|
Ref
|
Strategic
Risks
|
Pre
Mitigation
RAG
rating
|
Risk
Control / Response and Post Mitigation RAG score
|
Post
Mitigation
RAG
rating
|
|
|
|
Strat-5
|
RECONCILING
POLICY, PERFORMANCE & RESOURCES
There is ongoing
uncertainty in relation to future funding levels, the longer-term
local government funding regime and the impact of national reforms,
particularly across Children’s Social Care and Adult Social
Care. The impact of a period of high inflation/cost of living are
leading to higher demand for Council services and have increased
the direct cost of providing services. Together these create a risk
of insufficient resources being available to sustain service
delivery at the agreed Core Offer level to meet the changing needs
of the local community.
Our revenue budget for 2024/25 includes a draw from the Financial
Management Reserve to provide a balanced budget. In year pressures
in 2024/25 are likely to require an additional draw on reserves.
Our proposed budget for 2025/26 includes additional savings and
further use of our limited reserves. We are reliant on the
multi-year settlement in 2026/27, fair funding review and business
rates review delivering sufficient funding to meet the needs of our
residents.
Additionally, there are risks and uncertainties regarding the
capital programme over the current Medium Term Financial Plan
period and beyond, which could impact on the ability to deliver the
Council’s priorities and set a balanced budget. Funding
uncertainty (including capital grants, receipts and developer
contributions), inflation, supply chain issues and high interest
rates could all constrain our ability to implement our Capital
Strategy and increase the pressure on the revenue budget via
increased borrowing costs.
|
R
|
↔
|
We
employ a robust Reconciling Policy, Performance and Resources
(RPPR) process for business planning, which ensures a strategic
corporate response to resource reductions, demographic change, and
regional and national economic challenges; and directs resources to
priority areas. We take a commissioning approach to evaluating need
and we consider all methods of service delivery. We work with
partner organisations to deliver services and manage demand, making
best use of our collective resources. We take a 'One Council'
approach to delivering our priorities and set out our targets and
objectives in the Council Plan. We monitor our progress and report
it quarterly.
The Council reviews and updates its 20-year Capital Strategy
annually as part of the RPPR process, which sets the framework in
which the capital programme is planned and allows the Council to
prioritise investment to support its objectives. The development
and delivery of the capital programme is overseen by a Capital
Strategic Asset Board (CSAB), which is a cross departmental group,
who also hear from Departmental Capital Board/Sub Boards who
oversee priority areas.
Our plans take account of known risks and pressures, including
social, economic, policy and demographic changes and financial
risks. However, we continue to operate in changing and uncertain
contexts. Current and forecast economic conditions continue to
shape a very challenging financial outlook both for the Council
itself and many of the county’s residents and businesses.
Alongside this we continue to face ongoing challenges as a result
of the persistent legacy of Covid, the increased cost of living and
other national and international factors. We will continue to use
the latest information available on these challenges to inform our
business planning. We will also continually review our performance
targets, priorities, service offers and financial plans, and will
update these as required. As part of this we will continue to take
action wherever we can to mitigate financial and service delivery
pressures – making best use of new technology, investing in
our workforce, seeking efficiencies, and checking that our services
are effective and provide value for money.
We lobby, individually and in conjunction with our networks and
partners, for a sustainable funding regime for local government in
general and for children’s social care and adult social care
specifically, to meet the needs of the residents of East Sussex. If
the funding reforms do not lead to an increase in funding for our
services, we will need to consider further options, including
seeking Exceptional Financial Support.
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-12
|
CYBER
ATTACK
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has highlighted the
substantial risk to British web infrastructure, with elevated
levels of Cyber Crime being reported against all areas of
government, particularly in light of current international
unrest.
Cyber-attacks are growing more frequent, sophisticated, and
damaging when they succeed. With many additional functions now
routinely carried out virtually and remotely, the change in working
practice gives rise to more requests to relax security controls,
with services more likely to take risks on the technology they
procure and how they use it. Controls have been enhanced to manage
these requests.
The impacts of a cyber-attack are far-reaching and it is difficult
to put a figure on the cost, but authorities that have been subject
to major attacks have calculated the disruption to have cost
between £10m and £12m.
|
R
|
↔
|
Most
attacks leverage software flaws and gaps in boundary defences.
