1.3.3 Supervision Policy and Procedure

1. Introduction

Supervision has a vital role to play in supporting staff in a challenging social care environment. As such, supervision is a two-way process involving rights and responsibilities for both supervisors and for those they supervise.

The purpose of this policy and procedure is to outline how supervision is to be carried out throughout Lincolnshire Children's Services. The document applies to all Children's Services staff with the exception of Teachers and Educational Psychologists.

The document is supported by the 'Research in Practice' (RiP) Reflective Supervision: Resource Pack (2017). The resource pack was developed through a RiP Change Project involving 19 local authorities; Lincolnshire Children's Services was one of the local authorities. In order for staff to develop excellent practice they are to be encouraged to develop their critical reflective skills.

2. Supervision Policy

Lincolnshire Children's Services recognise that staff members are its most important asset in fulfilling the Council's responsibility to provide a high quality service and have a duty of care to support their workforce to enable this:

"Effective Supervision is the cornerstone of safe social work practice. There is no substitute for it" (Laming 2003).

It is Lincolnshire Children's Services policy, to provide high quality supervision, which supports and motivates staff and encourages reflective practice. To monitor performance and targets set at appraisal, thereby linking with the Council aims and objectives and in doing so enhance the quality of staff performance in providing services to our customers.

This policy and procedure sets out how staff will be supervised and also provides managers, practice leaders and supervisors with the key standards and tools required to supervise staff effectively. Managers, supervisors and supervisees are jointly responsible for ensuring that supervision meets the standards as outlined in this policy and procedure and underpins the Supervision Framework.

3. Supervision Framework

The Supervision Framework is designed to provide the key requirements and processes for staff supervision. It is also to ensure a consistent approach for all Children's Services staff.

The components of the framework are:

1. The Supervision Policy and Procedure is communicated through regular training for managers, supervisors and staff;
2. Managers are responsible for ensuring that everyone they are responsible for has a designated Supervisor;
3. All Children's Services staff are to receive a personal supervision (sometimes referred as a 'one to one' supervision) with the frequency of these to be agreed;
4. All case holding children's services staff are to receive, in addition to personal/One to One supervision, case supervision using the case supervision record on MOSAIC;
5. Reflective Practice Tools are to be incorporated within case supervision meeting and where appropriate the use of Group Supervision to be considered. Group supervision is to be at a minimum of six weekly;
6. Supervision will incorporate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to ensure staff have the relevant skills, knowledge and understanding to succeed in their job role, this will include Observation of Practice (where applicable);
7. Team Managers are responsible for ensuring that everyone within their team are registered with Social Work England (SWE);
8. Practice Leaders, Practice Supervisors and Child and Family Practitioners are self responsible to ensure they meet the standards as defined within the Knowledge and Skills Statements (Department for Education).

4. Supervision Procedure

The components of the framework are to be delivered through the supervision procedure.

4.1 Definition of Supervision

'A process by which one worker is given responsibility by the organisation to work with another to in order to meet organisational professional and personal objectives which together promote the best outcomes to services users'*. (Morrison 2005)

Lincolnshire Children's Services defines Supervision as a regular one to one meeting between the supervisor and staff member (supervisee) in order to review organisational, professional and personal objectives.

4.2 Types of Supervision

4.2.1 Personal/One to One Supervision and Case Supervision

On most occasions personal/One to One supervision and case supervision will take place during the same session, but have separate elements and are recorded separately. At all times supervisors and supervisees hold individual and joint responsibility to ensure purposeful and effective supervision takes place.

At other times there will be 'Ad Hoc/Informal discussions' and decision making.

4.2.2 Ad Hoc Case/Informal Discussions within Case Supervision

Ad Hoc/Informal discussions or decisions are likely to be needed between planned case supervision sessions on a case by case basis, and may result from unexpected changes of circumstances or new incidents. Where as a result of this discussion, activity is planned or decisions made which diverts from the plan, these discussions and decisions should be recorded in MOSAIC under the drop down box "Case Discussions and Decisions". It is the manager's responsibility to ensure accurate and timely recording of Ad Hoc/Informal Case Discussions or Decisions.

4.2.3 Joint Case Supervisions

Joint Supervision’s are a crucial piece of case work that enables workers from different service areas to come together to agree trajectories, timescales, actions and give the opportunity for reflective case discussions based on different perspectives and evidence.

Joint Supervision enables the team working with the family to re-prioritise if needed, share information, plan ahead and ensure at all times the plan of support for that family is making a difference.

Joint Supervision is recorded on Mosaic, on the child’s file and should take place as outlined in the below links.

