- People are protected and safeguarded from abuse and neglect, and any other types of harm
- People are supported to actively manage their well-being and make their own informed decisions so that they are able to achieve their full potential and live independently for as long as possible
Safeguarding Fortnight – November 2023
Safeguarding is at the heart of Social Services and underpins our day to day practice and work. In order to improve awareness there needs to be commitment to various methods of training and information sharing. During Safeguarding Fortnight from 13 to 24 November 2023, we held a number of events, including lunchtime seven-minute briefings, where we discussed topics such as parental cannabis misuse, the increase in dog bites, and financial abuse. We also held a conference where we had 150 delegates in attendance.
Other events from across the fortnight:
- An art project arranged with the Youth Service in which young people created posters and creative pieces of work. Three Elected Members joined the Safeguarding Unit along with the Youth Service to judge the entries. The top three entries will be professionally printed and displayed within local community venues, including Coed Pella.
- Staff-delivered regional training on Modern Slavery in care homes, which focused on safe recruitment.
- Two sessions on Criminal Exploitation; one for internal staff and one external at a regional level. These sessions were well received and professional networks have been established. Also, staff have received the most up to date information in relation to County Lines and Criminal Exploitation.
- One-day training during which two of our Children Looked After shared their lived experiences with the audience. This session was well received by professionals who attended.
- Participation groups have been held within our safeguarding unit with children and young people who are Children Looked After or Care Leavers. Within these sessions, children and young people have fun, share their experiences and participate in consultations.
Here are some safeguarding figures:
Tackling knife crime in our communities
Unfortunately, knife crime remains in the public domain and has been an area of emerging concern for our Youth Justice Service. In response, we identified the need to positively engage with young people to address the issue and improve awareness. Colleagues from the service gathered together a group of young people who were known to us, and had received a Youth Conditional Caution, to produce a knife crime resource. We commissioned TAPE, a local charity, to support them to create a video, for which the young people planned, acted, produced and edited the final version. The video will be available as a resource, for use within one to one and group sessions in schools across Conwy and Denbighshire to highlight knife crime concerns. It was launched with an event at TAPE on 9 November 2023, and you can view it here.
Our action plan
Over the next twelve months we plan to commission further services for young people to ensure that we enable and provide opportunities to learn new skills associated with the arts, such as cinematography, music, special effects and so on. The success of providing such support is clearly evidenced, and demonstrated by the fact that of the 11 young people who took part in this project, 10 haven’t re-offended. This particular project also lends itself well to the Serious Violence Strategy that will be in place across the region. Currently 119 of the referrals across the service during the last reported quarter related to offences of a violent nature.
Supporting young people at risk of exploitation
The Youth Justice Service recognises the need to develop our intervention tools to facilitate one to one and group working with young people who have been criminally and sexually exploited. This has been as a direct response to an increasing number of young men becoming known to the service, having been subject to exploitation. Young men have been historically and typically viewed as perpetrators of abuse, resulting in very little research about the impact of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child sexual abuse (CSA) for boys and young men. From the literature available, key influences for risk and vulnerability are:
- Difficulties with self-esteem
- Difficulties with emotional loneliness or connectedness to others
- Irrational and extreme ways of thinking that can maintain mental and emotional issues, also known as ‘thinking errors’
- A lack of sexual knowledge
- Disability
- Depressive episodes
Characteristics related to risk-taking behaviours, inappropriate or illegal acts, and learning disabilities and Autistic Spectrum Disorder were also found.
We contacted Better Futures Cymru who shared information and work tools in relation to their Boys 2 resources. This was a two-year research project, jointly funded by the Home Office and Barnardo’s. The findings of the project led to the development of the Boys 2 workbook resource, which was co-produced with the boys and young men who participated in the research. All areas of the workbook are supported by clear research explanations for their inclusion and are designed to support professionals to engage with boys and young men to reduce the risk of CSE and support healthy identity. We have introduced this workbook to our case managers and prevention staff to undertake with boys and young men when suitable and appropriate to do so.
We have also acquired ‘Girls Talk’ which is a resource for professionals working with girls and young women who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour. It helps to reduce risk and allow them to move towards healthy adult relationships.
As a service we are also working on a research project with CASCADE Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre, linked with Cardiff University, alongside the Safeguarding Team in Conwy and the Youth Justice Service and Safeguarding Team in Newport. CASCADE is the leading centre for evaluative research in children’s Social Care in the UK, and their aim is to ‘improve the well-being, safety and rights of children and their families’. The research we are involved in focuses on service outcomes for criminally exploited children, and is a case study of criminally exploited children’s service journeys in two Welsh Local Authority areas: Conwy and Newport. The two-year project will create detailed case studies of criminally exploited young people’s lived experiences of service pathways, provision and outcomes, five years prior to referral acceptance and up to two years after.
