Annual Report 2006-2007 - Cafcass

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Objective 3 Developing a workforce strategy to recruit and retain a flexible workforce, which better reflects the communities we serve and makes Cafcass the employer of first choice for professionals in our sector Our vision is to have a skilled, valued and accountable children’s workforce drawn from all sections of the community. We want to have the right people, in the right place, with the right mixture of skills, attitudes and behaviours, and a workforce that promotes participation from service users and stakeholders. To this end we have developed the Cafcass Workforce Strategy, supported by an action plan. In 2006–07, we made significant progress towards delivering our objectives. We recruited a new Head of HR and under his focused leadership, the Human Resources service has begun a significant programme of change to deliver our Workforce Strategy agenda, alongside key partners such as our trade union colleagues, external agencies and of course our workforce itself. Workforce planning We have developed a workforce planning toolkit to support each local area to set out its workforce plan as part of its business planning activities. This will help us to reflect the diversity of local communities and allow for the recognition of staffing trends over time. Employee feedback and staff survey We conducted our first ever staff survey in December 2006 to gather information about staff satisfaction and views. The results will be used to inform change where necessary, and a vigorous staff engagement strategy will be put in place as a key action. Job evaluation and strategic pay review We have begun a massive programme of job evaluation and a strategic pay review, which will ensure that all job roles within Cafcass are accurately defined, focused on the needs of the organisation, regularly reviewed through appraisal, and continue to be rewarded at or beyond the most competitive market rates. This task will be completed during 2007–08. Performance management We have now developed competencies for all of our major job roles and this has provided clarity during recruitment and staff appraisals. Recruitment and retention All managers have been trained to apply the recruitment code of conduct, which embeds a focus on safeguarding. All our FCAs are registered with the General Social Care Council, the regulatory body for social workers, and Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks have been completed for all current frontline staff. The average turnover for our employed FCAs is 6.5%, which is low for a social work organisation. Many of our leavers in 2006–07 were retiring staff, which is to be expected with our age profile. The bank staff scheme has proved attractive to staff retiring from full-time employment in 2006–07 and we now have 123 on the scheme. We are proactive in promoting our work to future employees in our sector. A good example of this is our student unit in Blackburn (see page 19). Family Support Workers We intend to roll-out the new role of Family Support Worker (FSW) to all frontline teams. In 2006–07 we recruited 10 FSWs and we are currently running selection processes across regions to recruit a further 32. case study Working with a diverse community in Bradford Approximately 25% of Section 7 reports prepared by the Bradford office involve members of the Asian community. In recognition of this, two posts are designated as Cafcass Support Worker/Interpreter (these practitioners are also a regional resource). The office also has a full-time receptionist with Asian language skills. Strong partnerships have been developed with a range of voluntary groups, in particular with Muslim faith advisers. case study Family Support Workers – freeing practitioners to focus on what they do best “The Family Support Worker role complements that of an FCA very well. FCAs refer cases to me and we work closely together. The cases vary, but include supervising and reporting on contact, drawing up and overseeing contact plans and direct work with both children and parents. In addition, I hold a number of Family Assistance Orders. In the future I’d like to undertake the relevant training to become an FCA.” Nickie Stoker, Family Support Worker, Plymouth 26 | Cafcass Annual Report and Accounts 2006–07
Diversity Our workforce is ageing, with 54% of our employed staff over the age of 50. We have a commitment to make our workforce more representative of the communities we work with and our Workforce Strategy and actions will reflect this commitment. Figure 6 shows a breakdown of staff ethnicity by job roles as at 31st March 2007. Monitoring shows that 11.9% of starters and 9.1% of leavers in 2006–07 were from black and minority-ethnic groups. Cafcass follows the Civil Service Code of Practice on the Employment of Disabled People, which aims to ensure that there is no discrimination on the grounds of disability. A slight decrease in the numbers of staff with a disability was recorded in 2006–07, 5.5% (113) compared with 5.8% (120) in 2005–06. Support for employees As part of our Employee Assistance Programme, our employees can call a free, confidential advice line, which offers professional support 24 hours a day all year round. During 2006–07, the advice line was used 221 times, with 52 callers being referred for counselling. This represents 2.5% of the employed staff, well within the average range of 3–6% across other organisations that use this scheme. A number of support groups for staff, including a National Black Managers Network, have been established and are actively attended. Figure 6 Cafcass black and minority-ethnic (BME) staff by job group Job group Total BME % BME % ethnicity not specified Practitioners* 1381 115 8.3% 3.3% Support staff** 510 63 12.4% 1.6% Service Managers 131 8 6.1% 1.5% Senior managers*** 46 4 8.7% 0.0% Total 2068 190 9.2% 2.7% * Includes employed FCAs, bank scheme and sessional workers ** Includes Administrators, Senior Administrators, Admin Managers, specialist staff, PAs and business support staff *** Includes Board members, Corporate Directors, Regional Directors, Heads of Service and Business Managers Section 1: Management Commentary | 27
Page 1: Annual Report and Accounts Children
Page 4 and 5: Our purpose Cafcass has a statutory
Page 6 and 7: Overview by the Chair Chairing a no
Page 8 and 9: Section 1: Management Commentary Se
Page 10 and 11: Private law Our approach to working
Page 12: case study Managing our resources:
Page 15 and 16: case study Cafcass Legal and the Hi
Page 17 and 18: Transforming services and modernisi
Page 19 and 20: case study North East Children’s
Page 21 and 22: Diversity conference We held a nati
Page 23 and 24: staff easy access to their collecti
Page 25 and 26: Family Justice Councils Cafcass con
Page 27 and 28: “This excellent practice guidance
Page 29: This year we also produced three DV
Page 33 and 34: upgrade will be completed by the en
Page 35 and 36: KPI 2 - At least 98% of all public
Page 37 and 38: KPI 5 -The percentage of Section 8s
Page 39 and 40: Section 1: Management Commentary |
Page 41 and 42: The Parliamentary and Health Servic
Page 43 and 44: Members of the Board at an open Boa
Page 45 and 46: Section 4: Statement on Internal Co
Page 47 and 48: and advice on best practice. The co
Page 49 and 50: Board members’ remuneration (audi
Page 51 and 52: Section 6: Accounts 2006-07 Section
Page 53 and 54: Additional meetings between the tra
Page 55 and 56: the Secretary of State for Educatio
Page 57 and 58: Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2007
Page 59 and 60: Expected useful lives are as follow
Page 61 and 62: The total staff cost includes a cos
Page 63 and 64: 7 Tangible fixed assets Freehold la
Page 65 and 66: 13 Analysis of changes in cash 1st
Page 67 and 68: 18b Analysis of capital expenditure
Page 69 and 70: The FRS17 valuation as at 31st Marc
Page 71: General contact details We can be c

Annual Report 2006-2007 - Cafcass

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?