1. Children’s services – Data mapping tool Working version

2. Number of children Severity of need Cost 64,400 looked after children Figures are for 2009-10 unless otherwise indicated 607,500 referrals to social services (prov.) CAF – estimated 90,000 initiated during 2009 3,200 children adopted Edge of care Children around the threshold Universal Services Social Care System National picture of children in the system

3. Introductory notes  The data mapping tool is being developed to help authorities understand their data and the movement of children through different areas of children’s services. It is based on the ‘wedge diagram’, which represents the movement of children and young people through children’s services as their needs increase. The diagram identifies the ‘churn points’ throughout the system, where children are moving back and forth between different populations e.g. from the general population to becoming a child in need, and where authorities may be able to act differently in a more cost-effective way and improve children’s outcomes.  The tool can help individual authorities to paint a picture of their local area and give an indication of where efforts could be concentrated to intervene differently in a more cost-effective way. Following a small trial with seven local authorities, this working version of the data mapping tool is now available for use. Further work will take place to respond to the feedback received, including the addition of a short section on costs. The data that is shown is not an exhaustive list and can of course be supplemented by other local data.  Nationally and locally available data can only tell part of the story of a local area. There are other areas that will impact on cost effectiveness and outcomes that cannot be set out within this tool, such as the role of commissioning and multi-agency working, and the tool currently does not explicitly consider outcomes. There may also be a role for considering individual pathways for children moving through the care system alongside the overview this tool provides.  We recognise that understanding the data is only the first stage to improving cost effectiveness and the wider work on cost effective children’s services, as well as other resources such as those available on the C4EO website, will start to identify possible solutions.

4. Outline of the questions to be addressed The following slides take this ‘wedge diagram and initially look at the local population as a whole before focusing on each section in turn. 1)Snapshot of the local population -What characteristics does your local population exhibit? -How many children are receiving interventions at different points through the children’s services system? 2)Universal services including schools and health settings, early intervention and use of CAF -What risk factors are prevalent in the population? -Which children are pushing up against the system but then coming back? And should they be? While it is not possible to predict precisely which children will require additional support at some time in their childhood, there are different risk factors that can indicate vulnerability in a population. For an individual child, often it will be the cumulative effect of a number of risk factors, rather than a particular risk factor on its own, that creates the need for additional support. 3)Contacts and Referrals, ‘Front door practice’ -Who is coming through the front door? -What is happening to them then? How many have been seen previously? It is important to identify the movement of children coming through the ‘front door’ of children’s social care and where they go after this given the resource implications this has. 4)Interventions with children on the edge of care and their families -Which children are headed into care? -Can we do more to stop this? 5)Care proceedings, care placements and adoption / special guardianship -Are children who need to go into care getting there as quickly as possible? -Are the children who can come out of care being helped to do this as quickly and as effectively as possible? 6)Looked after children -What does the looked after children population look like? -What movement is happening throughout this population? Spending on looked after children accounts for around half of the children’s services budget nationally. Therefore it is important to have a clear picture of the movements of these children and the interventions they receive to help improve outcomes and reduce costs.

5. 1. Snapshot of the local population - introduction 1)Snapshot of the local population -What characteristics does your local population exhibit? -How many children are receiving services at different points through the care pathway?

6. Number of children Cost Number of looked after children Number of children in need Number of 0-19 year olds Population characteristics: Disability SEN No. of single parent families Free school meals NEETs Teen pregnancies Number of referrals to social services Number of children adopted Population characteristics: Age Primary need No. subject to a child protection plan Age breakdown Disability [Covered in diagram 5 below] Number of children subject to CPP Population characteristics: Age Service provision Category of abuse Service provider Unaccompanied asylum seeking children 1. Snapshot of the local population Severity of need No. of families claiming benefits BME groups Number of children in special guardianship