Protecting young people when they’re out and about
During the Covid pandemic we brought together a multi-agency working group to looks at ways of reducing child exploitation during that difficult time. The group still exists and is made up of representatives from:
- Family Centres
- Youth Services
- Education Services
- Children’s Social Care
- Child Health Services
- North Wales Police
This year we identified a gap in service for young people to be able to ask for help discreetly when out and about in the community. We have looked at existing services available to young people to quietly ask for help and most of them rely on telephones or internet connectivity, which isn’t always available to the most vulnerable young people in our communities.
We have therefore been working with the Youth Council and the general community of young people in Conwy to determine whether an ‘Ask for Angela’ type service would be beneficial to them in a difficult situation. A survey carried out in 2023 asked young people whether they or young people they know are made to do things they don’t want to, and their responses told us that this was the case. Note that respondents could choose more than one option, so the results don’t add up to 100%.
- 44% taking drugs
- 48% stealing
- 33% sex acts
- 56% threatening people
- 55% violence
- 50% vandalism
Of those who responded, 40% said that they had been in a position where they wanted to ask for help for themselves, friends, or a family member, but hadn’t been able to. 88% said that they would like to be able to ask for help without it being too obvious to the people around them.
When asked where they would like to go for help if they could, they said:
- 72% shops
- 72% youth centre
- 49% hairdressers
- 30% nail salon
- 18% petrol station
- 45% fast food outlets
- 79% school or college
Our action plan
Over the coming months we plan to set up focus groups of young people from different sectors of the community, to ensure that we capture the views of as many young people as possible; we will of course continue to involve the Youth Council. We will also take the project idea to a regional working group with a view to working across the region.
A transitional approach to safeguarding
The Youth Justice Service are eager to develop a transitional approach to safeguarding, recognising that young people are at risk outside of the home, for example from drugs, gangs and youth violence, and sexual and criminal exploitation. Adolescents may be more vulnerable to these ‘extra-familial’ sources of harm as they become more independent and enjoy more freedom, and as they become more influenced by their peers and friends than their families. Against a backdrop of physical, emotional and cognitive changes, young people can be more open to risky behaviours. We are of the view that:
- Adolescents have distinct safeguarding needs compared with younger children, and risks, harms and routes to protection are underpinned by complex social and developmental factors
- Adolescence and the transition to adulthood involves a whole host of changes within young people’s lives, making this a challenging and vulnerable time when society already perceives them as ‘trouble’
- Whilst children’s services systems of safeguarding and support usually end at the age of 18, experiences of harm and trauma during childhood, youth and early adulthood may continue to affect young people, with unmet needs requiring complex intervention later in life
We are working closely with the Adult Safeguarding and Vulnerable People teams in Conwy to look at the development of a transitional safeguarding policy and pathway for young people. This will build on the contextual safeguarding work already taking place.
Alternatives to smacking children
On 21st March 2022 the law in Wales changed, and it is now illegal to physically punish children. After publicising the new legislation on our website and via our Family Centres, we created a ‘making it positive’ leaflet to support parents in finding alternative ways to interpret and react to their children’s behaviour. It provides constructive guidance on working together as a family, things for parents to try when they’re at the end of their tether, and reminders of why smacking a child is a bad idea. Local support contacts are provided, as well as links to useful online resources. Welsh Government have shown an interest in using the leaflet Wales-wide.
Here are some figures
This measure has been designed to capture the impact on the new law in Wales.
Working in partnership with Bangor University
This year we’ve been working closely with Dr Ceryl Davies from Bangor University on a couple of training programmes. The first, called New Chapter, was mentioned in last year’s report, and is aimed at tackling child to parent abuse. We are pleased to report that 45 staff have been trained from a range of services across Social Services, Education, and the voluntary sector. Importantly, the programme has been rolled out to two cohorts of families over the last few months and feedback is really positive. Both cohorts have asked for follow-up sessions, and we are now facilitating monthly ‘stay connected’ sessions in our Family Centres.
Due to the age ranges of children and young people referred to us, we’ll be reviewing how we facilitate sessions for them, to ensure that content is appropriate to their ages. We’ll also coordinate a reflection session for New Chapter-trained staff with Ceryl, with a view to training more staff in the future.
