The Corporate Parenting Board met to discuss advocacy services, the annual reports of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) and the Virtual School, and future meeting arrangements.

Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Annual Report

The board was scheduled to discuss the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Annual Report 2024/25, which captures the performance, feedback, and next steps of the IRO Service in Worcestershire.

The report highlights several key aspects of the IRO Service:

• Workforce and Management: The IRO service has a team of 14 IROs with a wealth of knowledge and experience. The service is at full establishment, providing consistency and stability for children who are looked after[^2]. All IROs receive bi-monthly supervision and complete an individual diagnostic tool before supervision. [^2]: Children who are looked after are children who are in the care of the local authority.

• Quality Assurance: The report details the systems in place to assure the quality of the IRO service's work, including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), service user feedback, and audits.

  • KPIs: In 2024/2025, 92% of all reviews were held in time, a slight decrease from 95% the previous year. The report notes that there was a dip in quarter 4 due to staff changes and sickness, as well as an increase in requests to change looked after review dates.
  • Children's Participation and Attendance: In 2024/2025, 97% of children participated in reviews, but only 67% attended. The Review Record has been amended for IROs to explicitly record whether a child has attended their meeting or not and to provide additional narrative as to how they were supported to contribute to their meeting.
  • Parental Attendance at Looked After Reviews: An audit was undertaken in Quarter 2 2024/2025 to review the strengths and further areas of learning & development regarding parental engagement. On average in the year 24/25, 55% of parents attended reviews, and this remains a focus for the service to improve this figure.
  • IRO Direct Contact: In the year 2024/2025, IROs completed 1752 direct contacts, with another 205 to be added from 24-25 where the minutes are not yet due, bringing the total to 1912 direct contacts.

• Service User Feedback: The IRO service is changing the way it approaches feedback from children and young people, moving away from surveys and towards more natural conversations during IRO visits or in the child's looked after review.

• Audit Activity: The IRO service completed 58 mid-way audits in 2024/2025. The report also includes a summary of targeted audits, including one on parental attendance and another on the review of permanency for children.

• Dispute Resolution Process (DRP) & Practice Acknowledgements: The report notes that a crucial role of the IRO is to quality assure the work of the Local Authority, and if a concern arises, the Dispute Resolution Process is initiated. In 2024/2025, there were 25 informal and 43 formal DRPs. Over the year, a total of 76 practice acknowledgements were given by IROs.

• Post-18 Reviews: In the 12 weeks before a young person turns 18, the IRO will undertake a Post 18 Needs Assessment. Across 2024/2025, 144 young people who were looked after turned 18 and had a Post-18 Needs Assessment, and 7 young people gave their consent to a Post-18 Review.

Worcestershire Virtual School Annual Report

The Corporate Parenting Board was scheduled to note and comment on the Worcestershire Virtual School Annual Report 2023/24. The role of Virtual Schools is to promote the education of children and young people (in care, previously in care and those with a social worker) in order that they have the highest aspirations, best possible educational experience and the very best outcomes. Worcestershire's annual report was praised in the May 2023 ILACS inspection for its structure and content. Matthew Stiles, Education Engagement Lead & Virtual School Headteacher, was listed as a contact point for the report.

Children and Parent Advocacy Services and Independent Visitors

The agenda included an item on Children and Parent Advocacy Services and Independent Visitors, but no further details were provided in the report pack.

Work Plan

The board was scheduled to note its future work programme and consider whether there are any matters it would wish to be incorporated. The work programme included:

• 7 October 2025: Care Leaver Annual Report and Participation Annual Report
• 19 November 2025: CPB Annual Report
• 27 January 2026
• 7 May 2026

Other Items

The agenda also included items for apologies and confirmation of the minutes from the meeting held on 28 January 2025¹. There was also an item for discussion on future Board meeting arrangements.