IT&D use modern security tools to assure our security posture:
Monitoring network activity and identifying security threats;
Keeping software up to date with regular patching regimes;
Continually monitoring evolving threats and re-evaluating the
ability of our toolset to provide adequate defence against them;
Ongoing communication with the Security industry to find the most
suitable tools and systems to secure our infrastructure. IT&D
continues to invest in new tools, which use pre-emptive technology
to identify threats and patterns of abnormal behaviour. The Council
achieved Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation during 2022/23. Cyber
Essentials Plus is the industry standard for the private and public
sectors, underpinning safe sharing with partners and helping ensure
sufficient controls are in place to minimise the risk of a cyber
incident.
Enhancing user awareness: Expanding E-Learning and policy delivery
mechanisms to cover Cyber threat; educating staff around the
techniques and methods used by active threats; and providing
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) training and workshops to
cascade vital skills and increase awareness of responsibilities
under GDPR legislation. Business Continuity Scenario testing has
been cascaded through Departmental Management Teams.
Services hosted in ISO 27001 accredited Orbis Data Centres.
As well as mitigations against attack, the following measures are
currently in place to minimise the impact should there be a
successful attack:
• Behavioural analysis systems defend against hostile
activity
• Resilient systems enhanced with immutable backups enable
quick recovery
• Robust protocols for response escalation and
communication
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-22
|
DELIVERY
OF ORACLE IMPLEMENTATION
There
is a risk that the implementation of Oracle may not achieve the
outcomes planned which results in:
•higher delivery costs
•longer timescales
•a reduced quality of back office services from a substandard
technical implementation
•risk of not meeting statutory or contractual requirements
such as payments of Pay as You Earn (PAYE) / National Insurance
(NI), pensions, suppliers and employees
•an inadequate control environment
•lack of user buy-in and adoption due to a lack of
organisational readiness impacting on core business
processes
•additional pressure on business as usual capacity from high
resource demands during delivery
•risk to employee wellbeing from high workloads and delivery
timescale
Failure to implement would result in the use of an unsupported and
unlicenced system (or subject to ransom charges on some level of
support) as the SAP system passes its expiry date and would miss
out on efficiencies that can be gained through the new
system.
|
R
|
↔
|
Mitigations are
in response to the four main elements of programme
delivery:
1. Effective governance and internal controls
The Oracle Programme Board continues to meet fortnightly to review
all programme aspects to ensure delivery to plan, supported by
regular audit reviews to ensure adequacy of the control
environment. In addition, regular Oracle Sponsors meetings and
Workstream Boards provide a greater level of scrutiny and input
into the ongoing running of the programme.
The Council's Chief Management Team (CMT) receive fortnightly
exception reports to highlight areas on the critical path, which
require urgent action to increase the ability to hit an April 2025
go-live for Phase 2. CMT are also a route of escalation should a
material strategic decision be required to achieve the April
date.
Going live as soon as practically possible, as well as adopting the
system rather than adapting it, represents the most cost-effective
implementation route. In addition, a phased approach is being taken
to reduce the complexity of the implementation.
2. Technical delivery
The Oracle solution, both functional and data, is continually
tested to a pre-defined and approved set of quality standards. The
solution will not be released for organisational use unless it
meets these standards and is approved by the Oracle
Board.
To go-live as soon as practically possible it is necessary to
ensure that sufficient programme resource is in place to do the
technical delivery, and this is therefore kept under constant
review. In addition, a positive ongoing working relationship with
our implementation partner, Infosys, needs to be in place. The
project lead therefore has regular conversations with Infosys
senior staff and escalates issues where necessary.
3. Organisational readiness
To go-live successfully, it is necessary for the organisation to
adopt the new system with the ‘adopt not adapt’
approach being the most cost-effective.
There is therefore a substantial communication, engagement, change
and training workstream in place to support the organisation to be
ready for go-live. This will support the organisation to understand
and adopt the necessary changes in working practices in areas such
as hiring processes, budget processes, raising purchase orders or
in using self-service for expenses, payslips, timesheet and
absence.
It is also necessary for the organisation to prioritise programme
activity at key points in time and this is also therefore kept
under constant review.
4. Support model
To ensure confidence in the system and ongoing effective use post
go-live it is essential to have a support model in place to respond
to inevitable issues and queries, and for users to understand what
the user experience will be in advance of that.
