Issue - meetings

To recommend an additional Family Solutions Officer Post (Harwich) for a fixed term period of 12 months based on a review of the value for money / benefits such as the post would deliver on behalf of the Council and District.

RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(a)    approves the value for money / benefit review as set out in the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.7);

(b)    following the earlier set aside of the associated funding, agrees to the establishment of an additional Family Solutions Officer Post in Harwich for a fixed term period of 12 months;

(c)    requests that future funding of this fixed term post be included within the intended wider review of external grant funding; and

(d)    requests that potential future funding be also considered as part of the review of ongoing cost pressures within the long term financial forecast.

Cabinet considered a report of the Partnerships Portfolio Holder (A.7), which sought its approval for an additional Family Solutions Officer Post (Harwich) for a fixed term period of 12 months based on a review of the value for money / benefits such as the post would deliver on behalf of the Council and the District.

Cabinet recalled that the Tendring Family Solutions Service provided an intensive service until families were able to sustain positive progress, or for a maximum of 12 months where risks and needs suggested that this was necessary. The service helped families experiencing a wide range of complex issues and disadvantages – ranging from domestic violence and truancy to unemployment and mental ill health. Families entered the service on a voluntary basis in order to identify what they would like to change about family life, and were then empowered to go about making a change, and crucially to sustain it. This sustainability of change in their circumstances was key to reducing the demand on higher levels of social care and other services. Tendring Family Solutions was part of Essex Social Care, which had been found to be outstanding in a recent Ofsted report.

Members were informed that a Family Solutions Officer (District wide role) had been employed by Tendring District Council (TDC) on a permanent basis in September 2018, following a number of fixed term contracts since 2013. The role was seconded to work alongside Officers within Essex County Council (ECC) as part of the Tendring Family Solutions Team. The role was matrix managed across both ECC and TDC.

It was reported that, an additional full time Family Solutions Officer post, funded through health inequalities funding from the Integrated Care Board had commenced in September 2022, on a fixed term contract to work within Tendring Family Solutions with a focus on supporting families in the Harwich area.  It had been agreed to extend this post for a further year to September 2024 (utilising health inequalities funding).

Cabinet was made aware that the Harwich post undertook to understand the needs of families in the area through a Community Asset Mapping exercise, as well as holding a case load of up to five families at any one time.  Key highlights/outcomes of the post  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14