Surrey Social Services was reviewed between April
and June 2003 by a team working on behalf of the
Audit Commission and the Department of Health.
The Review is part of a rolling programme covering
the whole of England and Wales. The purpose of
the Review is to give local people a clear and
independent view of how well Surrey:
responds to individual people who need
information and help;
plans for its population as a whole; and
manages its resources and performance.
The Review also contributes to the assessment of
Surrey’s social care performance by the Department
of Health (who are responsible for the star ratings
for social services).
Surrey Profile
Surrey is the fifth largest county in England with a
population of 1.06 million, with 5 per cent from
non white ethnic groups. Although it is the most
densely populated county, 85 per cent is
countryside, mainly green belt and areas of
outstanding natural beauty.
Surrey is prosperous and healthy with small pockets
of relative deprivation. House prices are high. The
level of unemployment was 1.7 per cent at the 2001
Census and there are significant labour and skills
shortages.
Main Findings
Information and help
There are some good services for all user groups
and vulnerable children and adults are
protected.
Access to services is good, and there are no
significant delays for assessment, services or for
reviews.
Children’s homes are of good quality, there is an
effective adoption service and the Youth
Offending Team works well.
Children’s assessments need to be completed
more quickly.
Services to support families with children should
be refocused so that they are effective in
helping children stay with their families.
Attention needs to be given to improving the
life chances of children in the care of the
Authority.
Carers’ services are well developed in
collaboration with Action for Carers.
More people are benefiting from the use of
Direct Payments, which enable them to manage
their own services.
There are some excellent services for older
people that promote independence, and prevent
hospital admission and enable discharge from
hospital.
Services for people with learning disabilities and
people with mental health needs are being
improved to enable more opportunities within
the community.
The Authority is working to overcome difficulties
in setting up intensive home care packages and
the availability of affordable placements for
adults.
Plans for the population
The participation of users and carers in service
development is strongly established.
The involvement of people with learning
disabilities in the Partnership Board is
exceptional.
Partnership with Health has been a priority and
there has been effective work across the adults
sector including in relation to hospital discharge.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health service
has been awarded Beacon status, recognition of
effective work with Health.
There has been effective work with the
Boroughs and District councils to improve
housing options.
Relationships with the voluntary sector are
mixed but work is underway to improve this.
Relationships with providers have improved and
contracting processes have been strengthened.
Children’s services have been co-located with
education. This has the potential to improve the
education of children in need including children
looked after.
Agencies are committed to work together
through the Area Child Protection Committee.
Managing performance and
resources
Performance management for Adults’ services is
strong, good systems have been put in place
quickly and are helping drive better
performance.
Performance management is weak for Children’s
services. Information is not well analysed and
does not lead to service improvement.
Surrey has worked hard to understand budget
pressures for social services.
Development plans are in place for both Adults
and Children’s services. For adults progress is
being made despite the major challenges in
developing the market for home care and for
residential placements.
The Children’s services development plan is
ambitious. It has not yet made an impact.
Complaints are well managed.
Contract monitoring has been weak but this is
being addressed.
Support to staff is in the main good and there is
good availability of training.
The Authority is currently putting in place new
IT systems to improve the data required to
manage services.
Improving Services
The key areas for improvement are to:
improve the experience and outcomes for
children;
strengthen the planning and implementation of
service changes for children;
make the County Council’s policy of devolving
responsibility locally and to frontline teams a
reality to support continuous service
improvement for children; and
continue to improve the experience of adult
service users.
Overall Summary
Most people in Surrey are well served by social
services and the prospects of services improving in
the future are promising. Services for adults are
markedly better than services for children.
The Council has made the improvement of social
care its priority and has increased the resources it
allocates to social care. A strong commitment to
user and carer participation provides a sound basis
for providing services for vulnerable people.
Requests for help receive a timely response.
For adults there are some good modernised services
being put in place. Some of these are user led.
There is effective work with Health and the District
and Borough Councils, and an increasing range of
joint services. The Authority has a robust Medium
Term Strategy which is beginning to improve the
availability of home care and residential care in a
difficult market situation.
For children there are good services for adoption
and children’s homes are of good quality. Family
support is underdeveloped. Too many children
looked after are placed outside the County which
presents additional difficulties for them and their
families, as well as increased costs for the Authority.
The outcomes for children looked after and care
leavers require improvement.
What Happens Next?
The Review was presented to the Council on 28
October 2003.
The Council has agreed an action plan to address
the issues raised. The Joint Review Team, the Social
Services Inspectorate and the external auditor will
be monitoring the progress of the Council in
fulfilling the plan.
If you would like further information on the action
plan, please contact:
Surrey County Council
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey KT1 2DN
Tel: 08456 009 009
Fax: 0208 541 9004
Minicom: 0208 541 9004
The Review Team wishes to thank all those who
contributed so generously to our work, including
users and carers, staff and managers from Social
Services and other agencies.