To increase resilience and the ability to flex depending on the
level of support required, a blend of internal and external
resource is being used. A third party support provider has been
secured and the internal team is currently being recruited to, with
a team lead now being secured.
A variety of other support tools are also being put in place such
as a Helpdesk, Oracle Guided Learning, floor walkers and super
users.
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-15
|
CLIMATE
Failure to limit global warming to below 1.5°C above
pre-industrialisation levels, which requires global net
human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to be reduced by
about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net
zero’ by 2050 at the latest. The predicted impacts of climate
change in East Sussex include more frequent and intense flooding,
drought, and episodes of extreme heat, as well as impacts from the
effects of climate change overseas, such as on food supply. This
will lead to an increase in heat-related deaths, particularly
amongst the elderly, damage to essential infrastructure, increased
cost of food, disruption to supply chains and service provision,
and greater coastal erosion.
|
R
|
↔
|
Climate change
mitigation: the
science-based target is to reduce scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by
50% every 5 years (equating to 13% per year). The focus is on
buildings, as they made up 79% of carbon emissions in 2020/21.
Internal oversight of progress is by the corporate Climate
Emergency Board.
Climate change adaptation: we work with partners on some
aspects of adaptation, such as flood risk management and health
impacts.
A) Mitigation:
1) Carbon Reduction Target: the target for 2024/25 is a 23% carbon
reduction compared with 2023/24 and a cumulative reduction of 50%
against the baseline year of 2019-20. Energy usage data for Qs
1&2 shows a 6% year on year reduction in both demand and carbon
emissions. However, most energy use occurs in Qs 3&4,
when heating is required in buildings, so is very weather
dependent. Consequently, reliable forecasting is not possible
this early in the year. However, should demand follow a similar
pattern to last year, the annual carbon reduction in 2024/25 will
be 1.5%, against the target of 23%, and the cumulative reduction
will be 37% vs the 50% target.
2) Carbon Reduction Schemes: the target for 2024/25 is for the
delivery of a further 23 capital schemes. A total of 17 schemes
have been delivered as at Q3 (5 solar PV, 4 LED lighting, 6 heat
decarbonisation, 1 Building Closure, 1 Insulation scheme). A
healthy pipeline of projects was developed for implementation in
2024/25, however the estimated outturn is for 21 capital schemes to
be completed this year, following the freeze in capital expenditure
from July.
B) Adaptation:
1) Adaptation Plan: A climate change vulnerability and risk
assessment report was completed and published in Q1. In Q2 Council
plans and strategies were reviewed to identify where adaptation may
need to be embedded, progress was reported to Place Scrutiny
Committee and the development of adaptation tools and guidance for
Council services began.
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-20
|
PLACEMENTS FOR
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN OUR CARE
Inability to
secure sufficient high quality placements for children in our care,
suitable accommodation for care experienced young people and
respite provision, leading to significant financial pressure and
poorer outcomes for children/young people.
The risk of the failure of one or more key providers in the
independent sector is an increasing concern, set against necessary
regulatory tightening of profit which might further impact the
market.
|
R
|
↔
|
Effective demand
management, robust management of front door
Delivery of early help services, implementation of Family Hub
programme throughout 2023-24, and Level 2 Family
Keyworkers
Implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Edge of Care
'Connected Families', The Family Hubs programme has been
implemented across E.Sussex delivering early intervention and
support within communities, Connected Families (Connected Coaches
and Intensive Practitioners), Foundations, SWIFT are delivering
intensive evidence based interventions alongside Social Workers to
maximise the opportunity for children to be cared for within their
own family. There has been a 14% reduction in the number of
children subject to child protection plans since February 2024,
this is as a direct result of the launch of the Connected Families
Intensive Practitioners (CFIP service).
Further delivery of kinship/Special Guardianship Order
placements.
Capital bid for Sorrel Drive.
In 2023/24 Children’s Services worked with IMPOWER to enhance
our approach to using data to shape placement sufficiency. We
have developed trajectory planning, implemented the 'Valuing
Care' approach to ensure children receiving the right care for
their needs and value for money achieved, and improved support for
in house foster carers, including an investment in allowances. An
analysis of the children becoming Looked After during Q1 2024-2025,
indicates that a high proportion (81%) are entering into foster
care or kinship care provision rather than residential
care.
Fostering Recruitment & Retention Strategy completed. East
Sussex County Council is part of the South East Sector Led
Improvement Programme, Regional Fostering Strategy and piloting
Mockingbird hub.