7. Service provision for children subject to CPP - Family support (s. 17) - s. 24 “leaving care” support - Adoption support - Residence order payments - Special guardianship support services - Other care and accommodation - Disabled children’s services - Aids and adaptations 1. Snapshot of the local population – data Primary need of children in need - Abuse or neglect - Child’s disability or illness - Parental disability or illness - Family in acute distress - Family dysfunction - Socially unacceptable behaviour - Low income - Absent parenting - Cases other than children in need Data breakdowns Category of abuse for children subject to CPP -Neglect - Physical abuse - Sexual abuse - Emotional abuse - Multiple / not recommended Throughout the slides, data that is currently supplied to the Department for Education (DfE) is shown in darker blue, and other data and information that local authorities may have but do not report back to central government is shown in the lighter shade. Much of the existing data will have been supplied for returns on children in need and looked after children, through SSDA903 and the Children in Need (CiN) Census. The slides also include other sources of data, for example data collected by the DfE through the school census and data included on the FIPs information system. More recent data on children who have come into contact with children’s services is currently being collected and published by the department through the 2009-10 CiN census. This includes more child-level information than has previously been available, such as how many children are experiencing repeat referrals. Therefore, the returns for this census from an authority can help to populate a number of the categories included here.

8. 1b. Snapshot of the local population – context Age breakdown Data should be available locally Disability and SENData supplied to DfE for the school census Nationally, 20% of pupils have SEN. 2% of pupils have statements of SEN. No. of single parent familiesData may be available locally No. of families claiming benefitsData may be known locally and is available on the DWP statistics website BME groupsData may be available locally Free school mealsData supplied to DfE for the school census Nationally, in 2009, 16.0% of pupils in nursery and primary schools were known to be eligible for free school meals (ranging from 4.2% to 47.5% across authorities, and 13.4% in secondary schools (with a range of 3.7% to 55.7%). NEETsReported in DfE SFR 12/2009 Provisional figures find 9.2 per cent of young people were not in education, employment or training at the end of 2009. Teen pregnanciesONS statistics In 2008, there were 40.5 under-18 conceptions per 1,000 female population aged 15-17. Across authorities, the range is 12.7 to 71.5. Unaccompanied asylum seeking childrenData on asylum seeking children supplied to DfE Unaccompanied asylum seeking children are not spread evenly over the country. Instead, they will form an element of the looked after children population in certain local authorities. Age Data supplied to DfE for the CiN census DfE’s statistical publication Referrals, assessments and children who were the subject of a child protection plan (Children in Need census – provisional) year ending 31 March 2010 contains national information on these factors. Further data from the CiN census will be published in November. Disability Primary need No. subject to child protection plan Unaccompanied asylum seeking children Age Data supplied to DfE for the CiN census DfE’s statistical publication Referrals, assessments and children who were the subject of a child protection plan (Children in Need census – provisional) year ending 31 March 2010 contains national information on these factors. Category of abuse Service provision Data not supplied nationally but available at local authority level These two categories should paint a picture of the range of services provided to the children in need population and who provides these services e.g. LA, voluntary sector etc. Service provider 0-19s population Children in Need Children subject to CPP

9. Number of children Cost Severity of need Universal Services including schools and health settings, Early Intervention and use of CAF Contacts and Referrals, ‘Front door practice’ Interventions with the children on the edge of care and their families Care proceedings, care placements and adoption / special guardianship The following slides cover…

10. 2. Universal Services, Early Intervention and the CAF 2)Universal services including schools and health settings, early intervention and use of CAF -What risk factors are prevalent in the population? -Which children are pushing up against the system but then coming back? And should they be? While it is not possible to predict precisely which children will require additional support at some time in their childhood, there are different risk factors that can indicate vulnerability in a population. All of the risk factors listed overleaf, as well as others, have the potential to create additional needs. For an individual child, often it will be the cumulative effect of a number of risk factors, rather than a particular risk factor on its own, that creates the need for additional support. Combining available data for the area with local knowledge of families can help authorities target these families before they move towards the right hand side of the wedge, improving cost-effectiveness as well as leading to better outcomes for the children and families involved. Using multi-agency local intelligence, local authorities can begin to identify their top 100 families in need.

