1.3.4 Operational Management and Supervision Arrangement

This chapter has been updated in November 2011 to include a Reflective Tool for Social Work Practice.

Background
Introduction and Definitions
Setting Activities in the Context of Formal Appraisal
Operational Management and Supervision Framework
Professional Support Arrangements

1. Background

The development of multi-disciplinary Locality Children's Services Teams will form a key part of our delivery arrangements for children's services in Lincolnshire. It will enable a range of services to be delivered to children by a team drawn together from a range of professions and functions across Children's Services, Health and other key partners. Overseeing the work of staff by individuals whose professional background is sometimes different from the staff member, requires skill and a commitment to new patterns of working in order to deliver the benefits of multi-disciplinary teams.

An effective framework for operational management, supervision and professional development will be essential to enable these services to be delivered effectively.

Within this framework there is also an expectation that all staff, irrespective of their operational or professional background, maintain responsibility for self-directed learning, such as reading journals and undertaking research to ensure their knowledge base remains current.

2. Introduction and Definitions

Management of staff has a number of elements. In order to provide a coherent and consistent approach there needs to be a common understanding of these elements. It is inevitable that at the boundaries there will be less clarity in some of these elements, but it is incumbent upon all staff and managers to work across these boundaries in a professional and constructive manner.

For the purpose of this document the following definitions apply:

2.1 Operational Management

The most generic element of management. It applies to all staff and provides a framework and direction, support and guidance for individuals and teams.

2.2 Supervision

Involves reflecting on professional practice. It is good practice to incorporate ‘Reflective’ techniques within Supervision. It allows a process in which to review an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and to inform learning our learning about practice. A Reflective Tool for Social Work practice has been developed to aid this process.

Please click the following link to access the Reflective Tool for Social Work Practice Guidance.

Supervision in its various forms it applies to all staff in direct delivery activities. Staff not embraced by this definition will still receive individual support, but it will be outside the framework described in this paper and be part of day to day operational management. Supervision is a requirement for some in order to maintain registration, in which case it will follow a closely defined structure. For others, arrangements will be varied and relate to the nature of work undertaken.

Supervision may involve some or all of the following elements:

The giving of constructive feedback;
The planning of new tasks, setting standards and reviewing health and safety issues;
Identifying and addressing some of the training needs of supervisees and feeding these into the annual team training needs analysis
Reflection on emotional issues arising from and associated with work;
A review of individual cases

2.3 Professional Support

There is recognition that staff from different disciplines will require discipline specific support that may not always be available through supervision, operational management or more generic learning and development activities.

This procedure sets out a framework for operational management, supervision and professional support which includes core principles and minimum standards. It applies to all Children's Services staff working in Locality Children's Teams. (Supervision differs, as described in Section 2.2, Supervision).

The paper outlines:

Arrangements for operational management;
The basic principles and key aims of supervision;
- The arrangements for carrying out supervision;
- Record keeping;
- Expectations of supervisors and supervisees in supervision.
Professional Support Arrangements

3. Setting Activities in the Context of Formal Appraisal

Managers and staff in Locality Children's Teams are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care. The Performance Management and Appraisal System underpins operational management and supervision arrangements and encourage continuous professional development.

All staff will be involved in formal appraisal processes, which will be compliant with LCC standards and led by those immediately supervising staff as part of operational management arrangements. Formal appraisal will be informed by the outcomes of supervision activities.

4. Operational Management and Supervision Framework

4.1 Operational Management

Includes the day to day management of staff in relation to their overall work and conditions of employment. The Operational Manager will govern individual's overall workload, set and monitor performance against targets, ensure that individuals functions within a team maintaining clarity about role, responsibilities and accountability. It is a collaborative process, task-oriented, within formal, service-led agenda. It is a planned process ensuring tasks are carried out to a satisfactory, safe standard, in line with organisational objectives, and includes issues relating to professional development. Any member of staff overseeing the work of others will be expected to provide operational management, irrespective of whether the word 'manager' is in their job title.

4.2 Supervision

All staff involved in the direct delivery of services to children and young people will have the opportunity for supervision.

There are two broad approaches to supervision:-

Clinical Supervision - for those staff requiring this as a condition of their professional registration. Supervision will take place with the responsible supervisor and an identified appropriate person from that discipline (minimum six weekly or as required by registration). The format and documentation of Clinical Supervision will be in accordance with any requirements of the registered body.