Please follow the links to the relevant Guidance:

Joint Supervision - FAST, Fostering REG 24 SGO

Joint Supervision – FAST CiC Fostering Adoption

Joint Supervision – FAST CWD EH F4Me

4.2.4 Group Supervision

Group supervision may be considered to encourage practitioners to reflect on practice and how attitudes, approaches and skills affect the relationships they have with both service users and colleagues. This may involve working through the values and principles and giving examples of how these principles have been applied in practice. Examples may relate to professionalism, conduct and confidentiality.

Teams may wish to make records of the group's supervision as a resource for future group supervision sessions.

Vision of Group Supervision

The logic within group supervision is to 'slow the thinking down'. This enables the following:

• Creating and building a shared, structured, collective team and agency learning culture and enable a safe process for thinking through cases using the Signs of Safety approach which is Lincolnshire's overarching framework;
• Enable workers to explore each other's cases, bringing their best thinking, including alternative perspectives, and to do this without getting caught in one or two people dominating or the group telling the practitioner whose case it is what they must do;
• Develop a shared practice of bringing a questioning approach to casework rather than trying to arrive at answers.

A brief overview of the vision and purpose of 'Group Supervision', 'Setting the stall to a safe environment to learn and support the children, families and their networks in Lincolnshire' is available within the suite of Signs of Safety documents located under the Children's Services Hub Lincs2Learn. In addition an 'Ideas for Group Supervision Template' considers the EARS approach to supporting Group Supervision is also available within the Lincs2Learn Hub.

4.2.5 Peer Group Supervision

Peer Group Supervision is an effective form of leaderless peer group discussions. Team members confer with one another by reciprocating key topics of their professional everyday lives, in order to provide solutions for difficult situations with colleagues. The participants learn better ways to manage professional problems and offers new ideas and support. This results in the group members' increased professionalism within their work environments.

4.3 Personal/One to One Supervision

Personal/One to One supervision is the opportunity for supervisors/managers and staff members to:

• Spend dedicated time ensuring that the member of staff understands the role to which they are appointed to;
• Give time and space to ensure that the supervisor can hear of any issues both personal and professional which are affecting the member of staff within the post held, and ensures support is in place. For example this would include agreeing leave arrangements or hearing about health and wellbeing difficulties, or problems in the workplace;
• Give and receive constructive feedback this incudes focusing on individual strengths;
• Give and receive clear direction around tasks and work planning, and for the employer and organisation to provide support including ensuring that lieu time arrangements are agreed;
• Jointly review training and development needs and agree how these needs will be met. The training and developments 'needs' are to be explicit to ensure excellent practice standards for the child and family and to ensure the qualified social workers, will meet the NAAS (National Assessment and Accreditation System);
• Provide a forum in which performance concerns are identified and plans formulated to improve performance and monitor such plans;
• Provide a basis for the collection of evidence for the annual appraisal of staff for both parties, with particular reference to training, learning and development needs, please refer to the Performance and Development Appraisal Policy;
• Provides an opportunity to review workers current case load and ensures that this is within the individuals' professional competency and capacity. This should be balanced against the demands of the case load at that point. Case load management is a fluid dynamic process.

4.3.1 Newly Qualified Social Workers only

During the Assessed and Supported Year of Employment (ASYE), the supervision for newly qualified social workers will be tailored to their needs, but there will be increased supervision alongside protected time dedicated to learning and development. Newly Qualified Social Workers will also have a reduced case load.

When supervising newly qualified social workers, team managers and supervisors must refer to Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) Booklet and any other related ASYE documents (see also Casework Procedures for Children's Social Care Supervised Student).

4.4 Frequency of Personal/One to One Supervision

At the beginning of a supervisory relationship the supervisor and supervisee should complete a 'Personal Supervision Agreement' - see Appendix A: Personal Supervision Agreement (also located in Local Resources/Forms - All Children Supervision Policy).

Supervision should be booked in as detailed below using electronic booking arrangements wherever possible, and should be planned so that both parties are aware of the dates for the year ahead:

• Four weekly for any member of staff with case holding responsibilities and their line managers;
• Up to eight weekly for staff without case holding responsibilities;
• Twelve weekly for non-frontline staff (e.g. Business Support).

Newly appointed or newly qualified staff, or staff in their probationary period, are likely to require more frequent supervision and supervisors should take care to agree frequency in the early months of appointment and review thereafter.

4.5 Supervision Standards

Within the 'Post-qualifying standard: Knowledge and skills statements (KSS) for child and family practice supervisors'; it is a requirement that the practice supervisor will be able to develop excellent practitioners to include Continuous Professional Development.