11. 2. Universal services including schools and health settings, Early Intervention and use of CAF Children just below the threshold of a referral to social care How many children with referrals resulting in no further action? How many may return? How many CAFs are completed? Risk factors Multiple fixed term exclusions Permanent exclusions Persistence absence Children involved in gangs / knife crime / youth violence Children subject to / breaching an ASBO Young people identified as at risk of offending Children in a family experiencing domestic violence Children with parent in treatment for drug / alcohol misuse Children with parent / sibling in or returning from prison Children identified through operation stay safe or removed from dispersal zone Children at risk / subject to violence in the home Children referred for treatment for drug / alcohol misuse Teenagers about to and who have just become parents Children with parents with learning disabilities Homeless children Which services are initiating CAFs?

12. 2. Universal Services, Early Intervention and the CAF – context Multiple fixed term exclusions c. 79,000 multiple fixed term exclusions per academic year c. 8,000 permanent exclusions per academic year c. 233,000 pupils who are persistently absent per academic year DfE publishes local authority level data on fixed term and permanent exclusions and persistence absence. Figures for multiple fixed term exclusions are not published but may be known within authorities. Permanent exclusions Persistence absence Children involved in gangs / knife crime / youth violence c. 40,000 per year nationally; 74,000 young people received their first reprimand, warning or conviction in 2008-09. Children subject to / breaching an ASBO c. 400 children are subject to an ASBO each year, and around 130 of these are breached Young people identified as at risk of offending c. 20,000 young people identified each year, mainly through the Youth Inclusion Programme and Youth Inclusion and Support Panels Children with parent or sibling in or returning from prison c. 160,000 children with a parent in prison at any given time Children identified from operation stay safe or removed from dispersal zone c. 3,000 per year nationally Children in a family experiencing domestic violence Nationally, 750,000 children are estimated to witness domestic violence each year Children with parent in treatment for drug / alcohol misuse Estimated that up to 350,000 children may be affected by this nationally Children at risk / subject to violence in the home At 31 March 2009, 123,800 children were at risk of abuse or neglect Children referred for drug / alcohol treatment 6,000 children under 16 are admitted to hospital each year due to alcohol Teenagers just about to or who have become parents c. 45,000 per year Children with parents with learning disabilities Estimated 53,000 in total Homeless children Estimated that nationally 90,000 children are in temporary accommodation How many CAFs are completed? Information on CAFs is not collected nationally. However, it is estimated that roughly 90,000 CAFs were initiated in 2009. Which services are initiating CAFs? How many children with referrals resulting in no further action? Provisional figures for the year ending 31 March 2010 show that 607,500 referrals were made and 390,600 initial assessments were carried out How many may return? For the year ending 31 March 2009, 123,900 of the 547,000 referrals were within 12 months of a previous referral Risk factors Children just below the threshold

13. 3. Contacts and Referrals 3) Contacts and Referrals, ‘Front door practice’ -Who is coming through the front door? -What is happening to them then? How many have been seen previously? An area of particular pressure for children’s services is the ‘front door’, where often children will be entering for the first time through an authority’s contacts and referrals processes. It is important to identify the movement of children coming through the ‘front door’ of children’s services and where they go after this before considering the resource implications this has. Particular pressure can arise here from re-referrals, those children who may have received no further intervention following a previous referral but are returned to the system at a later date, possibly with a greater level of need.

