Is Every Child Matters defunct?

Every Child Matters (ECM) shaped children's services as we know it today. In 2003, the green paper heralded the joining up of education and children's social care across central and local government.

Partly a response to the tragic death of Victoria Climbie 11 years ago and Lord Laming's first report into child protection, ECM called on services to focus on five key outcomes for children: be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic wellbeing. While the idea of joint working caused some initial consternation, ECM ultimately gained buy-in from the majority of children and young people's professionals.

The phrase ECM is not officially banned but almost a year after the coalition government came to power, the agenda in name is gone.

Education Secretary Michael Gove referred wryly to the five outcomes as "unimpeachable gospel" during an education select committee meeting last July. Gove argued that he had no problem with ECM as a list, but suggested it should be "policed in a hands-off way".

So as public spending cuts bite, will the legacy of Labour's landmark children's policy live on? And are the principles of ECM still pertinent to professionals?

Sir Paul Ennals, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau (NCB), was part of the team responsible for developing ECM. He claims its themes are as relevant today as ever. But he is happy to drop "the brand and the label" and believes professionals should "be brave" and do the same. "Every new government needs to find ways of describing their ideas in a way that differentiates from their predecessors," he says.

"But the coalition still refers to the importance of outcomes. Indeed, they sometimes claim that they invented the idea. They also still refer to the importance of early intervention, which was at the heart of ECM."

Yet Ennals acknowledges that ECM had its drawbacks. "We have to recognise that there are some areas that we didn't get sufficiently right," he says.

"We did focus too much on targets and inspection. All of which has its real value in kick-starting a change process, but is not so effective in enabling local services to feel ownership of what they're doing."

He adds: "We didn't focus early enough on the distinctive role of social work within a joined-up system. We were right to join up social care with other children's services, but in doing so, there was a loss of focus on some of the child protection concerns and that was a mistake".

Workforce Development

Another weakness was the last government's sluggish pace in implementing its plans for workforce development, Ennals says: "We didn't get that started until about 2006. In retrospect, workforce development should have been at the very beginning of the process and driven much more forcefully because it is at the heart of all other change."

Other well-documented problems that ECM never quite managed to overcome included getting health to collaborate with other children's services and ensuring school played an active role in children's trust arrangements.

But, overall, Ennals believes those involved in ECM should feel proud of what it achieved. "When we got it started, the children's minister at the time said that it was going to be a five-year change programme," he says. "I said that it was going to be a 20-year programme. The government compromise was to call it a 10-year programme and we're only seven years on. We should stick with the principles because changing horses will not help at this point."

Matt Dunkley, incoming president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS), is keen not to mourn the demise of the ECM brand, despite insisting that the principles of ECM are timeless. "The five outcomes as a concept was one of the most powerful pieces of unifying policy that I've come across in my working life, just because it made so much sense," he explains.

"But we have to evolve; we've embedded a lot of the gains of ECM so we move forward now to meet the new challenges, many of which are financial."

The legacy of ECM will be its influence on future policy, Dunkley says, since the concept of accountability based on outcomes and a joined-up approach to children's services "lives on".

Like many directors of children's services (DCSs), Dunkley is supportive of the coalition's shift away from some of the top-down, target-driven elements of ECM. He says the legislation that flowed from ECM was too overbearing.

Merged roles

The post of DCS was created by the ECM reforms. But recent research by the ADCS and the National College shows that many councils are deciding to merge the role with adult social care or other local authority directorates. The survey of 65 authorities found that 55 per cent of DCSs anticipate their own post will change, with a further 28 per cent unsure what might happen to their role.

"Local authorities should quite rightly have the freedom to decide which structures best suit their local circumstances," Dunkley concedes. "But whatever arrangements local authorities come up with structurally, they have to pass the test as to whether the political and managerial accountability for children's services is obvious and clear. My personal view is that a lot of the current changes in structures are driven by a desire to save money."

In his own authority of East Sussex, Dunkley insists that the ECM reforms continue to have a major impact on improving professional practice and outcomes for children and young people. In January, Ofsted rated the authority's safeguarding and services for looked-after children as good, with some outstanding features.

"You can't legislate for how people are going to deliver the policy that you create at a higher level. But I have absolutely no doubt that the level of success we've managed to achieve in East Sussex wouldn't have been possible without the creation of children's services and an integrated partnership approach to safeguarding," he says.

The extent to which ECM is rooted in the day-to-day practice of children's services professionals varies across the country. But there are many in the sector who believe the practical application of ECM will continue to influence their work regardless of central government policy.

Powerful framework

Kate Hall, a youth and community service manager at Dorset County Council, insists that the framework of the five outcomes is a powerful tool. "In terms of my own practice as a youth worker and now a youth work manager, it is embedded in everything we do - from our service plans to quality assurance, we work to the five outcomes," she explains.

"It's not just the youth service. I think everybody in children's services works to those five outcomes.

"We're not working in silos any more and I think that's been a real sea-change over the last five to 10 years within children's services," she says. But she warns that the coalition's emphasis on local determination will lead to a postcode lottery of youth service provision and is concerned that cuts to public spending will deter professionals from working in partnership with one another, since services will be competing for funding.

"My fear is that if you take these frameworks away we will go back into our silos." She adds that members of the public have now "got their heads around" the fact that local services work to the ECM principles, which has helped engage families and boost the effectiveness of provision.

"It's a real shame that suddenly this doesn't seem to matter any more," Hall says. "We have a consistency across the country with ECM; I think we will lose that and the common standards that we're working to."