Uplift to fostering allowance (for in house carers, Special
Guardianship Orders, Kinship carers) approved by the Chief
Management Team to help secure sufficient supply of in house foster
carers as an alternative to more expensive care packages.
In Q3, the valuing care tools have been embedded into the business
as usual with a strong focus on reunification.Q4 A strategic group has been set up to drive forward
the valuing care agenda which will report into the Transformation
Board chaired by the DCS
Fostering allowance uplift has been made part of the recruitment
drive. Both elements are attempting to mitigate the increased costs
due to the lack of placements for Looked After Children.
Q1 has seen a significant rise in foster carer applications in this
period. The new Duty and Commissioning team have added capacity to
the service and we are already seeing impact with placements and
prices.
Q2 has continued the trajectory above with tighter discussions and
process, however the market continues to present a
challenge.
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-19
|
SCHOOLS
AND INCLUSION, SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES
(ISEND)
For
Children with Special Educational Needs. Inability to secure
statutory provision due to lack of availability of specialist
placement within the county and increasing demand for placements in
this sector. This would put the Council at risk of judicial review
and/or negative Local Government Ombudsman judgements for failing
to meet our duties within the Children and Families Act 2014, with
associated financial penalties and reputational damage.
|
R
|
↔
|
Effective use of
forecasting data to pre-empt issues.
Work with statutory partners to develop contingency plans.
Work with the market to increase provision where needed.
Expanding internal interim offer for children.
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-1
|
ROADS
Extreme weather events over recent years, including the last
winter, have caused significant damage to many of the
county’s roads, adding to the backlog of maintenance in the
County Council’s Asset Plan: and increasing the risk to the
Council’s ability to stem the rate of deterioration and
maintain road condition.
|
R
|
↔
|
The
changing climate is now influencing the rate of road deterioration,
with more extreme events such as warmer wetter winters; and drier
summers punctuated by unseasonal heavy downpours (drying and
shrinking the substructure of roads). Additional funding over the
last few years has helped maintain road condition, however, the
latest condition and funding modelling showed the potential for
deterioration over the next 10 years.
Works from additional investment made in 2023 on patching, footway,
signing and lining have provided greater network reliance. However,
deterioration in road surfaces in 2024 has continued. Recognising
this, Cabinet have approved a further £1m in July 2024 for a
programme of targeted patching works to address the worst areas of
road damage.
Mitigations include encouraging road users to report potholes so we
can intervene as soon as possible in accordance with our policies;
closely managing the operational performance of the highway
contractor; and lobbying Government for additional investment as,
without it, it will be increasingly difficult to manage the risks
of further decline.
In conjunction with this, new technologies and materials are being
trialled to introduce improvements to practices and ensure works
are as efficient as possible. This includes introducing a new Asset
Management system with enhanced capabilities for data management
and funding modelling, and introducing smart street lighting
systems that allow greater control over levels of lighting,
reducing energy consumption.
|
R
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-9
|
WORKFORCE
An
inability to attract and retain the high calibre staff needed could
lead to a reduction in the expertise and capacity required to
deliver statutory services to our residents, including to prevent
harm to children, young people and vulnerable adults at the
required level and standards, impacting on the achievement of the
Council’s strategic objectives.
|
R
|
↔
|
A
number of strategies responding to the current significant
recruitment and retention challenges have been put in place.
Highlights include:
- On-going attendance at events such as careers fairs to maximise
our presence with job seekers.
- Continued use of apprenticeships, traineeships, intern
arrangements and more flexible work arrangements etc as a way of
bringing in new talent to the Council.
- Continued delivery of our two leadership development programmes
to support our talent management strategies: the ‘Ladder to
Leadership’ programme and ‘Head of Service
Masterclasses’.
- Provision of 1-1 advice and guidance sessions to prospective
candidates who require support around making an application,
undertaking interviews etc
- Engagement with employees at ESCC, who are under 25, to get
feedback on what attracted them to the Council as an employer; and
to begin establishing a forum for young people in the new year to
highlight any issues, and to attract candidates from a younger
demographic to the Council.
Additional work undertaken in Q3 includes:
- inclusive recruitment training has been attended by 60+
managers.
- guidance on making reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates
is in development
- Newly Qualified Social Worker recruitment planning for 2025 is
underway. This will include advertising via ‘Study
Smarter’ to attract candidates from all over the
UK.