14. No. of referrals Where are referrals to social care coming from? What type of referrals are they? How many referrals result in no further action? How many may return? Number of contacts No. of s.47 enquiries Conversion of initial to core assessments No. of initial assessments No. of core assessments No. of child protection conferences Conferences within 15 days of start of s. 47 enquiry? The staffing and cost implications of the front door of children’s services will be covered in separate slides How many are repeat referrals? No. of children subject to CPP without allocated social worker? No. of second or subsequent child protection plans Conversion of referrals to initial assessments No. of child protection plans No. of conferences not leading to a CPP 3. Contacts and Referrals, ‘Front door practice’

15. 3. Contacts and Referrals – context Number of CAFs completed Data should be available in local authorities Currently local authorities are reporting completion of around 50 CAFs a month but more data expected (CWDC) Number of contacts Number of referrals Data supplied to DfE for the CiN census, except for the type and source of referrals, which should be available in local authorities In 2008-09 there were 497 referrals per 10,000 children nationally. This ranges from over 1,000 to 203 across authorities. Source of referrals Referrals can come from a range of services – is a particular service accounting for a large share of referrals? Type of referrals Number of repeat referrals In 2008-09 23% were repeat within 12 months of a previous referral nationally, ranging from 4 to 44% across authorities. Number of initial assessments Provisional data for 2009-10 shows nationally 67% of initial assessments were completed within 7 days nationally Number of core assessments Provisional data for 2009-10 shows nationally 73% of core assessments were completed within 35 working days. Conversion of referrals to initial assessments Calculated from figures above Can we say anything about what these ratios should be? Conversion of initial to core assessments Number of s.47 enquiries Data supplied to DfE for the CiN census In 2008-09 the national rate was 76 s.47 enquiries per 10,000 children Number of initial child protection conferences In 2008-09 the national rate was 40 conferences per 10,000 children Conferences within 15 days of start of s.47 enquiry In 2008-09 68% took place within 15 days. A number of authorities held all conferences within 15 days. Number of child protection plans (CPPs) Provisional data for 2009-10 shows 44,500 children became subject of a child protection plan throughout the year. Number of second or subsequent CPPs Provisional data shows 14% of children who became the subject of a plan in 2009-10 had previously been the subject of a plan. Number of conferences not leading to a CPP In 2008-09, 13% conferences did not lead to a CPP nationally Number of children subject to CPP without allocated social worker Information should be available in local authorities This number should be at, or as close as possible to, zero.

16. 4. Interventions with children on the edge of care 4)Interventions with children on the edge of care and their families -Which children are headed into care? -Can we do more to stop this? Another pressure point in the system is at the ‘edge of care’, intervening with those children and their families who may be about to move into the looked after children population, or who may already be moving between the two. Some of these children will already be involved with particular services such as Family Intervention Projects. Identifying those children on the edge of care and intervening before they move into the care system can help improve outcomes for these children as well as reducing the costly looked after children population. The same is also true for those children moving back and forth in and out of care – finding a permanent solution more quickly will improve their outcomes and also prove cost-effective.

17. How many children are moving back and forth, in and out of care? How many children may be heading into care? What risk factors are these families exhibiting? How many children involved in other specific programmes / interventions? Ratio of CiN to LAC? 4. Interventions with children on the edge of care and their families How many children and families involved in a FIP? How many children are entering care voluntarily? How many are the subject of care orders? How old are these children?

18. 4. Interventions with children on the edge of care – context How many children and families are involved in a FIP? Data on the children and families involved in Family Intervention Projects is collected by NatCen on the FIPs Information Service, that is accessible by local authorities. This includes information on the number of children and families involved in a FIP. Information is also collected on a number of risk factors, including anti-social behaviour issues and enforcement actions, housing enforcement actions, health, education and employment, discrimination and race, family issues, special educational needs, child assessed as at risk of harm, and school exclusions. What risk factors are these families exhibiting? How many children involved in other specific programmes/interventions? Other specific interventions may include programmes set out by national government, such as Family Nurse Partnerships, and other programmes set up by the local authority. Ratio of CiN to LAC?Provisional data for 31 March 2010 gives a ratio of children in need to looked after children of 5.9. How many children may be heading into care?Subjective measure – authorities may be able to identify particular children who are moving towards the right of the wedge diagram and heading into care How many children are moving back and forth, in and out of care? Data not currently collected nationally How many children are entering care voluntarily? Information on the number of children entering care under voluntary agreements is collected through SSDA903. Nationally, there were 21,200 voluntary agreements out of the 64,400 looked after children at 31 March 2010. How old are these children?Nationally, 10-15 year olds are the largest group of children in care and most of these children enter voluntarily. How many are the subject of care orders?Information on the number of children subject of interim and full care orders is supplied to DfE through SSDA903. Nationally, around 60% of looked after children are the subject of care orders.

