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It is becoming increasingly difficult to help children in need. Schools and early years settings are finding it harder than ever to navigate their way around systems and to receive appropriate responses from services, including those that have statutory responsibilities to intervene to protect children. While the overall number of children in need has remained relatively stable over the past seven years, the number of children on child protection plans has increased by 23 per cent since 2010. The number of referrals has also increased by 7 per cent in the same period – by an extra 40,000 cases to 646,000 in 2017. A referral is made to children’s social care every 49 seconds, according to the latest DfE statistics for children aged up to 18. Domestic violence is a factor identified in half of all cases for children in need.
The extent to which these cases include children aged under six is significant – 25 per cent of children in need are under four, including unborn children. In terms of child protection plans, a 2015/16 study looked at 132 councils across the UK and found that a fifth of all children on these are now aged under one.
Against this background, early help services have been decimated in some parts of the country. Spending on early interventions, such as Sure Start and young people’s services, has been cut by around 60 per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2016-17, according to analysis last month by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Councils now don’t have enough money to meet their statutory duties to children, said two-thirds of councillors responsible for children’s services in an NCB survey last year.
Politicians themselves have concluded that social care’s position has become one of ‘reacting later rather than responding sooner’ and ‘fewer resources are allocated for early intervention and prevention, including support for families’, according to the No Good Options report on the inquiry into children’s social care in England led by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children. The report also acknowledges a ‘shift towards late intervention where needs have often escalated before any support is put in place’.
It is a simple calculation – less early intervention equals more need later; only later, the needs have often reached crisis point. In the language of thresholds, this usually means that problems escalate from early help to either child in need or higher – to that of child protection. As someone who spent 13 years of my career developing Sure Start children’s centres and early help services, I find it very difficult not to say ‘we told you so’ to local authorities which decided to reduce services that intervened early in the life of children and families.
EARLY YEARS IMPACT
Against the backdrop of cuts to services, social care seems to be raising the level of their threshold or redefining the criteria in order for a referral to be actioned. Less support is offered at ‘child in need’ level: while there are more referrals, the number of overall children in need has remained fairly static over the past seven years, with more child protection cases (see above), and section 47 enquiries, when the local authority identifies that there is a reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm (an increase of 8 per cent between 2014-15 and 2015-16). Early years services are one of those picking up the shortfall that was once addressed by early help services, namely children’s centres and social care.
One local authority I work with has asked settings what their experiences with social care teams are. It showed some practitioners felt undervalued by social care in that their role was not always seen with such relevance as others working in the multi-agency arena. This was further supported by experiences such as poor or non-sharing of information. Settings not being informed by social care that a child attending their nursery was on a child protection plan is also common. Information-sharing still features high on the list of common issues, which means settings may not have information about parents disallowed contact with children because they pose a risk to them, including a known history of violence or substance abuse. Another reoccurring theme was social care not always giving feedback after referrals had been made or not getting back to the setting when advice or information was required.
On a positive note, one setting told of how after a referral to social care, it was invited to an emergency strategy meeting and was further engaged to support the child along with early help interventions. All who took part in the consultation understood the procedure to escalate a concern and knew how to do this if they were unhappy with others’ judgments.
This local authority also has a member of staff who visits early years settings to support them further with referral and engagement, which is innovative and unusual.
At a glance
- There has been increasing demand for services over the past seven years, while spending on early interventions, such as Sure Start and young people’s services, has been cut by around 60 per cent over the past seven years.
- This means we are seeing a national shift to later intervention, when needs are often higher.
- Early years are thus increasingly on the front line.
- Local authorities interpret their role as referrer and advisor differently, meaning in some areas you can have a professional discussion about referring a child, and others you just have to refer, or not.
BERTRAM NURSERY GROUP: working across local authorities
Bertram Nursery Group is a chain of 37 nurseries operating in Scotland and the North West of England. Its 14 nurseries in the North West cover ten local authorities. Ursula Krystek-Walton, early years regional manager, and Sarah Dee, regional operations manager, say many of the North West settings are in areas of high deprivation.
Ms Krystek-Walton says while there were examples of good partnership working in a number of their social care relationships, the main concerns focused on the inconsistencies between local authorities. She says, ‘Responses from one local authority can be very different. The same kind of themes and circumstances reported to one social care team will be received and responded to very differently from another’ – even when the setting uses local authority thresholds to guide its judgements. She adds, ‘Sometimes when we call social care we just want a professional discussion with them to help us come to a conclusion, but some social care teams won’t do this, they tell us you’re either making a referral or you’re not.’ This response is really unhelpful and can depend upon whom you speak to and what their understanding of their role is as both referrer and/or advisor, she adds.
Inconsistencies from social care staff with whom settings engage is another factor, including the fact that local authority designated officers (LADOs) are not always available. Ms Krystek-Walton says, ‘Some LADOs go above and beyond their role, but others we can’t even get hold of, and sometimes when we do their advice is inconsistent.’ This potentially could compromise settings’ policies or procedures if engagement on important issues, such as reporting to the LADO, are not responded to in a timely manner.
Ms Dee explains that in the case of some vulnerable children, where ‘intense support is needed and this often requires us to give one-to-one support from staff’, less support from statutory services ultimately has to result in extra pressures being placed upon them. On a positive note, both managers believe that less support, although desirable, has led them to strengthen skills and develop strategies within their own organisation.