Independent Inquiry into CSA final report

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The Independent Inquiry into CSA has published its overarching final report. The seven-year inquiry has said that the abuse of children is an “epidemic” and has set out a series of wide-ranging recommendations, including that a national compensation scheme for victims should be introduced, along with laws compelling people in positions of trust to report CSA. The Government has said it will respond in full to the report within six months.

The LGA and councils will be working closely with the Government, partners, victims and survivors in the coming months to identify how best to respond to the Inquiry’s recommendations. In response to an earlier recommendation by the Inquiry, the LGA has published a code of practice for councils responding to civil claims of non-recent CSA. If you have any comments on the code, please contact louise.smith@local.gov.uk.

Child safeguarding practice review panel 

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published its phase one report into safeguarding children with disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings. The report examines allegations of abuse and neglect in three private residential settings operated by the Hesley Group in Doncaster. Among its initial findings are concerns about children’s voices not being heard; the availability of appropriate placements for children; workforce and culture in the settings; inconsistent quality assurance processes by councils; and challenges with national regulatory arrangements. Councils have been asked to urgently carry out quality and safety reviews for every child placed in similar provision for whom they are responsible, to provide reassurance that the setting meets the child’s needs and to address any concerns that arise. A second phase of the review is now underway to consider the changes needed to the wider ‘system’ to ensure that children are helped to live better lives in a safe, loving environment.

Voices of children in care 

A new report by Coram Voice, 10,000 voices, highlights what children in care aged 4 - 18 have said about their well-being. The report found that the vast majority of children in care felt their lives were improving and many spoke positively of their experience. The report also notes the importance of being mindful of the different needs of different groups, including the lower well-being of girls and those living in residential care or ‘somewhere else’ (such as supported or temporary accommodation, hospital or prison), as well as differences in children in care’s experience based on age or ethnicity.

Youth work week

November saw us celebrate youth work week which was an opportunity to share the positive impact that youth work has on young people. The LGA held a webinar for councils and their partners on what works for developing and delivering youth work. During this webinar we heard from Durham council and their youth work network, Harrow Council and Young Harrow Foundation and Hull City Council. We heard about the positive results of collaborative work with the voluntary sector, with each agency having its own role in supporting children and young people in the community. If you would like to engage with council youth work colleagues please sign up to the knowledge hub. 

New youth justice sports fund 

The Ministry of Justice has launched a new £5 million Youth Justice Sport Fund for around 200 grants which will support voluntary and community sector organisations to work with children considered at risk of involvement in crime or violence. Applications are open until Monday 5 December 2022.

Cost of living webinar: food poverty and insecurity

Supporting children and young people with mental health needs

NHS England has developed a framework to facilitate systems to come together to collectively support children and young people with mental health needs who present in acute paediatric settings, as well as supporting the clinical teams who care for them. Alongside this, NHS England and NHS Elect have developed a new online learning platform to enable staff to improve their knowledge, skills, and confidence when caring for children and young people with mental health needs, autism or learning disabilities.

Youth Justice Board (YJB) - Brighter Futures 

The YJB recently published a presentation-style report, dealing with the progress to date on the ‘Child First’ goal for the youth justice system, and what needs to be done going forward to achieve this aim. Over 200 stakeholders inputted into this exercise. This was accompanied by a blog by Keith Fraser, YJB Chair. 

National Audit Office (NAO) report – support for vulnerable adolescents

The NAO have shown that there are gaps in knowledge and strategic approach to understand the complex challenges involved with supporting vulnerable adolescents. There is also a limited understanding of the combination of different risk factors and characteristics that cause vulnerability. This comes at a time of increased referrals to mental health services as well.

Mental health support in schools

Schools and colleges can claim grants for funded mental health lead training to improve how they promote and support the mental health and wellbeing of staff and pupils/students. More than 10,000 schools and colleges have received training grants so far and training places are still available for this financial year. The Department for Education is encouraging eligible settings to claim their grant now if they are ready to commit to the training. The training will equip your school/college’s mental health lead with the knowledge and practical skills to embed an effective whole college approach to mental health and wellbeing. 

Children’s social care placement sufficiency 

Ofsted has published a new report outlining the challenges it is seeing councils face when trying to find suitable homes for children in care. The report notes that a lack of sufficient places and the need for urgent placements means councils are struggling to plan for and meet their sufficiency duty, and argues that councils on their own cannot solve sufficiency issues. 

Supporting residents with lifelong disabilities 

We have commissioned Alma Economics to carry out some research that identifies the challenges councils face in delivering social care services to people with lifelong disabilities, in particular considering the transition from children’s to adults’ services. The research will look at the perspectives of service users and staff, and consider the impact of issues such as legislation, partnership working and funding. All findings would be anonymised, except for good practice case studies. If any of your social workers would like to take part in a short (up to 90 mins) interview about their experience in supporting residents, or if you would like further information, please contact louise.smith@local.gov.uk. Interviews will take place by mid-January.