South East RCC goes further and faster in identifying needs

With NCERCC having been stating this for 2 decades it is good to have this affirmed by a government-funded project involving local authorities.

A regional care cooperative publicly demonstrating its learning from experience is a positive sign and it is a clear message to government that the datasets to be used by all local authorities need changing. We know how to make a substantial step forward with what is required. That this will require a change and a move onwards from the sufficiency duty to the concept of specificity is signalled too.

Once we are assessing and identifying needs through a needs audit to start with and then routinely at the point of accommodation using needs profiling tools, we will be able to match needs to places as we will have data that tells us how much of what we need and where we need it. We will have data for trend forecasting and be able to plan the responses children need in granular detail. Specificity is the way forwards.