PROPOSED LOCALITY STRATEGY
INCORPORATING THE PREVENTATIVE STRATEGY FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES IN POOLE
This strategy is led by Poole Children’s Services in partnership with other agencies and Adult Services.
Vision
The children and young peoples plan for Poole 2006 – 09 states
“ Children and Young People are the future for Poole”
It goes on to explain that agencies in Poole are working together to change and improve the way services are provided for children, young people and families. The locality strategy is a fundamental part of the change taking place across services to deliver and improve outcomes for children and young people in Poole. It is the lynchpin of preventative work and early intervention and if prevention is to be effective the locality strategy should support additional needs of children and young people being met initially through the work of universal services.
Background
The Children’s Act 2004 and the Government Green Paper Every Child Matters gave a clear lead in joining services to provide more localised support to families to more successfully achieve the 5 outcomes for children and young people and close the gap between the most and least disadvantaged children in our community.
Changing Service Delivery
The Poole Children and Young Peoples Plan 2006 – 9 states that we will:
‘Develop integrated local Services by:
- Creating three localities each with a manager and two children’s centres
- Initially co-ordinating services and then co-locating these under a single line management
- Creating easy referral routes to targeted support and specialist services
- Employing a single information strategy to develop a common web site, a network of service providers, and local accessible premises as single points of contact for all service to children, young people and parents
- Developing joint ICT and Management Information Systems’
Locality Working
In order to develop locality facing services the following areas will need to be bought together.
Information sharing.
Common Assessment Process.
Key worker and Lead Professional development.
Budget Holding Lead Professional Project and outcomes.
Integrated Service delivery.
Community involvement and shaping services.
Commissioning at a local level.
Delivery Points for the Locality Strategy
In Poole it is unlikely that we will have 3 bases which host 3 integrated locality teams. However we are working towards teams working from locality delivery points within the 3 localities. These delivery points are:
Children’s Centres
Extended Schools
Community Bases
Integrated Youth Support Bases
Direction Of Travel
The locality Strategy will reshape universal and targeted services in order to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families. This will mean significant change in how services are delivered but this will need to be introduced in phased approach to ensure high level service delivery is maintained.
Phase 1
We have already taken great strides to more towards locality based working.
We have:
Established 3 localities with the principle of 2 children’s centres per locality.
Developed 3 multi-agency locality panels to consider individual cases.
Piloted the use of Common Assessment Framework.
Established a joint disability team.
We will appoint 3 locality managers who will work with all professionals to support community development and facilitation across children’s services.
We also need to establish stakeholder groups in each locality who will begin to shape service development.
Management and Governance
In phase 1 of locality development the local authority will continue to maintain full responsibility and accountability for locality working.
Phase 2
This will involve bringing together service delivery across agencies in the 3 localities.
Establishing a locality team whose work is based on the needs of the locality they work with. This will also involve exploring and establishing cross agency management of staff. Practitioners may have day to day management from the locality and professional support provided via their given profession. There will be increased formed secondments and time allocation from services to the locality team.
Integrated processes across services will be taken further to establish how a single assessment of an individual or family need can be made.
Management and Governance
Stakeholders and management groups will be established in each locality. The management group may be led by the local authority but decision making will be collective. These will report via the local authority to the Children’s Services Executive and then to the Children’s Services Governance Board. Some Budgets may be allocated via localities.
Phase 3
All services for which it is appropriate will be delivered via a locality approach. Professionals will come together under a single locality management.
Management and Governance
Services and budgets where appropriate will be managed via a Locality Governance Board where the Local Authority is an equal partner.
Links to other Plans and Strategies
This strategy is key in developing the overall preventative strategy for Poole and is linked to all 5 outcomes described in the Children & Young People’s Plan (2006-09).
Other Key Links
Neighbourhood Policing Strategy.
Integrated Youth Support Strategy.
Play Strategy.
Investment Implications
Current Investments:
3 Admin Workers (Surestart Grant) = 53,533.00
3 Children Centre Managers (Surestart Grant) = 125,767.00
3 Locality Managers (Surestart Grant and Children
Services Grant) = 152,488.00
6 Advisory Teachers (Surestart Grant, Dedicated Schools
Grant and Childrens Services Grant )= 278,562.00
Family Support Workers (Dedicated Schools Grant and
Childrens Services Grant)= 111,000.00
Support from Bournemouth Surestart (Surestart Grant)= 15,000.00
Turlin Moor Project (Surestart Grant)= 25,491.49
Borough of Poole Current Funding Implication TOTAL= 761,841.49
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