Within the 'Post-qualifying standard: Knowledge and skills statements for child and family practitioners'; a child and family social worker should be able to meet the standards within the KSS, to include the role of supervision. 'To recognise their own professional limitations and how and when to seek advice from practice supervisors'.

Therefore, the supervision standards include as a minimum:

• Supervisors to undertake supervision training to ensure they are confident and competent in the delivery of supervision and the application of the supervision procedure (as outlined in the KSS Accreditation);
• Supervisees to be clear about their role in the supervision sessions and the application of the supervision procedure;
• 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;
• The 'Personal Supervision Agreement' - see Appendix A: Personal Supervision Agreement (also located in Local Resources/Forms - All Children Supervision Policy) will be completed, agreed, and signed at the start of the supervision relationship (this would be part of the induction process between both parties;
• Practitioners are required to prepare for supervision by identifying areas for discussions in advance and bringing any necessary documentation to the meeting (as outlined in [Standard 9] The role of Supervision: KSS Accreditation); Names or personal details of clients will not be recorded within personal supervision notes; for case supervision any names or personal details of clients will be recorded directly on to MOSAIC on the child's file;
•  Any conduct or practice development actions should be recorded together with proposed activities to support the supervisee to meet the required practice or professional standard;
• Practice Observation for Practitioners and Supervisors should be recorded using the Practice Observation Template. Please refer to Appendix C: Practice Observation. The completed templates should be stored locally and to be made available as evidence for their professional development.

4.6 Social Worker Career Progression Pathway

Lincolnshire County Council is committed to developing the careers of all staff and it recognises that Continued Professional Development (CPD) for Qualified Social Workers is critical in facilitating progression and enabling them to take on increased levels of professional responsibility within their role.

With the introduction of the Governments National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS) the Career Progression 'offer' and pathway for Qualified Social Workers working for Lincolnshire County Council has been redesigned to incorporate the Knowledge and Skills Statements (KSS) and assessment process introduced as part of the NAAS.

Please see:

Social Worker Career Progression Pathways for Level 2 FAST and CWD

Social Worker Career Progression Pathways for Level 2 Regulated

4.7 Recording of Personal/One to One Supervision

All individual supervision meetings will be recorded using the 'Personal/One to One Supervision Meeting Record' - see Appendix B: Personal/One to One Supervision Meeting Record (also located in Local Resources/Forms - All Children Supervision Policy). One electronic copy will be provided to the supervisee and a copy retained by the supervisor.

4.7.1 Recording that a supervision session has taken place

Supervisors/managers should ensure that a record of the date the personal/One to One supervision took place is recorded on BWoN.

4.8 Confidentiality and Retention

Electronic records should be e-mailed to the supervisee to give the supervisee an opportunity to comment and make amendments made as required. The e-mail trail will serve in lieu of a signature (any hard copies should be kept secure and confidential and adhere to the Lincolnshire County Council's Data Protection Policy).

There are circumstances where it may be necessary for supervisors to discuss information gained from supervision with senior managers. Supervision records may be released for the purpose of monitoring the quality of supervision, for Ofsted inspections or used as documentation in disciplinary or legal proceedings. Supervision records are the property of Children's Services. Where issues of a personal nature, to the member of staff, are contained within a supervision record, the confidentiality of such material should be protected in line with the UK GDPR & Data Protection Act 2018. For further information please refer to the County Council's Information and Data Policy and Guidance.

The principle of confidentiality within supervision does not exclude the supervisor or supervisee from their responsibilities under Lincolnshire County Council Professional Code 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. Case Supervision

Case supervision is undertaken on those cases where the supervisee has been allocated a referral and/or piece of work to be completed. The supervisee may be the Key Social Worker, Lead Professional or be providing a service as part of the plan and/or Team Around the Child. Case supervision provides the supervisor and through this the organisation with oversight of casework.

Where one or more members of staff are jointly working with a family, joint supervision may be beneficial.

Case Supervision will be recorded using the CS Case Supervision Recording Form on MOSAIC. The supervisor will ensure that if the Record has not been completed during the supervision session, the completed Record is placed on MOSAIC within 72 hours or sooner.

5.1 Frequency of Case Supervision

In all cases it is the responsibility of the supervisee to bring to the attention of the supervisor any significant changes in circumstances where frequency of supervisions may need to be increased or an 'ad hoc discussion or decision' may be required (see also Section 4.2.2, Ad Hoc/Informal Discussion or Decisions).

In all cases it is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure that a worker's full case load has the appropriate level of supervision and that every case is supervised and case supervision recorded on MOSAIC at least once within each eight week period. Or Once within each 4 week period where the worker being supervised is the key worker/lead professional for the family.