- the introduction of fortnightly managers ‘top tips’
guidance to highlight changes and best practice to recruiting
managers
- workforce dashboards are in development to provide managers with
regular, up to date intelligence to support recruitment plans and
workforce planning
- all new starters in CSD frontline roles are now automatically
enrolled onto an apprenticeship
- the Team Leader apprenticeship is now open to employees who are
not currently in a supervisory role but have aspirations to
progress into one as a way of supporting career development and
‘growing our own’
|
A
|
↓
|
|
|
Strat-18
|
DATA
BREACH
A breach of security/confidentiality leading to destruction, loss,
alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal
data. This includes breaches that are the result of both accidental
and deliberate causes. A personal data breach is a security
incident that has affected the confidentiality, integrity or
availability of personal data regardless of whether information has
been accessed, altered or disclosed via electronic or manual
means.
Risks to individuals, reputational damage, fines from the
Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO), compensation
claims.
|
R
|
↔
|
Policy and
guidance procedures in place to support practice.
Data Protection Officer (DPO), Caldicott Guardians and Information
Governance Officers monitor breach reporting and put in place
mechanisms to minimise recurrence.
Staff training to develop awareness. E-learning and policy delivery
mechanism expanded to enhance skills and increase awareness of
responsibilities under General Data Protection Regulation
legislation.
Technical security measures operated by Information Technology and
Digital (IT&D), including access control and segregation of
duties.
|
A
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-6
|
LOCAL ECONOMIC
GROWTH
The transfer of
South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) responsibilities
and functions to East Sussex County Council (ESCC) does not
successfully integrate the development of economic strategic
planning, business support, and management of capital funded
programmes, into Council operations as required by Government
policy.
Possible consequences if the transfer is not managed successfully
include:
•Management, monitoring, and evaluation of the current
capital programmes do not meet Government requirements, leading to
potential clawback of £m funds; or an inability for ESCC to
demonstrate it can manage funds successfully, affecting future
allocations of growth funds.
•Third parties with existing contracts may raise concerns if
new / variation funding agreements are not put in place early from
April 2024.
•Loss of an effective ‘business voice’ through
the current local economic growth board (Team East Sussex) and its
various subgroups.
•An inability to produce an agreed local economic strategy,
which sets the ambitions, objectives, and key outcomes for East
Sussex.
|
R
|
↔
|
East
Sussex County Council, working with partners, has successfully
secured significant amounts of local growth funding totalling
£127m since 2012 via the South East and Coast 2 Capital Local
Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), to deliver a wide range of
infrastructure projects in East Sussex. In August 2023, Government
formally announced that direct funding for LEPs will be removed
from April 2024. Upper tier local authorities (UTLA’s) will
then be required to take on the current non-statutory LEP powers,
responsibilities, and functions. These include strategy
development, business support and oversight/management of capital
programmes. We submitted our proposal to Government in November
2023 to become an UTLA as per the guidance issued. East Sussex has
now been confirmed by Government as a ‘functional economic
area’ to take on LEP responsibilities.
The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) and East Sussex
County Council have produced integration plans to mitigate the
transfer risks on current and future capital programmes; and the
financial, legal, and reputational risks. SELEP and our own
Corporate Management Team endorsed the integration plans in quarter
3 2023/24, and the plans were taken to Lead Member in January 2024
and approved by Cabinet in March 2024. Further Government guidance
and a Local Economic Development Fund - Assurance Framework were
finally issued in October 2024 setting out the transition
arrangement requirements.
Essex County Council (ECC) as the Accountable body for SELEP, have
issued on 30 August a Transition Agreement between all six of the
upper tier local authorities (incl. ESCC) to hand over local
accountable body responsibilities for the legacy capital programmes
to UTLA’s. A response has been provided by ESCC and whilst
there have been delays from Essex CC in finalising the agreement it
is now expected to be signed in Q4. In the absence of this
agreement, East Sussex has established clear governance, reporting
and transparency arrangements to address the Government’s
responsibilities since April 2024 in overseeing the management of
current LEP funded programmes/projects.
Looking ahead, the lack of large-scale funding programmes to
support economic growth across the county presents a significant
risk to achieving growth ambitions. Recent funds have been awarded
directly to local Borough and District authorities (e.g., UK Shared
Prosperity Fund, Levelling Up Funds and Long Term Plan for Towns)
or funding has come from time-limited specific sources.