We also worked with Ceryl on Oxford Brain Story training, a regional pilot for staff to understand the effect of childhood trauma on the developing brain, and how to build stronger brains. Six staff members from each of the North Wales counties received the training as part of the regional transformation working group for services working with children aged between 0 and 7 years. The training is being evaluated with a view to rolling out the programme to all Local Authority staff. Feedback gathered via pre- and post-training questionnaires will be fed back to the regional group.
Multi-Agency Child Sexual Abuse Forum (MACSAF)
Last year we talked about our MACSAF arrangements, and our aim to develop them further, promote the group, and set up training for wider staff groups. Unfortunately this has been a difficult year for us, with a number of members moving on to other posts outside of the Local Authority area. Out of around 20 or so members, there are four or five core members who always attend meetings and offer training and consultation support. It is, however, much more difficult for the wider group to commit, and as a result of dwindling numbers, we have conducted a survey to explore the reasons. The results showed that all members see the benefit of MACSAF and would like to do more were it not for the pressures of their day job.
Despite this, we have offered around a dozen consultations throughout the year, and have fed into a number of training events. We continue to keep in touch with the Child Sexual abuse Centre of Expertise and attend top-up training. We have advised other Local Authorities, such as Cardiff, on how to use the course and set up a MACSAF of their own.
How we can improve
Despite a number of efforts it is proving very difficult to keep the MACSAF group afloat. We plan to work with our Workforce Development and Learning Team to gain their support to keep this valuable resource going.
Increasing capacity at our children’s front door
In last year’s report we talked about new Assessor and Support Worker (ASW) roles which we had introduced to increase our assessing capacity within children’s services. We can report that the pilot has been successful overall. There is a high level of job satisfaction, with all four workers enjoying their roles and feeling that they make a real difference. ASWs are able to asses, plan, review, and generally carry Care and Support Plan (CASP) cases; their experience has grown over the past year and they are all very competent workers.
This opportunity has provided a step-up in salary from their usual roles, which is seen as a career progression for some of the workers, who had not formally progressed for some years. As Social Worker recruitment remains very problematic, this pilot has allowed us to employ skilled workers to fill that gap. In fact, if ASWs were not in place, up to 80 CASP cases would have to be absorbed into a reduced Social Work workforce. Our existing Social Workers have also benefitted from having a different type of skilled worker within the section, and this has increased the skill mix and knowledge within the team.
How we can improve
- ASWs cannot process Section 47 investigations, Child Protection cases, Children Looked After cases, or private law court assessments, so this increasing workload has had to be absorbed by a depleted number of Social Workers.
- As ASWs cannot be included on the Section 47 rota, Social Workers find themselves on duty far more often.
- ASWs were awarded a cash-sum honorarium rather than an increase in grade, so this needs to be reviewed to make the role more appealing.
- ASWs feel that their posts are fragile, as the pilot continues to be extended.
In response to these issues, we are liaising regularly with Human Resources, with a view to creating stability and permanence in the role. However, there is also a separate, wider project, looking at a Social Care Practitioner role, which may incorporate the ASW duties. This work has led to a delay in creating any sense of permanence to the role.
Further to this, a final decision has yet to be made about whether a permanent change is made as a result of the pilot. Certainly recruitment continues to be a significant problem, where it is usual for there to be no applicants for Social Work vacancies.
Our action plan
We will continue to work with the Workforce Development and Learning Team around the development of the Social Care Practitioner role, and how the ASWs could inform that. A decision will need to be made by the service about keeping the ASW role, or reverting back to Social Work vacancies and trying to recruit to qualified roles.
Ensuring that community-based activities are accessible to everyone
Dwygyfylchi
Our Community Well-being Team undertook a mapping and community profiling exercise which identified that in Dwygyfylchi, other than a small allotment group, a bowls and a running group, there was very little provision available in the area. By contrast, in Penmaenmawr, there was a range of activities available, so we decided to focus on Dwygyfylchi as a priority.
Following further engagement with local business, key people and members of the community, we identified that our key priority was to help raise awareness of the village’s existing allotment group which was in need of new volunteers.
‘National Growers Week’ was a great opportunity to invite people along to the allotment group to see what they offer and to encourage more volunteers to join the group. So far we have been successful in helping them recruit six new volunteers, doubling the group’s volunteering capacity. The group have also reported that visitor numbers have also gone up by about one third, so word is spreading.
We offered support to help better promote the group by creating a poster, promoting them via our local community programmes and ‘what’s on’ guides, and funding a banner to go on the railings in the centre of the village.
