01: Executive summary
Context In the context of multiple major national policy reforms, England’s multi-agency children’s services ‘ecosystem’ (spanning education, health care providers, local authorities, the voluntary sector, and other partners) has a significant opportunity to transform how support is provided to children and their families. A particular focus of these reforms is on services becoming more preventative, including: • Primary prevention: ensuring additional needs never arise. • Secondary prevention: ensuring that additional needs are quickly met at the earliest point before further escalation. • Tertiary prevention: ensuring that additional needs are de-escalated as quickly and effectively as possible after a crisis. To successfully join up the delivery of these multiple reforms at a local level, and to maximise the opportunity to deliver improved services for families, the system needs to navigate challenges in the detail of day-to- day service delivery, which will not be defined at a policy or reform level. These challenges span increasing need; constrained finances and resources; ongoing structural reform, in particular Local Government Reorganisation (LGR); system-wide practice; operations; workforce (including the workforce implications of LGR); digital systems and more. Overcoming these will be critical to ensuring that the various policy initiatives underway deliver what they are designed to achieve: better outcomes for children, young people, and families alongside a more financially sustainable system. Within this context, the costs associated with providing homes for children in care represent an increasing challenge for local authorities.
Over the past decade, the number of children in the care of county and CCN unitary member authorities has increased by 29% v . In parallel, county authority expenditure on children in care has increased by 240% – from £1.3bn to £3.2bn vi . Whilst not analysed in this programme, extensive work is underway locally and nationally to seek to address increasing unit costs, including through the work of new Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs). This context raises an important question: how can these opportunities presented be maximised, and the challenges overcome, to best support children and young people at risk of entering or in the care system, by creating a system even more anchored in This work, delivered in partnership by the Society of County Treasurers (SCT), the County Councils Network (CCN), and Newton, aims to provide an evidence base illustrating which features of the multi-agency ‘ecosystem’ should be prioritised across the delivery of the current reforms for one particular cohort of children: those who interact with the care system. It is the first phase of a longer programme of work to support more effective prevention for this group. Whilst comprising less than 1% of England’s child population, children in care represent one of the most vulnerable and complex cohorts, and outcomes for them should be prioritised through any changes introduced through reform. The decision to take a child into care is one of last resort and often follows a history of multiple, individualised attempts to support the family, across different agencies within the children’s services system. It is important to recognise that, for some children, this is ultimately the option that most effectively keeps them safe and delivers the best long- term outcomes. prevention and reconnection? Objectives of the programme
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