We now have a new growth strategy – East Sussex Prosperity -
and will be developing in the accompanying investment plan in Q4
with strategic partners to articulate our investment propositions
and asks to Government.
The Council is already in a good position to mitigate the risks on
business support and ensuring business has a voice. We directly run
the Business East Sussex Growth Hub services and Government have
confirmed funding and signed grant letter for 2024/25. We will also
ensure the business voice continues to be heard through Team East
Sussex, our local strategic advisory economic growth board for the
county, which continues to meet on a quarterly basis.
|
A
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-4
|
HEALTH
Failure to secure
maximum value from partnership working with the National Health
Service (NHS). If not achieved, there will be impact on social
care, public health and health outcomes and increased social care
operational and cost pressures, as well as shared Integrated Care
System objectives for jointly managing patient flow through our
System.
An increase in activity and complexity in the presentation of
patients through our acute hospital sites, has resulted in an
increase in the NCTR (No Criteria to Reside) numbers and presents a
system risk in respect of adequate patient flow.
|
R
|
↔
|
East
Sussex was allocated £5,088m, as part of the national
Government Discharge Fund Grant for 2024/25, to support local
authorities to build additional adult social care and
community-based reablement capacity to reduce hospital discharge
delays by delivering sustainable improvements to services for
individuals - focussed on improving discharge to home, alongside
increased therapy and assessment provision and associated plans to
reduce the use of bedded discharge pathways. Funding allocations
have been agreed for Q1 2024/25 and rolled forward for the
remainder of the financial year. The Integrated Care Board (ICB)
has retained the £4m uplift, to be used as transformation
monies to cover dual running costs/pump priming to affect the
change and pace needed to avoid delays in hospital
settings.
Delivery remains strongly focussed on our shared objectives for
hospital discharge in East Sussex and in Sussex as a whole. Prior
to Christmas there has been a sustained 10% reduction in the number
of people in hospital who are ‘medically fit for
discharge’ as a result of improvement plans. ASC has also
contributed to the development of the Sussex System Winter Plan
(November 2024 - March 2025). This sets out the key areas of focus
to help maintain this trajectory in the context of seasonally
driven increases in illness and other impacts of winter, which can
constrain the ability of the most vulnerable in our population to
keep themselves well. This includes developing a needs-based demand
and capacity model to help us get the right type of support in
place to respond to people’s complex needs appropriately
after being in hospital.
We have continued lay the groundwork for our 5 East Sussex
Integrated Community Teams (ICTs) towards a model focussed on
proactive care for the most complex and vulnerable people, and
targeted collaboration on prevention, early intervention and
reducing health inequalities. This includes holding 5 events for
staff and volunteers in each footprint to learn about the services
and support available for the people they work with ahead of
winter, and identifying small-scale ‘tests of change’
where partners are keen to try out doing things differently
together. This will inform the next steps for our care coordination
model for people with more complex needs, along with plans to
formalise leadership and planning arrangements in each ICT in 2025,
as part of the broader System approach.
|
A
|
↔
|
|
|
Strat-21
|
CARE ACT REVIEWS
AND DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY SAFEGUARDING (DOLS)
ASSESSMENTS
Demand exceeding
capacity for annual Care Act reviews and Deprivation of Liberty
Safeguarding (DoLS) assessments
|
R
|
↔
|
These
are known issues for virtually all local authorities with social
care responsibilities as this activity falls within our duties
under the Care Act 2014 and Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Performance is therefore tracked on a monthly basis by the Adult
Social Care and Health (ASCH) Department and benchmarked wherever
possible. For Care Act reviews, for example, our performance is 8th
out of 16 South East authorities.
Mitigations and actions:
Additional resource has been deployed to undertake DoLS assessments
(August ’24) to ensure more timely response to
requests. The impact of this is expected to be realised in Q4
2024/25.
Care Act Reviews – ASCH completed 15,413 reviews in
2023/24. Our agreed target performance is 66.6% and the
forecast outturn for 24/25 is 60.5%. A project manager has been in
post since April and has already succeeded in significantly
reducing the maximum waiting time for reviews.
Young carers reviews are undertaken by Imago Community, ensuring a
timely assessment and review for this cohort.
|
A
|
↔
|
|