19. 5. Care proceedings, placements and adoption / special guardianship 5)Care proceedings, care placements and adoption / special guardianship -Are children who need to go into care getting there as quickly as possible? -Are the children who can come out of care being helped to do this as quickly and as effectively as possible? It is important to ensure that those children who are too much at risk to be left at home are getting into the care system as quickly as possible without being held up by court proceedings, and are then quickly placed in a suitable placement. Care proceedings can take up a large amount of staff time and delay finding a suitable placement for a child. Improving practice around care proceedings as far as possible at local authority level can help to free up social worker resource to work with children and families at other points in the system. At the other end of the looked after children population, children who are ready to leave the care system through adoption or being placed into special guardianship should be helped to do this as soon as possible, to improve their outcomes and free up resources for other children.

20. How many care proceedings are ongoing? How long have proceedings been ongoing? No. of applications that achieve a final outcome within 30/50/80 weeks? Court fees / legal costs? Staff time? No. of court ordered assessments? 5. Care proceedings, Care Placements and Adoption / Special Guardianship How many children are placed for adoption? How many children are adopted? How quickly? No. of applications without a core assessment? No. of applications with a children’s guardian appointed? No. of applications where parents have received legal advice? How many children placed in special guardianship? How old are they? How long had they been looked after?

21. 5. Care proceedings, placements and adoption / special guardianship – context How many care proceedings are ongoing? Data is not collected by DfE but may be available to authorities or through the courts Authorities should be aware how many care proceedings are ongoing, and for how long given the resource implications of this. How long have proceedings been ongoing? No. of applications that receive a final outcome in 30/50/80 weeks? Cases suitable for early resolution should receive a final outcome within 30 weeks, the vast majority within 50 weeks and those that genuinely need longer within 80 weeks Court fees and legal costs? Authorities should be aware how much is being spent on court fees and any additional legal costs Staff time Authorities should be aware how much staff time is being taken up with proceedings. No. of applications where parents have received legal advice Evidence that receiving pre-proceeding legal advice often leads to earlier and more positive resolution of concerns No. of applications without a core assessment Applications without a core assessment slow down processes and take up court time unnecessarily [Linked to the number of core assessments completed within 35 days] No. of court ordered assessments The number of court ordered assessments should be minimised by robust pre-proceedings assessment to reduce delay to cases. No. of applications with a children’s guardian appointed? Recent targets from the Ministry of Justice aim for at least 97% of public law cases to have a guardian allocated to them. How many children are placed for adoption? Data supplied to DfE through SSDA903 The number of looked after children placed for adoption was 2,300 in 2010. How quickly? In 2010, 72% of children who were adopted during the year were placed for adoption within 12 months of the decision that they should be placed for adoption. How many children are adopted? Of the 25,100 children who ceased to be looked after during the year to 31 March 2009, 3,200 were adopted. How old are they? Nationally, the majority of children who are adopted are aged between 1 and 4. How long had they been looked after? The majority of children who were adopted were in care for between one and three years beforehand (although this doesn’t include possible previous periods in care) How many placed in special guardianship? Of the 25,100 children who ceased to be looked after during the year to 31 March 2010, 1,200 were placed in special guardianship. Care proceedings Adoption / Special Guardianship

22. 6. Looked after children 6)Looked after children -What does the looked after children population look like? -What movement is happening throughout this population? Spending on looked after children accounts for half of the children’s services budget nationally. Therefore, in order to improve outcomes and reduce costs it is important to have a clear picture of what this population looks like, the movements of these children into and out of care and the interventions they are receiving.

