Annual Report 2023 to 2024

While most people in Buckinghamshire live independent and healthy lives, some need extra support and protection. We know that the number of children and adults who need this extra help is increasing and this is having a significant impacts for us as an authority. There are also rising numbers of people with mental health difficulties, special educational needs, disabilities and complex needs, some of which is closely linked to the challenges of having a rising population of older residents.

We want to give everyone the best chances in life, so that – together with their families and carers - they are resilient and can identify their own solutions. We will continue to work with our partners and communities to innovate and improve our offer, helping people recover from illness sooner, reducing social isolation and loneliness, and supporting our most vulnerable residents. In addition, we will be strengthening our recruitment campaign and support offer for foster

carers which will enable more of our most vulnerable children to live in a safe, loving, and nurturing home when they cannot live with their birth families. By reducing disparities across our communities, we aim to give all of our residents the support and skills they need to live independent, happy and fulfilling lives.

• The Helping Hand team through the Household Support Fund have delivered:
  • Over 12,100 provisions of support to financially vulnerable households including white goods, essential furniture and emergency food and fuel support
  • Over 87.800 digital food vouchers for eligible families during the school holidays
  • Funding to support over 95 Voluntary and Community Sector initiatives/schemes for residents across Buckinghamshire
• Through Opportunity Bucks we've enabled a policy change within our main registered social landlords to enable carpets to be retained when tenants change over, improving living standards and energy efficiency
• We have supported residents to stay warm during the colder winter months, including through the continuation of 'welcoming spaces' in libraries and other community venues, and have distributed 640 warm packs to residents
• We have also relaunched the Food Champions Network, as part of our wider Community Food Chain, and have 47 Champions supporting across the county to increase donations to residents who need it most
• Almost £300,000 of the Household Support Fund has been directed to support community organisations within Opportunity Bucks wards, including establishing a breakfast club in Chesham feeding 50 school children each weekday
• We have accommodated 112 adults and children within 24 families from Afghanistan who now permanently reside in Buckinghamshire and we are supporting to gain employment and access education.
• We've also accommodated over 1,800 guests who have fled the war in Ukraine, and supported over 240 of these to move into private rental accommodation following the conclusion of sponsorship arrangements when they first arrived
• Community Safety Officers, Street Wardens and Neighbourhood Policing teams carried out visits throughout 2023 as part of the Ask for Angela campaign - with 138 premises signed up to the scheme
• Community Safety Officers engaged with between 300 and 500 students at each of the Freshers Fairs at Bucks New Uni, Buckingham Uni and Buckinghamshire College Group campuses
• 133 vulnerability packs were distributed by the Community Safety Officers to late night venues across Buckinghamshire, providing advice and guidance to staff
• The Public Realm CCTV team have dealt with a total of 9547 incidents this year, with 110 missing persons being found, and have been directly involved in 107 arrests
• 98% of safeguarding enquiries had their personal outcomes fully or partially achieved, where expressed
• Test Purchase operations were conducted in relation to alcohol (x1), vapes (x1), hotels (x 2 - looking at room booking and alcohol), involving Community Safety Officers, TVP and licensing
• Specialist Domestic Abuse Caseworkers in Adult Safeguarding and MASH have supported 632 domestic abuse victims since the service started in June 2022
• The Domestic Abuse team launched the Stayok.uk website for those with learning disabilities (and/or autism). The site was created mainly to give advice about healthy vs unhealthy relationships but also includes community safety information such as exploitation, hate crime, personal safety etc. It is the first site in the country of its kind and uses photo symbols and easy read text
• Approximately 40,000 contacts were made to adult social care. These include referrals from partner organisations and people asking for advice and guidance
• Almost 13,500 safeguarding contacts, with 80% of eligibility decisions triaged within 2 working days
• At the end of March 24, we were supporting 536 clients in nursing placements, 934 in residential placements and 4,075 in community settings
• 691 carers assessments took place
• 3,935 reviews for adult social care clients completed
• 82% of people supported with reablement service were still at home, 91 days after hospital discharge
• 5 clients referred to Adult Social Care who have multiple complex issues and have not engaged with the service are now being supported by our making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) team
• Launch of the Transfer of Care Hub which we've delivered with health partners, to improve the hospital discharge experience for residents
• 26,543 contacts and 6,962 referrals triaged within our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub
• 4,440 families supported by the Family Support Service
• 5,374 child and family assessments completed from referral, of which 73% were completed within 45 days
• 97% of children subject to a Child Protection Plan seen within 4 weeks
• 85% of children on a Child in Need Plan seen within 4 weeks
• 76% of all open children's social care case records had timely management oversight
• Approximately 14,000 children and young people eligible for free school meals, early years pupil premium or 2-year-old funded early education are receiving additional support through the Household Support Grant in the form of supermarket vouchers for the school holidays
• During 2023, we have successfully supported 22 newly qualified social workers through our in-house Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) Academy and they are now in permanent positions within our front line teams
• Despite significant recruitment and retention challenges, 904 EHCPs were issued in 2023, of which 48.5% were in 20 weeks. This performance is above both regional and national averages. For comparison, 540 EHCPS were issued in 2022
• Received a Silver award in Social Worker of the Year awards for the Digital Transformation category. This was given to the council for its work in developing a series of online tools to help people thinking about adoption, fostering or special guardianship
• All three of our Children's Homes were inspected during 2023 with Ofsted grading two of them good and one of the homes securing outstanding
• Our second Youth Summit brought together more than 250 young people from across the county and gave them a voice on the issues that matter to their future
• Public Health have supported the NHS to see over 81,000 people over the age of 65 receive a COVID19 autumn booster vaccine within Buckinghamshire. This is more than 73% of the eligible population
• Over 99.9% of care home residents have also been offered the booster vaccine, and 91.8% have so far been vaccinated
• Completed 7 community resilience evening workshops to support local communities to develop emergency plans
• 977 requests received, 61 formal interventions have taken place ie: improvement notices and emergency prohibition orders to address poor housing standards and 50 HMO licenses issued
• Our Energy Doctor scheme has helped 400 homes in Opportunity Bucks wards to make functional improvements
• This year, Trading Standards campaigns to protect the vulnerable have included:
  • Safety tested 38 electric blankets for local residents, with 76% of the electric blankets found to be unsafe, presenting fire and electrocution risks, and these were replaced with safe new ones donated by Dreams, the Buckinghamshire based bed retailer
  • Raising awareness that call blockers are available for loan free of charge to residents particularly vulnerable to telephone scams.
  • 40 call blockers have been loaned in the year 23-24, with a total of 225 active for Buckinghamshire residents
• Utilised the Local Authority Housing Fund grant to purchase 52 properties for move on accommodation from temporary accommodation, Afghan refugees and Ukrainian refugees. 30 properties were ready to move in to in January 2024, and the rest will be ready in the middle of next year
• 7,460 Home to School Transport passengers transported to school with 520 personal transport budgets taken up by families by 31 July 2023.
• 88% of peak period school transport enquiries were responded to within 5 working days (3,241 received 1 July - 30 Sept 2023)
• 1619 taxi and private hire drivers attended our safeguarding and disability awareness training