If an individual is a member of a registered body, but that is not a requirement of the post, then the supervision provided will be according to needs of the post (see paragraph (ii) General Supervision below).

Where an individual wishes to retain their membership of a registered body, but this is not a requirement of the post, then the individual may do so but they will need to organise this at their own cost and in their own time.

Clinical supervision will always be provided by someone qualified from within the same professional discipline as the supervisee.
General supervision - this will take a variety of forms dependent on the role being performed by individuals. It could be 1:1, in a small group, or via reflective practitioner meetings. For the majority of professionally qualified front line deliverers, supervision will include individual activity. Irrespective of method adopted, the supervision will be coordinated by the person providing operational management to an individual or group of individuals. Supervision activity will be no less frequent than: four weekly for any staff undertaking a CAF/TAC lead professional role, Lead Social Worker role and eight weekly for other staff, and 13 weeks for part time staff.

Supervision sessions should be timetabled and significant. There are no hard rules for the duration of sessions but it is unlikely that anything less than 30 minutes would achieve the aims of supervision. Equally, if sessions last more than one hour there is a danger of them losing focus and purpose.

All supervision activities will be recorded. General supervision will be provided by those staff providing day to day supervision/support for supervision. One to one supervision will be recorded using the 'Professional Supervision Meeting Record' (Held under 'Core Forms' on Lincolnshire County Council, George Intranet)

The four main objectives from supervision are:-

Maintaining high quality service delivery
Staff Development
Staff Support
Ensuring compliance with corporate policies, procedures and statutory responsibilities.

The supervision standards include as a minimum:-

Supervisors to be trained in supervision processes and the application of these procedures
Supervisees to be inducted into the supervision procedures
Planned and regular supervision will be provided according to the agreed timescales
Sufficient time will be allowed to enable a quality supervision to take place
All supervision will be recorded
A template will be available to be used in the recording of team/reflective practitioner supervision activities
The Professional Supervision Agreement (Held in Core Forms on Lincolnshire County Council, George Intranet) will be completed, agreed, and signed as part of the induction process between both parties.
All individual supervision arrangements will be recorded using the Professional Supervision Meeting Record (Held in Core Forms) one will be provided to the supervisee and one copy retained by the supervisor
Practitioners are required to bring documentation to the meeting as requested by the responsible supervisor. This may include specific information on individual cases
No records will be kept in supervision notes of the names or personal details of clients

4.3 Case Supervision

Case supervision takes place when the supervisor and Lead Social Worker/lead professional or other professional involved in providing a service to the child come together to discuss the case in a 1:1 or group situation. A record of the discussion and actions is recorded onto the child's record using the Children's Services format.

Case supervision is undertaken on those cases where the supervisee has been allocated a referral and piece of work to be completed. The supervisee may be the Lead Social Worker, lead professional or be providing a service as part of the plan and Team Around the Child.

Each case will be discussed every four weeks.

The case supervision record is evidence that there was supervisory oversight and endorsement of the practice, quality, decisions and service. This is important for case audits, serious case reviews, management performance information, case load management, appraisals and service user access to records.

The procedure sets out the requirements including; frequency and criteria when each child's record should be discussed in supervision, areas to be discussed and checked by the supervisor and timescales for recording onto the child's record. It ensures consistency across the service supporting quality assurance case audits and employee and service performance management.

The recording of the supervision is completed onto the child's record using a common format to provide consistency. A copy of the record placed on the child's record/file should be stored in the supervisees personal supervision file.

The purpose of case supervision is to:

Enable the organisation, through the supervisor, to ascertain that a practitioner is reaching the required standard in relation to delivery both in specific and general tasks in delivering a service.
Enable targets and objectives to be agreed and outcomes to be monitored in relation to specific cases or roles.
Establish a clear understanding of accountability
Create the evidence base and context for meaningful appraisal.
Facilitate reflective practice and analysis of the service provided and planned outcomes for the child
Establish performance management targets to achieve and maintain the quality of practice where it has previously failed to reach the required standard
Ensure recording on the child's record is compliant with information governance and records management policy, procedure and guidance.
Identify how issues which impede the effectiveness of intervention and delivery of service can be resolved.
Confirm that the welfare of the child is paramount and that their wishes, views and feelings have been ascertained, taken into consideration and recorded.
Confirm that the parent(s)/carer(s) views have been sought, taken into consideration and recorded
Evidence that the child has contributed to the assessment, planning, and decision making.
Evidence that the provision of services promotes the ethnic, cultural, racial, gender, religious, identity and language needs of the child and family.
Review and monitor workload management to identify if the supervisee has adequate time and knowledge to meet the needs of the case.
Align case supervision with appraisal and the implementation of standards to fit into the performance management framework for ongoing audit, and assessment of continuous improvement and quality of service delivery.
Evidence that the following process is being followed:

A: Assess the current situation - what is working well, what is not, what can be done.

P: Plan - work out what actions can be taken to bring about desired outcomes. These actions will have different characteristics in terms of complexity, cost, and knock-on effects. It is necessary to work out in what order to do things, how to do them, etc.

I: Intervene - execute the planned actions

R: Review - when the actions are complete, consider whether they have achieved the desired outcome: what could have been done better or differently? This leads naturally back to the beginning of the cycle, assess, fresh assessment of the environment, and of the new challenges and issues.

The supervisor will:

Record the contents of the supervision and a list of the actions using the relevant format onto the child's record/file at the time of the supervision. If this is not possible it will be recorded onto the child's record/file within one working day of the date of the supervision.
Review the practitioner's task list as part of the supervision
Record reasons for the cancellation or delay to the original supervision date

At the subsequent case supervision the supervisor will:

Check the contents of the last 'Case Supervision' and review with the practitioner confirming if the tasks were completed. The supervisor will, if not already viewed or authorised, view the completed task and confirm completion and check the standard by looking on the child's record at the relevant field, for example: visit, assessment etc.

During supervision the supervisor will undertake a quality assurance of the each child's record that is allocated to the Lead Social Worker or on which the practitioner is involved.

This will include:

Ensure standards for recording with care are evident
Ensure each child's record is up to date and holds accurate data
Ensure adherence to correct procedures
Ensure tasks are being dealt with and not out of timescales
Ensure significant events are recorded and dealt with appropriately
Ensure assessments are of a standard that includes analysis and identification of the child's needs and appropriate service provision
Ensure statutory visits, other visits and reviews of the child's plan have been completed within timescales
Read and review case notes
Ensure the identified outcomes planned for the child are being met or progressed within appropriate timescales

4.4 Confidentiality

Individual supervision should usually be seen as a confidential process between the practitioner and their supervisor. Supervisors are required to produce an agreed record of one to one supervision. If a manual record is kept then it must be kept secure and in a locked cabinet. There are circumstances where it may be necessary for supervisors to discuss information gained from supervision with senior managers and/or senior clinicians/professionals. Supervision records may be released for the purpose of monitoring the quality of supervision, or used as documentation in disciplinary or legal proceedings. Supervision records are the property of Children's Services.

The supervisee may keep a record of supervision as part of any continuous professional development portfolio. Any record should avoid personal identification of service users or third parties, as service users may be able to apply for access to such records under the Data Protection Act.

The principle of confidentiality within supervision does not exclude the supervisor or supervisee from their responsibilities under their respective professional Codes of Conduct. Should evidence of misconduct, unsafe or illegal practice arise, the supervisee is encouraged to report them to the operational manager, but if this does not occur, the supervisor should do so.

5. Professional Support Arrangements

The majority of professional support will be enabled through staff participating in Children's Services Learning and Development processes. Only that which is specific and distinct to a particular profession will be provided separately. (Sometimes this is a requirement of regulation).

The identification of need and coordination of support will be the responsibility of the Head of Service with the functional lead for that professional area, assisted by the professional champion(s) for various disciplines within that function. The Head of Service will work closely with the Children's Service Learning and Development Manager to ensure that activities complement those within the broader learning and development programme. Budgets for activities (where required) will be held by the Children's Services Learning and Development Team.

5.1 Professional Champion(s)

Champions will take a lead on Professional Support Arrangements for their discipline

The champion will facilitate professional support through:-

Professional Support Meetings taking place no less than twice a year but as and when the need arises
Communicating updates to all staff within that discipline
Point of reference for HoS, TM and PP

The timing of Professional Support meetings will need to link into key dates within the calendar for strategic planning within each discipline.

A list of professional champions will be established and regularly updated.

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