Bucks Council's Children's Social Care Plan still on track despite Covid-19 challenges
The Council's Cabinet was provided with an update on progress
Buckinghamshire Council's Children's Social Care plan is still making progress even with the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
At a cabinet meeting held on Tuesday (9th November), members heard of the significant pressures the service was under, as well as dealing with a rise in the complexity of cases.
Councillors were told of the additional measures that had been implemented to cope with the increase in demand.
It comes as part of regular monitoring carried out by the council to ensure the plan is moving forward.
However, it was also revealed that the plan was on track, morale amongst staff was high, and that they feel supported.
Ofsted has praised the service during regular visits since its last full inspection and highlighted the Council's support of it.
They also commented that 'service leaders have maintained a firm focus' on doing their best for not only children and families but also for the well-being of the workforce.
Cabinet Member for Children’s Services at Buckinghamshire Council, Anita Cranmer, said: “It’s absolutely vital to us that we carefully monitor the progress of our improvement plan throughout, and I pay a huge tribute to all of our children’s social care staff who are continuing to work exceptionally hard through really tough circumstances.
Our priority continues to be close performance monitoring to ensure this carries on being the case, alongside recruiting more staff to ease the pressure on the current workforce, alongside ensuring these staff all continue to feel supported.”
She added:
“The challenges we face are not unique to Buckinghamshire and as ever, our focus remains firmly on the children of Buckinghamshire that we support.
I’m proud that this update shows how we are continuing to drive forward service improvements to help keep them safe.”