Quality Assurance and Performance Framework

1. Introduction

This document outlines the quality assurance and performance framework for staff across Children’s Services in Dorset. The framework identifies the range of quality assurance mechanisms and performance data which will be provided to Dorset Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (DSCB), the Children’s Trust Board and Dorset Councils Children’s Services Leadership Team. The focus of the framework demonstrates the shift from quantitative data (which will continue to be monitored) and towards qualitative data and outcome measures. 

2. Background

It is recognised that Children’s services are multi-dimensional and trying to quality assure everything has the potential to become overwhelming. There is therefore a need to focus on defined areas which the organisation/s identifies as most important. These should be decided upon in a logical, evidence based way, underpinned by professional experience and the need to meet statutory responsibilities, taking into account relevant research and local conditions.

“Children and their families should have a right to expect that the interventions and services that are provided under the ‘safeguarding’ banner are supported by evidence that they can make a difference” (The Munro Review of Child Protection 2011).

The performance information used in this framework falls into one of three types; quantitative, qualitative or outcome based. Quantitative information answers the “how many” questions (and benchmarks against National data), qualitative information will tell us how well an area is performing and outcome information tells us the difference the services and strategies have made to the lives of children and families.

The challenge is for us all to increase the proportion of outcome information whilst continuing to learn from the other measures.

3. Information Sources

Our information needs to come from a wide variety of sources apart from performance data to be meaningful; these include:

  • The experience of children, parents and carers;
  • The feedback from front line staff and managers;
  • Children’s case records;
  • Other activity such as HR and financial information, training and vacancy rates as well as relevant performance indicators;
  • Thematic audits triggered by nationally identified trends, Serious Case Reviews and locally identified issues.

4. Experience of Children, Parents and Carers

Obtaining the views of children, parents and carers in a meaningful way is challenging. We recognise that an organisation which fails to understand the experiences and needs of the people it seeks to serve will fail to deliver the desired outcomes. There is an expectation that different methods are used to engage and involve children, young people and parents and carers in both views of services and service developments. All reports to Dorset’s Children’s Trust Board will specify how this has happened. Full implementation of Dorset’s Participation Strategy will ensure that the experience of children, parents and carers is embedded in all of our work.

The views of children and families are sought in a variety of ways:

  • Through their key worker or social worker and recorded in formal assessments;
  • As part of all review processes;
  • As part of the case audit process;
  • Via the Independent Children’s Rights Service;
  • From Children’s Advocates;
  • From the Young Inspectors Equilibrium project;
  • From feedback questionnaires;
  • Following completion of the SEN Statement Process and at Annual review.

Children, young people and families are involved at all stages of the commissioning cycle, from helping commissioners understand their needs, through to the development of strategies and engagement in tendering processes, enabling commissioners to feel more confident that services are fit for purpose.

In its widest sense, creating a culture of listening and participation is essential in safeguarding vulnerable people and providing services that most benefit the end users.

5. Experience of Front Line Staff and Managers

Front line staff and managers have to know the impact of their own service and also that of partner agencies. Views of staff will be obtained through a variety of mechanisms. These include surveys, focus groups, exit interviews and most importantly through regular and reflective supervision and Performance Development Reviews. Aggregated experiences from the wider workforce through staff engagement forums will support a realistic and coherent view across both a whole service or a segment / local office team as well as at individual level. This is essential information for Dorset Council as an organisation that relies on its workforce for the quality of its services.

6. Views of Other Organisations and Stakeholders

The performance of Children’s Services needs to be informed and challenged by partner organisations.  Information obtained through the Partnership Boards (Children’s Trust, Health and Wellbeing Board and Dorset Safeguarding Children’s Board) and the Dorset Learning Partnership will critically challenge performance and identify areas for development.

7. Children’s Case Records

Case audits, both single and multi-agency, are an essential element of quality assurance. The analysis of the collected data and translation into learning outcomes to complete the cycle is critical. The DSCB Quality Assurance Group undertakes multi-agency audits of a minimum 18 cases annually, often based on themes emerging from Serious Case Reviews or Serious Case Audits.  

There is a monthly single case audit programme in place, which focuses on one case from each of the 14 teams in Family Support and Children who are Disabled. The programme is designed to involve practitioners and managers at all levels of the organisation and includes feedback from parents/carers and the Independent Conference and Reviewing Service. This programme will be extended to cover other areas of Children’s Services in the next phase. These teams will include Adoption and Kinship Team, the Fostering Team and the Horizon Service.