How we can improve
The exercise has highlighted the lack of a community centre or viable alternative locations to run activities such as exercise classes in Dwygyfylchi. Although we could choose to run sessions in neighbouring communities such as Penmaenmawr or Pensychnant, not everyone has the means to travel there, and the local bus service is infrequent. Although we hosted a coffee morning at the Gladstone pub, unfortunately it wasn’t very well attended, and a well-being afternoon at the Pensychnant Conservation Centre proved difficult for people without transport to attend. The Capelulo Community Hall is still undergoing renovation, however, even when it is available as a location for well-being activities, it would not provide easy access for those who don’t drive.
Our action plan
Going forward, we will be making use of the Community Hall once it is open and available to us. During the events that we held this year a number of people expressed interest in chair-based exercise classes, so we’ll re-visit this in spring 2024. Pending the hall opening up, we may be able to make use of outdoor green spaces as the weather warms up. We’ll also continue to support and promote the Dwygyfylchi allotment group as and when needed.
Kinmel Bay
The team decided to allocate a Well-being Officer to undertake some work in Kinmel Bay. We had identified a current lack of activity provision in the area for older adults, and one area of Kinmel Bay is one of the 10-20% most deprived in Wales.
The team undertook a community profiling and mapping exercise of the area and ran a variety of events to help us engage with members of the community living in Kinmel bay. These included a walk, a community event and some awareness stands at the local GP surgery and Asda supermarket.
As a result of the walk, three of the attendees expressed an interest in meeting for a social stroll on a more regular basis. We promoted the walk amongst people who attended our well-being event, and a further six individuals said they’d like to get involved. One lady was keen to volunteer her time to lead and organise the strolls, and with the consent of the others has created a group chat to organise the dates and times. We are currently working with her to plan the first walk and will continue to have input until the walks are a self-sustainable event.
Rhos on Sea
We noticed an increase in referrals to the team for people living in Rhos on Sea, and discovered that one of the local churches had closed. This resulted in some of the provision in the area no longer being available; some activities stopped altogether, whilst others moved to an alternative venue in neighbouring Penrhyn Bay. We therefore undertook some further work to identify whether Rhos on Sea needed to be a focus area for the team. Looking at a variety of data and information, we identified that provision was limited, with many activities taking place only once per month. Due to the area having the highest population of older people in the county, as well as the highest number of people over the age of 65 living alone, we determined that it was an area for priority focus.
We organised a range of engagement events, including stands at the local co-op supermarket, a walk along the promenade, and a well-being event. We used these as an opportunity to promote any existing provision available in the area, and to chat with older adults living locally to see if there was anything they’d like to get involved with, that wasn’t currently available to them. As a result, singing for fun sessions were suggested, so we contacted Goldies Cymru and set up a partnership project to deliver monthly ‘Sing and Smile’ sessions at the local United Reform Church.
The monthly sessions have been led by the team since April 2023 and are well attended. We recently identified someone who would like to volunteer as the session leader for the group and we hope to have them up and running from March 2024 to continue the sessions self-sustainably.
Direct Payments Service
Direct Payments (DP) are cash payments paid to individuals so that they can organise their support to meet their assessed Social Care needs. This gives them flexibility, choice and control over how their care is delivered.
We mentioned in last year’s report that the service was undergoing a mini restructure which has now concluded. During 2022-2023, the team have achieved the following:
- After consultation with current recipients of DP, we have developed and embedded a training programme, to ensure that all frontline staff are confident to both raise awareness and provide support to eligible individuals wishing to receive their support via DP.
- Established a Self-Funder Scheme for individuals who, through the outcome of a Financial Assessment, would not be eligible for an offer of DP, and who felt disadvantaged.
- We have piloted a scheme for individuals whose assessment of need had identified a need to go into residential care, but wished to remain at home with tailored support. After positive public response, the scheme has been adopted as service delivery model option.
- Initiated the process of raising the profile of DP in the public domain and creating closer working links with the voluntary sector and community groups via presentations and public events.
- Initiated the process of raising the profile of job opportunities via DP, by attending public job fairs, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno job centre alternately each week, schools and college events, working with Conwy Employment Hub and Social Care Employment Mentor, and participating in Colwyn Bay Radio sessions.
- Participated in various Welsh Government working groups with regards to the continued development of DP across Wales.
- New contract award to an external support provider, whose role is to work with individuals that wish to employ their own staff whilst they go through the recruitment process.
