Key highlights:
All 108 assessments completed satisfactorily within the 8-week timescale
The team built an excellent working relationship with Swindon’s incumbent assessment team
Significant and sustainable reduction achieved in cases to the Child Protection Team, enabling staff to feel better about caseloads and a positive impact and difference to their day-to-day work
Dedicated management oversight and clear direction given to social workers
Swindon Borough Council
Children’s Assessment Managed Service Team
Swindon Borough Council was struggling with a backlog of children’s assessments. Compounded by caseloads of internal social workers many assessments were falling out of statutory timescales. The council required a dedicated team that could focus specifically on 108 assessments, which would take pressure off their existing workforce.
The council commissioned Flex360 to commence for an 8-week period to complete assessments and determine plans and outcomes for cases where there has been substantial drift or out of county families. It was agreed the project would look to hold 108 children that would require assessment. Once the assessment had been completed, to ensure the cases have a trajectory that reflects the issues borne out in the assessment, comprehensive case summaries and 10-day reviews were considered the way forward in progressing the work.