The case audit tool used in the monthly programme focuses on the quality of the intervention and the outcomes achieved as well as the adherence to process. However, the true value of case audit activity is the learning achieved at all levels, which improves the outcomes and the safety of individuals and also the quality of the service overall. A positive attitude to audits by all staff is a key indicator of an organisation that embraces the culture of continuous learning.

8. Other Activity

There are a range of overarching qualitative and quantitative measures relevant to safeguarding which are monitored. This includes accurate and readily available DBS checking mechanisms and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration, vacancy rates and staff turnover as well as value for money measurements and comparative spend data within the different service areas.

The organisation’s ability to analyse the data and triangulate information from a variety of sources in order to arrive at the most complete picture possible will to some extent dictate how useful and meaningful the various quality assurance exercises are. To this end the further development and use of the Data Warehouse is key.

Peer reviews and challenge form the core of the current ‘sector led’ improvement programmes.  Dorset will participate and request a review team with identified areas of concern. The resulting improvement framework should, over time, provide an improving picture of quality and positive outcomes.

9. Quality Assurance and Performance at Senior Leadership Level Within Children’s Services Directorate

Within the Children’s Services Directorate the four key areas of themed activity around quality assurance and performance have been developed from the ‘Framework for Performance Management and Continuous Improvement in Children’s Services’ (2014).

These are as follows:

  • Performance management and oversight including audit, supervision and use of performance data;
  • Staff and service user feedback;
  • Workforce development including recruitment strategies, learning and development;
  • Partnership and external scrutiny including CSOC, Children’s Trust, multi agency audits, serious case reviews (DSCB), peer review and Ofsted Inspection processes.

10. Performance Management and Oversight Including Audit, Supervision and Use of Performance Data

Children’s Services are subject to a wide range of both national and local standards and overall performance is measured against externally reportable performance requirement indicators that identify areas of possible strengths and areas for attention.

The Planning and Performance teams collate and provide regular performance information which is reported into the Children’s Services Development Group (CSDG). This information covers a wide range of performance data and includes specific areas for focus identified by respective Heads of Service. The CSDG consists of the Director for Children’s Services, Heads of Service and Senior Managers. Depending on the nature of the data, reports are presented quarterly or annually. In addition, monthly reporting on key indicators and the analysis report on the monthly case audit is presented and discussed at this group. Sharing of the information in this forum enhances the symbiotic relationship between the different service areas.

At operational level the case management system provides comprehensive and up to date performance information that staff and managers utilise to monitor and evaluate performance within their service areas. 

The DES System supports managers in relation to budgetary and financial issues as well as resource allocation.

Independent Conference and Reviewing Managers (ICRMs) play a key role in ensuring that children’s plans are of high quality, that the outcomes identified are achieved and children are kept safe. As part of their quality assurance function they also undertake thematic audits and raise issues of concern through the established escalation policy.

The QA and Safeguarding Manager is responsible for the provision of the ICRM service and the supervision of the staff. This includes observation of Child Protection Conferences and Looked After Reviews to ensure robust chairing, sampling of child protection minutes to ensure quality of multi agency decision making and planning and regular overview of Care Plans. It is an essential function of the QA and Safeguarding Manager to ensure that concerns in respect of individual or team practice and/or performance are dealt with in accordance with the escalation policy. It is also the responsibility of the QA and Safeguarding Manager to instigate thematic audits through the ICRM service and report back to the CSDG.

Specialist Teaching and Advice Services work mainly in accordance with Teachers Conditions of Service. This brings a level of performance management which aligns with that for school staff nationally. Performance management processes for these services include high expectations around safeguarding, both in terms of the management of information and practical support work in schools/settings. All staff within the services have enhanced DBS checks. Regular supervision has become a feature of these central advisory services, where quality assurance and performance is monitored by line managers.

Quality Assurance is measured in a number of ways. The services carry out an annual audit against the Quality Standards for Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support and Outreach Services to identify any gaps in quality/provision and to inform future service planning. Some services in addition audit themselves against discrete quality standards specific to their areas of work. Each service completes a stakeholder survey (children, young people, parents/carers, schools, settings) and assesses the views of service users, with a remit to use feedback to shape service development.

Audit

Auditing is an intrinsic part of the Quality Assurance process and the purpose is two-fold. It retrospectively examines the quality of practice and then informs the plan for improvement. Of equal importance is the identification of strengths and areas of good practice. 