How we can improve
The team have engaged with a number of partners, both internal and external, to the department during the year. Through this engagement work, we acknowledge that there are areas to be focused on for recipients, internal staff, key organisations, and the public.
Some recipients felt that the initial set up process was complicated. To improve this, a full review has been undertaken and the process has been streamlined. In addition, all internal parts of the process have been moved to sit under the DP team.
Some recipients wanting to employ staff directly have been frustrated at the length of time it can take to recruit staff. To acknowledge this we have developed a cycle of employment opportunity promotion, include registration options for those interested in working under DP but for who there may not be a suitable post at their time of looking.
New staff in particular have reported that they are not always confident to talk about DP with individuals as part of the assessment process. To improve staff confidence around the topic, there is an informal half day training programme in place, delivered bi-monthly, for all staff to attend. We have also undertaken a full process review to streamline the stages of the process and to ensure that staff are clear on what their role is and the process to follow. This new working practice has been embedded into the training programme and a staff workflow published.
We are active in attending public events and the feedback received in relation to the operation of DP in Conwy is positive. In some cases, individuals are not aware of DP. Whether individuals are known to Social Care and/or voluntary sector support, we are working to close this gap.
On a national level, Welsh Government wish to see an increase in the take-up of DP across Wales. We ensure that we are active members of Welsh Government working groups to support this outcome.
Our action plan
The role of the team is to continue to develop Direct Payments to ensure it is a viable service delivery model for as many individuals as possible, in line with changing wishes, expectations and legislation. For the coming year we intend to:
Raise the profile
- To continue to raise the profile of DP to individuals as both a method of support and/or employment opportunities and to create new links/opportunities to create expansion within local communities.
Ensure ease of access to Direct Payments for individuals
- Where an individual is already known to the department and in receipt of eligible support, the aim is to enable individuals to self-refer to the DP Team rather than having to do this via a Social Worker.
- Complete the transfer of staff employed via DP to the DBS update service, negating the need for renewal checks and also speeding up future recruitment timescales.
Create ease in managing a Direct Payment
- Introduce in-direct payments, for those individual that want the choice and control of a DP but not the responsibility of managing the funds.
- We will be expanding the access to electronic documents and templates for DP recipients to support them in the maintenance of their responsibilities.
- We will increase the number of home visits by the DP Team for those individuals that wish to have face to face interaction during the establishment and operation of their DP.
Monitor safeguarding
- We will act as lead authority in the development of a regional DBS service, to facilitate check of care staff employed via DP.
Liaise with the Local Health Board
- We will work with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in the development of the use of DP for health needs.
Value care staff
- We will review training available to carers employed under the scheme, to include how, what and where it is delivered to make it most effective.
- Recognising the role of DP care staff to support recruitment and retention, to include access to health and well-being services and external rewards schemes.
- We will increase promotion of the scheme for employment opportunities across the county.
Care Leavers’ basic income pilot
The Basic Income Pilot (BIP) in Wales provides eligible care-experienced young people with the opportunity to receive £1600 (before tax) per month for a period of two years. Throughout Wales there are 635 young people participating in the scheme, which is an uptake rate of 97%. Eight of those are from Conwy, and of those four participants have had a positive experience with BIP. Three of the four work full time and are able to save a big percentage of the BIP payment. The fourth young person works part time, but having been part of the pilot has meant that they can afford to rent their own flat, pay all the utility bills, and furnish their home.
The BIP has given some of the participants an opportunity to save money for any future aspirations they have, such as buying their own house, and having peace of mind that they have some savings behind them.
How we can improve
The communication process to disseminate crucial information to both the Local Authority and other professionals who support the care-experienced young people required improvement, as a clear notice period leading up to the scheme wasn’t available. Good practice would have also meant giving participants, be they professionals or young people, an opportunity to consult on the scheme.
Additionally, the scheme has been less successful for the four other participants, and has actually caused their situations to deteriorate rather than improve. One of the participants has been using the money to fund their substance misuse, and another has been targeted by friends and exploited due to their vulnerabilities and access to money every month. Another participant has lost all motivation since being in receipt of the BIP money and lives off fast food, unwilling to engage with education, training or employment, which is now putting their licence agreement at risk. A key learning for the pilot must therefore be the profile of the young person who is eligible, to ensure that they can utilise this opportunity to flourish rather than exposing their vulnerabilities.
Our action plan
Some of the participants have now entered their second year of the scheme. The Personal Advisors are there to support all eight, and are in regular contact with them. They offer advice and guidance on a range of issues and are always there to offer support with budgeting, referrals to relevant agencies if needed, and any emotional support that is required.