In addition to formal case supervision, 'Ad Hoc' case discussions, Allocation discussions and 10/20 day discussions will also constitute as a Case Supervision. These discussions should also be recorded within the case supervision form on MOSAIC.

Case Supervision should take place as a minimum as detailed below, however frequency can be increased at the supervisor's discretion or the request of the supervisee depending on complexity of the case, level of risk and experience of the worker involved:

Caption: level of risk and experience

5.1.1	All cases should be discussed within supervision within four weeks of allocation or transfer of Keyworker, a recorded allocation discussion within the supervision workflow on MOSAIC will also constitute as a Case Supervision;
5.1.2	Where a child is the subject of a 'Child Protection' plan the Keyworker should receive case supervision on a four weekly basis (minimum frequency);
5.1.3	Where a child is the subject to a 'Child and Family Plan' the Keyworker should receive case supervision on a four weekly basis (minimum frequency);
5.1.4	Where a child is 'Looked After' the key worker should receive case supervision on a minimum of an eight weekly basis, (four weekly until permanency plan agreed);
5.1.5	Where a child is the subject of a 'Team Around the Child' plan the Lead Professional should receive case load supervision on a four weekly basis (minimum frequency);
5.1.6	Where a member of staff is involved in any of the above cases (but not as Keyworker or Lead Professional) or supporting a family or young person as a 'single agency involvement' cases should be discussed within four weeks of allocation and then as a minimum every eight weeks. However the frequency of case supervision may be increased at the workers request or at the manager's discretion. For timescales for Independent Chair Supervision please refer to The Role and Expectations of the Independent Reviewing Officers Procedure.
5.1.7	In any one year (April 1st - 31st March) the supervisor should arrange to undertake two practice observations for all case holding staff, some examples of which may include a home visit, presentation at conference/meeting, attendance at Court or direct work with families. For the Practice Observation of Practitioners, the observation should be recorded on the Practice Observation Template (see Appendix C: Practice Observation Form). Completed templates should be stored locally and to made available for case holding staff as evidence for their CPD and KSS.

Further management oversight will be achieved through case conferences, support panels and case file audits. These arrangements provide increased focus on early help ensuring TAC cases where Children's Services staff hold lead professional responsibility are regularly supervised to ensure progress on improving outcomes, provide challenge and leadership and prevent drift. All staff are responsible for highlighting changes in circumstances or other concerns which increase risk through ad hoc/informal case discussions with their line manager and in these circumstances should not wait for case supervision. The Case Manager will record these discussions as a Case Supervision within the supervision workflow on MOSAIC. Discussions and decisions held with supervisors between planned case supervision meetings should be recorded in MOSAIC. For further guidance, please see Appendix D: Supervision Flowchart.

5.2 Case Supervision Objectives

The objectives of case supervision, based upon Signs of Safety, is to improve outcomes for children and to develop excellent practitioners by meeting the Knowledge and Skills Statements for Child & Family Practitioners & Practice Supervisors:

Caption: Knowledge and Skills Statements for Child & Family Practitioners & Practice Supervisors

5.2.1	Enabling 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 to the child and family (Knowledge and Skills Statement KSS 2);
5.2.2	Identifying and enabling clear and effective management of risk. (Risks to child, family, staff member, and organisation);
5.2.3	Enabling targets and objectives to be agreed and outcomes to be monitored in relation to specific cases or roles (including allocation records);
5.2.4	Establishing a clear understanding of accountability;
5.2.5	Being challenging and inquisitive as to the progress and management of the case, taking responsibility for ensuring progress is achieved in order to assist the child to reach his or her potential, and relating to Signs of Safety Assessment and Planning;
5.2.6	Facilitating reflective practice, using the 'Reflective Supervision Tools' (please refer to Section 5.3, Facilitating Reflective Practice);
5.2.7	Ensuring that recording on the child's record is child centred with information governance and records management policy, procedure and guidance (KSS7);
5.2.8	Identifying how issues which impede the effectiveness of intervention and delivery of service can be resolved;
5.2.9	Confirming that the welfare of the child is paramount and that their wishes, views and feelings have been ascertained, taken into consideration and recorded;
5.2.10	Ensuring that you are working with findings to ensure that the parent(s)/carer(s) views have been sought, taken into consideration and recorded;
5.2.11	Evidencing that the child's voice has been heard and consistently listened to, ensuring the child's journey has been tracked and wherever possible that the child has contributed to the assessment, planning, review and decision making;
5.2.12	Ensuring that the provision of services promotes the ethnic, cultural, racial, gender, religious, identity and language needs of the child and family;
5.2.13	Reviewing and monitoring workload management to identify if the supervisee has adequate time and knowledge to meet the needs of the case (KSS8).