23. Number of looked after children Number of children leaving the care system Type of placement? Adoption and Special Guardianship covered on diagram 7 Where are they going? How many have experienced multiple placements? In or outside the authority? Average time spent in care? Characteristics Age when entered care Number of children entering the care system Placements Type of need? No. with additional support needs? Type of provider? No. in care for longer than 6 months? How many have had placements shorter than 28 days? How many are repeat entries? How many of them may return? No. of very high cost LAC? No. of unaccompanied asylum seeking children? Age currently How many are absent from school? Distance from home for newly placed LAC? Cases reviewed within required timescales? 6. Looked after children Age when leaving care?

24. 6. Looked after children – data  It is important to identify whether there are children repeatedly moving into and out of the care system as their outcomes will worsen and the costs of supporting them will increase with this movement. The costs of placements for looked after children increase with their age. A large share of the care population is accounted for by children aged 10-15 who are voluntarily admitted to the care system by their parents, and who are part of this more expensive group. After six months in care, children are less and less likely to return home. In particular, children who enter care before their fourth birthday and do not leave within a year are likely to remain looked after until their teens. Children using a series of short term placements (less than 28 days) are likely to have a particular set of needs e.g. respite care, that may differ from the needs of those children who are likely to be in the care system for longer. Placements outside of the authority are more costly in terms of expenditure and outcomes for the child, so reducing these will be beneficial. [Does this need more qualification?] Frequent changes of placement are costly in themselves as costs increase with each subsequent placement, and children who become difficult to place are more likely to end up out of authority. Children experiencing placements of less than 28 days who do not have particular needs (such as respite care) may be a signal of this. Children with additional support needs are likely to have a more restricted choice of placement. Children who show two or more additional support needs are likely to be disproportionately more costly to look after, in particular children who display either emotional or behavioural difficulties and are also committing criminal offences. Type of placement -Foster care with relative or friend -Foster care with other -Placed for adoption -Placement with parents -Secure units, children’s homes -Residential schools -Other placement Data breakdown Type of provider -Local authority -Private provider -Voluntary / third sector provider Additional support needs -Emotional / behavioural -Disabilities -Offending behaviour Reason for leaving care -Adopted-Died -Care taken by another authority -Returned home -Residence order granted -Special guardianship -Moved into independent living -Transferred to residential care funded by adult services -Sentenced to custody -Other reason

25. 6. Looked after children – context Number of children entering the care system Supplied for SSDA903 27,800 children started to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2010. How many are repeat entries? Data not published nationally Number of looked after children Many of these statistics are collected by DfE through SSDA903. Others may be known at local authority level. Nationally, in 2009-10 there were 58 LAC per 10,000 children under 18. Age currently and when entered care The majority of looked after children were aged 10-15 when they entered care, and are still. Type of need Over half of looked after children come under the abuse or neglect category when they enter care No. with additional support needs Data not collected nationally No. of unaccompanied asylum seeking children This will vary widely across authorities. How many are absent from school? In 2009, 12% of LAC missed at least 25 days of school nationally. Type of placement Nationally, 73% of LAC were in foster placements at end March 2010, and 4% were placed for adoption Type of provider Data not collected nationally In or outside the authority Nationally, over half of LAC are placed within the authority Average time spent in care A sizeable minority of children spend les than two weeks in care before leaving. Number of very high cost LAC Data not collected nationally but should be known within each authority Number in care for longer than 6 months Data not published nationally but should be known within each authority Number experiencing multiple placements In 2008-09, 10.7% of looked after children had three or more placements during the previous year, ranging from 4.4% to 18.4% across authorities. Number with placements less than 28 days Nationally, around 10% of children looked after at some point during the year are only looked after under a series of short term placements Number of children leaving the care system Supplied for SSDA903 25,1000 children ceased to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2010. Age when leaving care Around a quarter of LAC are aged 1-4 when they leave care, and another quarter are 10-15 years old Where are they going? The largest group of children who cease to be looked after have returned home to live with parents or relatives How many may return? A subjective measure that authorities may have a view on from their interactions with children and families. Entering care Children in care Children leaving care