to develop a strong team commitment to corporate activities, and to enhance corporate commitment to partnership working. The social work service in North Lanarkshire was experiencing a substantial change process, which was still ongoing, but it had successfully adhered to and was delivering its strategic vision. The involvement of partners in developing this vision had been essential. The joint high level planning of the Health and Care Partnership had also influenced operational planning for adult care and locality working arrangements for mental health, disabilities, addictions and older people.
The Executive Director of Housing and Social Work chaired the Children's Services Strategy Group ( CSSG), reporting to the Community Planning Partnership. The Executive Director for Education and Lifelong Learning was also a member of this corporate planning group.
The vision for children's services included a commitment to reducing numbers of accommodated children. North Lanarkshire was performing well in maintaining children in the community. Looked after and accommodated children were seen as a high priority for universal services and there was a strong focus on their responsibilities to support young people in school and in the community through joint working. The council had also recently approved funding of £800,000 to provide an additional 30 foster care places for looked after and accommodated children.
Elected members demonstrated very clear understanding of the Council's vision including the key objectives of improved access to services and personalisation. They were able to give examples of how these were being delivered within localities. The Director of North Lanarkshire CHP and the Chief Executive of NHS Lanarkshire each described a clear vision of the development and delivery of services, using as an example the provision of safe alternatives for older people to remain in their own homes through early assessment and proper health and care planning.
Elected members had good working relationships with officers. They described the information they received and their access to officers as being very good. Their commitment to the social work service was demonstrated by the inclusion of social work targets in North Lanarkshire's Single Outcome Agreement ( SOA). Frontline social work services had been consolidated through permanent funding in services valued at £29.5m. There had previously been only fixed term, ring fenced budgets.
The CSSG was designing indicators below the SOA which would support the agenda for corporate parenting and enable the strategy group to retain a strong policy drive in that direction.
Corporate parenting responsibilities were demonstrated by the emphasis on maximising universal services where possible. The council continued to have a low number of looked after and accommodated children living outwith the North Lanarkshire area. Elected members had agreed funding for three new purpose built children's houses. These were to be more focused on the needs of young people as the present provision did not offer the level of individual personal care required by many accommodated young people. Local elected members had supported and assisted the successful assimilation of the new children's houses into their local communities.
Role of the Chief Social Work Officer
The role of Chief Social Work Officer had been changed following the introduction of 'Service and People First in 2007'. The new structural changes provided an opportunity to re-state the role of the CSWO and statutory social work responsibilities to the new members elected in May 2007. The CSWO function had been designated to the current Head of Social Work Services. Her responsibilties included:
- being the professional adviser to the council;
- providing professional leadership for the council's social work staff;
- having oversight over all social work services provided or purchased by the council; and
- being charged with specific responsibilties under legislation and/or guidance.
The CSWO had direct access and was accountable to the Chief Executive without recourse to the Executive Director of Housing and Social Work Services. She also had the right to directly advise the council regarding any risks it may have faced.
The Report by the Chief Social Work Officer in May 2008 was the first since the new structure had been introduced. It contained a comprehensive overview of developments in service delivery. In providing staff and elected members with a summary of performance indicators, the report provided a good basis for evaluating progress and challenges, now and in the future. The CSWO report had been made available to all staff on the intranet, and home support staff received a hard copy.
There was a strong corporate culture of supporting social work and senior corporate managers were visible. For example, staff dealing with a particularly stressful and high profile care arrangement had been visited by the Chief Executive. This ensured that staff experienced this corporate commitment at first hand.
The new structure had developed to allow for greater understanding of statutory social work duties within an enlarged joint service with housing. This had enabled a more corporate approach by social work, and a long term clarity of planning to reflect agreed objectives. The vision for services was also being devolved to the six localities through locality partnership planning. This promoted a wider understanding of and commitment to the council's vision, values and aims at the front line.
Leadership of people
Our staff survey showed a majority of respondents agreed that there was a clear vision for social work, regular re-evaluation of services and a focus on personalisation.
Less than half of the respondents agreed that social work was highly valued by elected members while a majority neither agreed nor disagreed. These results were comparable to other local authorities we have inspected.
Staff were mostly positive about how key issues were communicated and taken forward. However, there was less confidence about the effectiveness of leadership where existing services such as home care were still going through a Best Value Review and service change options were being considered.
The annual social work award ceremonies had been successful in maintaining staff morale. First line managers said that the senior management team was accessible and that there had been an improvement in communication in the previous eighteen months. The appointment of locality managers was also seen as a key factor in improving communication and support.
The council recognised the importance of staff commitment to the vision for change and the organisation's culture had also been changing. The social work service had made a conscious shift to become a "learning organisation" 18, reflecting the many challenges faced daily by staff in supporting people at home. Staff felt supported by senior managers, elected members and by corporate managers.
The social work service had developed its human resources approach over a number of years, reflecting the needs of the service re-design and of recognising changing staff roles. This was evidenced in the re-design of children's services, day care for adults, learning and development, and home care.
The council had recently agreed to implement new human resources arrangements within Housing and Social Work. The service had piloted new approaches to deal with absenteeism. Initially, elected members had sought reassurance from the Executive Director that this was likely to lead to improvements. The response from staff groups was positive. The new approach was aimed at establishing more responsive and flexible arrangements reflecting staff illness patterns, the nature of carer responsibilities and the promotion of a healthier workforce through increased access to leisure.
Administration staff "felt valued by social work". They saw the CSWO and Head of Resources on a regular basis. Most staff knew the Executive Director as she had made a point of visiting all the localities.
Intermediate managers agreed that there was clear leadership at the top of the council. Managers had led training in developing outcome based assessments and this was positively commented upon by various staff groups.
Leadership of change and improvement
The Chief Executive was aware of the importance of social work in the wider council context and also in terms of the demands exerted upon the council. He saw "fantastic strengths" and commented on the professional pride, commitment and passion of many of the social workers. He regarded the heads of service as first class officials who were also good motivators during a time of change.
The modernisation agenda had been supported by elected members. This had taken several forms, for example they had supported the planned closure of residential homes for older people and the growth in home support from independent sector carers. The investment in the new children's houses had reflected the commitment and high priority accorded to looked after and accommodated children by the council. This commitment was significant in relation to the efforts of the council to improve outcomes for young people.
The draft commissioning strategy, the best value review of home care and supported living and the commitment to continuous improvement were all relevant to the modernisation of housing and social work services. Significant resource transfers from health had been achieved. Substantial responsibility and budgets had been devolved to locality planning groups. These were positive examples of successful partnership working across a range of departments and organisations.
The leader of the council spoke very positively about the senior management team. The role of Chief Social Work Officer was seen as being of prime importance to the council. He had "great faith" in the post holder and her abilities. He believed that the senior management team had developed good working relationships with staff and also other agencies and had led by example to deliver a vision for social work services. He felt that staff were "going the extra mile" and that this should be recognised.