5.3 Facilitating Reflective Practice

See also: The Reflective Supervision: Resource Pack.

The Resource Pack comprises of a suite of 25 tools designed to help practice supervisors and supervisees to build and develop reflective supervision in Children's Services.

Reflective supervision is above all a learning process in which the supervisor engages with the supervisee to:

• Explore a supervisee's practice and factors influencing their practice responses (including emotions, assumptions, power relations and the wider social context);
• Develop a shared understanding of the knowledge base informing their analysis and the limitations of their thinking; and
• Use this understanding to inform next steps.
  
  (rip Reflective supervision: Resource Pack, 2017)

5.3.1 Six principles of reflective supervision

1. To deepen and broaden workers' knowledge and critical analysis skills;
2. To enable confident, competent, creative and independent decision-making;
3. To help workers build clear plans that seek to enable positive change for children and families;
4. To develop a relationship that helps staff feel valued, supported and motivated;
5. To support the development of workers' emotional resilience and self-awareness;
6. To promote the development of a learning culture within the organisation.

5.3.2 The Supervisor as learning facilitator

The supervisor's role in facilitating reflective learning is critical. The Knowledge and Skills Statement for Practice Supervisors sets out the skills needed for 'developing excellent practitioners'. Practice supervisors should:

• 'Facilitate use of the best evidence to devise effective interventions';
• 'Recognise the strengths and development needs of practitioners';
• 'Use practice observation, reflection and feedback mechanisms, including the views of children and families, to develop practice';
• 'Develop a culture of learning and improvement, where staff are sufficiently stretched and mentored to meet their aspirations';
• 'Recognise when the role of Practice Supervisor is to teach and when it would be more effective to draw on practitioners' own knowledge'. (DfE, 2015).

5.4 Recording of Case Supervision

The case supervision record is evidence that there has been supervisory oversight and endorsement of the practice, quality, decisions and service. This is important for case audits, Serious Case Reviews/Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, management performance information, case load management, appraisals and service user access to records.

Case supervision must be recorded on the supervision workflow on MOSAIC. The expected standard is that the case supervision is recorded on MOSAIC at the time of the supervision meeting. If this is impossible the supervisor should record on MOSAIC within 72 hours (three working days). For the Youth Offending Service, case supervision should be recorded on Childview.

Any conduct or practice development actions should be recorded together with proposed activities to support the supervisee to meet the required practice or professional standard. Conduct and Practice issues may be recorded within the supervisee’s professional supervision record where appropriate.

At the subsequent case supervision meeting the supervisor will check the contents of the last 'case supervision' on MOSAIC and review with the practitioner, confirming if the tasks were completed and cross referencing with evidence on the child's MOSAIC file.

5.5 Confidentiality and Retention

All MOSAIC records, including 'case supervision' notes and 'case discussion and decision notes' are the child's record, and care should be taken to ensure that written records are clear, and written with the knowledge that service users may wish to access records. A MOSAIC record is a history of a child's journey.

The principle of confidentiality within case supervision does not exclude the supervisor or supervisee from their responsibilities under Lincolnshire County Council Professional Code of Conduct. Should evidence of misconduct, unsafe or illegal practice arise, the supervisee is encouraged to report them to a senior manager, but if this does not occur, the supervisor should do so.

6. Annual Performance Appraisal

Managers and staff Children's Services are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care. Lincolnshire County Council Performance and Development Appraisals give individuals and their manager an opportunity to review performance what we do (our objectives) and how we do it (our behaviours). Our objectives and development plan help us to focus on what we need to achieve personally as part of our teams, as part of our services and ultimately as an important part of Lincolnshire County Council.

All staff will be involved in the formal appraisal process, which encourages continuous professional development and the annual appraisal is integral to achieve this. The appraisal will be informed by the outcomes of supervision activities and will focus on:

• Maintaining high quality service delivery and excellent practice;
• Staff Support and Learning and Development needs to compliment the KSS standards;
• The Importance of Practice Observation (where applicable) to improve practice;
• Ensuring compliance with corporate policies, procedures and statutory responsibilities.

For further guidance please refer to 'Lincolnshire County Council's Performance and Development Appraisal Policy'.

Appendices

Appendix A: Personal Supervision Agreement

Appendix B: Personal/One to One Supervision Meeting Record

Appendix C: Practice Observation Form

Appendix D: Supervision Flowchart