Standardised tools covering both case audit and observed practice provide a standardised mechanism for assessing the the quality of case work and social work practice. The monthly audit programme demonstrates the systematic approach used in Dorset.

There will also be some unannounced peer audits and smaller scale thematic audits undertaken by members of the Safeguarding and Standards Team. The Practice Standards Manager will undertake audits arising from Serious Case Reviews and other areas of practice – with a particular focus on supervision.  

Summary reports/analysis of all audit findings are reported to the Director and Heads of Service on a Quarterly basis and presented at the Children’s Services Development Group.

The DSCB will also conduct multi-agency audits (often thematic) and the analysis of these audits will be shared through the DSCB QA group and also with the CSDG.

There is an expectation that Senior Managers and Family Support Managers will instigate general or thematic audits in their respective teams and share the learning more widely and as appropriate. This promotes a culture of learning and improvement throughout the organisation. Regular audit of supervision standards is an expectation of all managers.

There is a coordinated approach to supervision of educational providers. Teams who works with schools and providers are responsible for gathering information and soft data to supplement the performance data in order to formulate a holistic view of performance. There are half termly Schools Causing Concern meetings where the range of services come together to review progress through monitoring the impact/outcomes. Teams in the Early Years review providers causing concern.

The performance of schools and providers is monitored both internally through the challenge and improvement team and externally through Ofsted. A range of performance data and soft data (from visits) is accumulated. Support is targeted at those schools and settings where there are performance issues. Schools and providers who do not meet the required standards (Ofsted category of inadequate or requires improvement or are identified by the LA as at risk of becoming so) receive additional support and are reported to members.

Supervision

Dorset currently has a well established policies in relation to Performance Development Reviews (PDR’s) for all staff and policies that relate to formal supervision in Social Care. This is the basis upon which all supervision should take place. The policy provides practice standards and best practice guidance.

In addition, over the last two years the majority of Dorset’s managers have undertaken a programme of Action Learning Sets with an external provider, including elements of Kolb’s learning cycle. The Practice Standards Manager has taken this work forward into the teams, many of whom have well established Practice Reflection Groups. The work is also being taken forward in the form of Balanced Assessment work that has grown from this approach.

The development of an integrated Family Support service (the bringing together of Social Care & Early Intervention) and the commissioning of tri.x (externally hosted polices and procedures) provide a timely opportunity to refresh and harmonise Dorset’s approach to supervision standards and requirements.

In addition to the expectations around formal supervision, Dorset recognises the importance of informal supervision and peer reflection and how this promotes the creation of a learning culture. Munro (2011) suggests that such an organisational culture creates the conditions to help professionals make the best judgements about the help to give children, young people and families. 

Notwithstanding the positive work that is continuing, Dorset recognises that there is further work to be done in this area and that improvement is a continuous process. Therefore there will be a particular focus on supervision in all elements of future audit and quality assurance activity.

Within the Specialist Children who are Disabled and SEN Service there are a number of areas where steps to ensure quality assurance are taken. Supervision and performance standards apply to both the SEN Team context and the CwaD Child Care Teams. Quality assurance of statutory assessments takes place at sign off by the manager and at submission to the SEN Multi Agency Panel. Case audit takes place in both CwaD Team (child care case work) and SEN Team (SEN case work).

In order to track demand a benchmarking of data relating to the number of requests for statutory SEN assessments, the source of the requests and the timescales for responses is undertaken quarterly.

Systematic Reporting Schedule for Performance Information

Reporting generally falls into three timescales, monthly, quarterly and annually.

Monthly and Quarterly:

  1. Reporting through the Integrated Children’s System (Raise). There are a wide variety of reports available at all levels of the organisation which represent the most up to date data on a wide range of indicators (currently in Children’s Social Care but which will be extended to the integrated Family Support). It is expected that Managers at all levels will use these Reports to inform and improve their services;
  2. Reports to SDG on a monthly basis as highlighted in 5.2:
    1. This will include exception reporting in relation to indicators that show any significant change in Dorset’s performance and/or any indicators that show Dorset to be out of step either Nationally or measured against statistical neighbours;
    2. Annual reporting (example 903 Return).
  3. Monthly reporting and analysis (internal) re Children in Care. This is currently being revised. Information will be provided to Senior Mangers and SDG;
  4. Pupil Census data is collected termly and reported to service units such as Finance, Dorset Family Matters, Connections Service and Health Services;
  5. Periodic summaries of attainment data and outcomes are reported to School Improvement to inform their specialist reports. Quarterly reporting of Ofsted grades to SDG;
  6. Reports to the Dorset Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) on compliance with the Reporting Schedule via the QA group and submission of Core Data to the Board on a quarterly and annual basis;
  7. Reporting against the performance indicators identified in the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) and the Corporate Plan to the Children’s Trust via the Quality and Performance Board which takes place on a quarterly basis;
  8. Reporting of Corporate Plan Indicators and specific reporting around safeguarding and Children In Care to Children’s Services Overview Committee;
  9. The ‘Respond’ database is used to record every complaint and compliment. Feedback reports are produced on a quarterly and annual basis, updated by managers to reflect the learning and demonstrate the resulting improvements to service delivery. The reports are used to identify areas of weakness and target areas for improvement;
  10. In relation to specialist teaching and advice, outputs and outcomes are measured and reported in quarterly reports to the DSG Business Group and reports are prepared for the Schools Forum on request. These summarise outputs in terms of business activity, trends, impact through outcomes and value for money. Two of the services (Hearing Support Service and Vision Support Service) are members of NatSIP (National Sensory Impairment Partnership) which enables over 70 LAs to benchmark performance against each other using the same outcomes-based criteria.

It is important for front line teams at all levels to be not only aware of their statistical performance but also of how their work has impacted upon the children and families they are working with and how learning from complaints, SCRs and Audits can improve the outcomes. This will also help to ensure that quality assurance is a dynamic process which is ‘client’ focused

Annually:

  1. Schedule of Reports to DSCB;
  2. Schedule of Reports to The Children’s Trust;
  3. Report to YOT COG;
  4. Circulation of Benchmarking Compendium;
  5. DfE returns – all reviewed by appropriate Head of Service before submission.

11. Workforce Development

Good professional practice needs up to date knowledge of the latest thinking and research (Munro: Final report : Review of Child Protection  2011). 

  • The integrated workforce strategy for a one children's workforce in Dorset takes into account the following publications and legislation:
    • Working Together;
    • The Children Act 2004;
    • Change for Children/Every Child Matters 2004;
    • The Children and Families Act 2014;
    • Everyone Counts : Planning for Patients 2013/14;
    • Dame Eileen Munro’s review and recommendations;
    • SEND Reforms.
  • The workforce strategy also promotes the following:
    • Multi-agency organisation and use of resources;
    • Participation of young people;
    • Workforce Priorities;
    • Promotion of Core Behaviours and Attributes;
    • The recruitment of high quality staff with good development opportunities and career progression.

Workforce training and development requirements are co-ordinated through the Children's Trust Workforce Strategy as well as the Dorset Council Strategic Operational groups. Furthermore the work of the DSCB ensures that learning from Serious Case Reviews, Local Case Audits and the multi-agency reporting mechanisms are included in commissioned training programmes.

The latest understanding of reflective practice, outcome based balanced assessment and key working skills are included in Learning and Development provisions.

Workforce Performance Information

  • An annual report is produced about the numbers of training uptake by agency;
  • S.11 DSCB report analyses percentage data of uptake within agencies;
  • Transfer of learning into the workplace via post course evaluation;
  • Learning from young people and parents about what works.

12. Partnership and External Scrutiny

The purpose of this quality assurance framework is to improve outcomes for children and their families and needs to be part of a clear learning and improvement process.

The Quality and Performance Board as a sub-group of the Children’s Trust Board monitors the performance indicators under the Children and Young People’s Plan and the Corporate Plan.

Annual reports of the DSCB should reflect learning from the previous year and be clear about the key actions to be taken in the year ahead. These aims should be few in number and evidence based.

The DSCB Quality Assurance (QA) Group is responsible for delivering a number of functions as identified in the DSCB Learning and Improvement Framework. The group takes oversight of all quality assurance information and is responsible for:

  • Coordinating reports from agencies;
  • Leading multi-agency audits and serious case audits and monitoring completion of actions plans;
  • Identifying recurrent concerns and themes both locally and nationally;
  • Evaluating and sharing learning from DSCB and individual agency complaints;

The reporting framework below demonstrates the QA processes in relation to the DSCB.

Click here to view Reporting Framework.

13. Conclusion

This quality assurance framework identifies the multifaceted and systematic approach being taken within Dorset in relation to performance.

Effective performance management is an essential component in answering the question ‘Are we doing the right things?’ and ‘Are we making a difference?’ Implementation of this framework will support work in:

  • Keeping children safe;
  • Improving outcomes for children and their families;
  • Achieving the above in a cost effective and consistent manner.