This is a summary of a fuller report, which is
available from Audit Commission Publications (0800-
502030), price £15. It is also available on the Joint
Reviews website.
If you have any queries about this review or the
Joint Reviews programme generally, please contact
us at:
Joint Reviews of Local Authorities’ Social Services
33 Greycoat Street
LONDON, SW1P 2QF
Tel: 020 7630 0105
Fax: 020 7630 0182
Email: joint.reviews@audit-commission.gov.uk
Website: www.joint-reviews.gov.uk
Stock code: JSY
How well are people served by
Surrey
Social Services?
A summary of the Joint Review of
Surrey Social Services undertaken
between April and June 2003
Report published in
October 2003
My Comments
Well since 2003 there has been no improvement as regards Children's Services. I have underlined all the sentences with details that should be improved.
My Daughter received No support in three years from Surrey Social Services. All they have done in that time has been to keep an eye on the Children protecting their own backs.
They have not done the one thing that my Daughter and Grandchildren needed and that was to be re-housed!
Now because of their none help they have harmed my Grandchildren both emotionally and psychologically!
Harm that would never have happened when they were in our care.
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1006 Senior Supervising Social Worker - Fostering & Adoption, Surrey
Item posted 15 days ago Apply for this position here.
Key Facts
Job Location: Surrey
Sector: Fostering and Adoption
Salary: Up to £38,000 + benefits & annual bonus
Job Type: Perm
Essential Experience and Qualifications: DipSW, CQSW or equivalent qualification as recognised by the GSCC. NVQ 3 in management.
Job Description
To provide a temporary substitute family placement service for children in local authority care who for various reasons are unable to be with their birth families.
Undertake the supervision of a group of staff, as agreed with the Service Manager and or/ management.
Undertake and supervise Form F assessments and their presentation to panels.
Undertake recruitment and selection of foster carers, as agreed with the Service Manager and/ or Management.
Provide management functions, as agreed with the Service Manager and/ or Management.
Coordinate responses to child protection issues, complaints and allegations, to ensure these matters are dealt with promptly, professionally and in accordance with procedures.
Provide out-of-hours support on a rota basis.
To support a small case load (maximum of 10 approved foster carers) to ensure that they are equipped to care effectively for children and young people being looked after through the organisation.
To conduct training for foster carers to enable them to develop knowledge and skills to effectively meet the demands of fostering.
To attend meetings, reviews, court and training sessions in order to provide support to foster carers and give relevant information and feedback.
To write reports and keep records as appropriate and perform all administrative duties as are necessary for the effective performance of this role.
To have special responsibility for; Household Reviews, family finding, supervision of supervising social workers including trainee social workers & students and administrative staff. To perform on-call duties.
To undertake appropriate supervision and appraisal.
To effectively promote carers without children to secure placements.
To ensure, through discussion, participation and by positive example, that the organisation maintains high standards of child care, and provide the best possible service to all its users.
To contribute to the overall childcare strategy of the organisation and to assist in maintaining the highest possible standards.
To deputise for the fostering manager in their absence and or as required
My Comments
This is an Advert for Surrey Social Services that I found on the Internet. There is something very seriously missing from that ad in Required Qualifications!!
I would say for any job that deals with the welfare and future of Adults and Children should require a Degree in Phycology!
I have had Social Workers come into my house and Judge me and my Grandchildren when they know nothing about phycology!
My Doctor was amazed that they had not only removed my Grandchildren but had done so without any psychological accessments!
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Adoption
Our aim is simple. To provide children in care with a secure and permanent family through adoption. They've had a difficult start in life and it takes the love and support of dedicated people to give them a better future.
If you are considering adopting, please use the links below to find out more and if you're still interested, please use the Enquiries page to get in touch.
This survey is being conducted by Surrey County Council
When you are dealing with peoples futures you need those qualifications to make correct accesments!
Special educational needs
Support for pre-school and school age children with special educational needs.
My Comments
The Above Comes from Surrey County Councils Website!
Who are they to say that they can give my Grandchildren a better future than their Mother and family.
My Daughter has had 3 Health Visitors since her Children were born and neither of the first 2 had any concerns for my Daughter as a Mother!
The last Health Visitor like my Doctor is amazed that Social Services removed my Grandchildren!
There aim is simple and obvious. Social Services make a lot of money from the Government finding Children for Adoption.
They have made one enormous mistake this time ~ they will NOT have my Grandchildren.
If it is the last thing I do on this Earth I will make sure NO family ever goes through the pain and heartache that we are going through.
There is no limit to the extrems I will go to to have these children returned!
The Survey didn't come up! But I am glad they realise they do need qualifications when dealing with peoples futures.
As for Special Needs! Well after three and a half years of telling them my 8 1/2 year old grandson has behaviour and learning difficulties they have only just started looking into this.
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