But while elements of ECM might endure in the council areas that fully bought into the agenda, the Tory-led coalition's vision is very different. Its vision of localism and the big society - where solutions are devised by communities themselves rather than directed by Whitehall - is at stark odds with such an overarching policy narrative.

And although Labour in opposition is undergoing several policy reviews, it is unlikely that ECM will be brought back in name should it return to power.

Toby Perkins, Labour's shadow children's minister, argues that the ethos of ECM is more relevant than ever before, because of cuts to public spending and the potential for partnership working to break down. But he says that Labour is renewing its thinking around children's services.

"Whether it is reinstated in name is a moot point," he says. "We would certainly ensure that the values that informed the introduction of ECM were at the heart of our policies."

Perkins acknowledges the complaints that ECM was obsessed with targets and monitoring, but says: "Broadly you can always make that criticism of almost any government initiative but ECM put a fundamental focus on children, and while you should always be re-looking at policy, it was a very significant step forward at the time."

Significant Legacies

"The improvement in educational attainment and the improved focus on safeguarding are both significant legacies from ECM. It was absolutely a landmark programme in terms of its success and focus on the children that were still being failed by the system."

As a broad policy, ECM had cross-party support from its inception, and the current children's minister Tim Loughton was vocal about the agenda's merits during his time in opposition, telling this magazine in June 2009: "We are signed up to the Every Child Matters agenda, so there will not be large swathes of policy change."

CYP Now approached the Department for Education for a ministerial view on the legacy of ECM, but since the issue crosses several ministers' briefs, it opted to issue a statement on the matter. "Organisations working in the interests of children and young people should continue to focus their efforts on improving their outcomes and achievements," it said. "However, there is a distinction to be made between the important ECM principles, which the government fully supports, and the regulation and bureaucracy that have built up around the principles, which ministers are determined to reduce."

As guidelines and rules relax, children's services departments will no doubt make use of the freedom handed to them by the coalition to adapt to financial pressures. But while a question mark hangs over the structural aspect of the ECM reforms, its founding values seem to be built of stronger stuff.

THE ECM REFORMS AND THEIR STATUS TODAY

Plans to create Sure Start children's centres nationwide, starting with the 20 per cent most deprived neighbourhoods.

STATUS Target of a children's centre in every community achieved last April, with 3,631 nationwide. Coalition lifted duty on children's centres in 30 per cent most disadvantaged areas to provide 40 hours of daycare a week. Parent groups are campaigning against a wave of Sure Start children's centres cuts.

Cash boost for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to allow all areas to have comprehensive CAMHS service in place by 2006.

STATUS CAMHS investment boosted service availability, but provision remains patchy. CAMHS review in 2008 found services failing young people. Coalition's mental health strategy promises to improve transitions between CAMHS and adult services. GP consortia pathfinders trialling new ways of commissioning CAMHS.

Funding for extended schools to provide beforeand after-school clubs, childcare and co-located health and social care services on one site.

STATUS By 2010, all schools were providing full access to core offer of extended services. Coalition has handed control for school budgets to head teachers, prompting fears of cuts to extended services.

Increased range of community sentences for young offenders and greater use of residential placements such as intensive fostering.

STATUS Youth custody levels dropped to 10-year low last year. Coalition promises further alternatives to custody and a "rehabilitation revolution". Anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) axed.

Multi-disciplinary teams based in and around schools and children's centres to provide rapid response to concerns of teachers and childcare workers.

STATUS Funding for co-located services not provided by coalition, but professionals believe integrated children's services teams could survive given that they are more cost-effective.

Proposals to improve information sharing, including ContactPoint, the common assessment framework (CAF) and a new single lead professional for children known to more than one specialist agency.

STATUS Coalition scrapped ContactPoint. CAF remains key early intervention assessment tool for children's professionals. The coalition is piloting schemes that provide families in receipt of multiple services with one point of contact.

New post of DCS and lead council member for children, accountable for both local authority education and children's social services.

STATUS Some councils reconfiguring children's services departments or merging them with other directorates. Fifty-five per cent of DCSs anticipate their own posts will change.

Key services brought together as part of statutory children's trusts, requiring local authorities to work closely with public, private and voluntary organisations.

STATUS Coalition lifted duty on councils to have a children's trust. In some authorities, trusts set to morph into new statutory health and wellbeing boards.

Local Safeguarding Children Boards created as statutory successors to Area Child Protection Committees.

STATUS Established in every area and set to remain. Since second Laming report into child protection, many have independent chairs.

New post of minister for children, young people and families to co-ordinate policies across government.

STATUS Post kept by coalition and held by Liberal Democrat minister Sarah Teather alongside Tory junior minister Tim Loughton.

Responsibility for children's social services, family policy, teenage pregnancy, family law, and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service transferred to Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

STATUS Coalition scrapped DfES successor the Department for Children, Schools and Families, renaming it the Department for Education, but broad policy remit has been maintained.

New post of independent children's commissioner to act as champion for children.

STATUS Coalition review last year said commissioner should have greater independence and report directly to parliament rather than DfE. It proposed to merge role with children's rights director, hosted by Ofsted.

Workforce reform strategy to improve skills of children's workforce, more flexible and attractive training routes into social work, common core of training for everyone working with children and families and leadership development programme.

STATUS Did not get going until 2006. Common core heralded a success. Coalition to remove funding and non-departmental public body status from Children's Workforce Development Council. Proposals for how DfE will advance workforce development yet to be set out.

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