Inspections Clinic: Leaving care services

Findings from Ofsted’s recently published research on the experiences of care leavers make for dispiriting reading.

Despite efforts made by many children’s services teams to ensure children in care are supported to move on and live happy, independent lives, the report shows many feel unprepared, isolated and alone.

Young people are still being given bin bags to pack their possessions in – a practice social care leaders promised to do away with more than 15 years ago.

“It is frustrating for those of us who have spent many years in children’s services, thinking we have made improvements and then not seeing them embedded and sustained,” says Ofsted’s national director for social care Yvette Stanley.

“I do see an improving trend. But as far as care leavers are concerned, there is so much more to do.”

Ofsted’s research included an online survey which generated 255 responses from young people still in care or those who had left recently. The regulator also carried out in-depth interviews with six care-experienced people aged 26 and over.

There were some positives with many care leavers highlighting the help and support they received from individual professionals.

However, others likened the transition from care to independent living to being abandoned with support suddenly dropping away.

More than a third who took part in the research felt they left care too early while many of those who did feel they left at the right time said they lacked essential skills such as how to shop, cook and manage money.

Some said they could not trust or rely on those who were supposed to be helping them prepare for leaving care.

Many said they were not involved enough in plans for their future, had no control over where they lived when they left care and felt unsafe.

The findings came as no surprise to Mark Riddell, the government’s national implementation adviser for care leavers, who says the same issues come up time and time again.

“There are still too many cliff edges in the system,” he says. “For example, it’s a national travesty that a young person who has been in our care from quite a young age can leave without a single relationship other than with a personal adviser.

“What we really should be doing is building a set of relationships around that young person.”

Statutory guidance recommends young people are introduced to their personal adviser (PA) at 16 but Ofsted found more than a quarter of care leavers did not meet their PA until they were 18 or older.

Care leavers saw PAs – who are appointed to provide advice, guidance, practical help and co-ordinate services – as helpful. But a fifth felt they met them too late.

Much responsibility is placed on the shoulders of PAs who may have caseloads of 25 to 30 young people with complex and varied needs, including those who are homeless, have drug and alcohol problems, are unemployed and looking for work or at university.

“I’m not sure how you balance all of that and sometimes the message to young people is ‘I’m really busy – and I’m not sure I can see you in the next couple of weeks’,” says Riddell. “And that’s not the message we want to give to care leavers.”

Ofsted’s research found professionals including PAs, social workers and foster carers can make a real difference to care leavers’ experiences.

Care leavers and children in care valued basics such as people being “polite”, “on time”, “answering the phone” and treating them “with respect”.

However, some young people said they had experienced professionals who they felt were “rude”, “patronising”, “disinterested” or had “no empathy”.

When care leavers were asked if they felt cared for by PAs and social workers there was a clear difference in the responses (see graphics).

Two fifths – 41 per cent – said they felt they were always cared for by their PA with seven per cent reporting they never felt cared for.

In contrast, just 16 per cent said they always felt cared for by social workers and a fifth never felt cared for.

“This may reflect that a PA is the person that young people are most commonly in touch with after they leave care,” says the report. “But it is striking that care leavers felt this lack of care from social workers who have a responsibility to help co-ordinate their plans for the future.”

‘Tick box’ culture

Riddell worries the current inspection regime risks pushing local authorities towards a “tick box” culture where those that are not performing so well focus on getting various tasks done rather than the individual needs of young people.

“Local authorities get into a bit of a compliance culture,” he says. “Young people say it can feel like pathway plans, or their career or education plans, are just about ticking a box and don’t involve a proper conversation about what you want to achieve in the next six months.”

However, he stresses this is not just about social services and wants to see much clearer duties for multi-agency partners to ensure they play an active role in supporting care leavers up to the age of 25.

“We have some work to do around making partners more accountable, including health, housing, education, employment, training and the Department for Work and Pensions,” he says.

He hopes this will feature in recommendations from England’s ongoing Independent Review of Children’s Social Care alongside the concept of a national offer for care leavers that could include data packages to ensure they can get online, free prescriptions, free first passport and driving licence, top-up funding for apprenticeships and more.

He says the best model – which many councils have adopted – is the idea of a 16 to 25 leaving care offer with PAs appointed before a young person’s 15th birthday whenever possible.

“That is really good practice. That provides one consistent person for nine years,” he says.

For Yvette Stanley, the ingredients for success – as demonstrated through inspections – are the same as those in other areas regulated by Ofsted.

“It’s people who are very child centred – the whole organisation holds children at the centre of its thinking and practice,” she says. “They’re ambitious for children and the environment has been created for people to do their best.”

While you might expect a PA to have a larger caseload than a social worker, she says it is important to ensure they are not overburdened.

“We do have to think about a personal adviser’s workload so they can develop those really important relationships with young people over time,” she says.

She also warns against cut-off points for support based purely on age. “If a young person needs care, they should receive care,” she says.

Stanley says the research contained key lessons for Ofsted and the way it inspects services and support for care leavers.

It has already informed training for inspectors and Ofsted recently announced it would be consulting on bringing in a new, standalone judgment on the experiences and progress of care leavers as part of its Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services regime.

“We think we are already capturing good evidence around what’s working for care leavers or not so we don’t want to increase the inspection burden,” says Stanley. “But we do think a standalone judgment would give some more focused attention to this important group.”

Supported accommodation

The move comes as Ofsted prepares to take on the regulation of supported accommodation for 16- and 17-year-olds with recruitment and training of inspectors expected to start this autumn.

This will enable the regulator to join the dots and get a better idea of how well placements are meeting the needs of care leavers.

Participants in the recent research said it was important inspectors made time to talk to care leavers and spoke to enough at random to get a true, unbiased view of their experiences.

“When we speak to children on a local authority inspection they are very honest but may not want to raise their particular issues and worries so we don’t perhaps get the full picture,” says Stanley. “They often have a good relationship with their PA or social worker so don’t want to use the opportunity to just focus on the negative.”

In the past year Ofsted has established a group of inspectors as “champions for care leavers” with one in each region to ensure their views are listened to and acted on.

“We have also worked with groups of care-experienced young people who have informed how we train our inspectors,” says Stanley.

“We’re thinking about how we can continue to ensure that important care-experienced voice is heard directly by inspectors across all remits. It’s equally important our colleagues in education are champions for change for these children too.”

INSPECTION SHORTS

EDUCATION
Many schools are still seeing higher than expected pupil absences due to Covid and other issues including families not understanding isolation rules or taking holidays in term time, according to a report by Ofsted. The report, which is based on recent inspection findings, surveys and focus groups with school leaders and inspectors, found schools with successful attendance strategies listen to the concerns of parents and children. However, they make it clear why good attendance is important and expected of all pupils.

YOUTH JUSTICE
Wolverhampton Youth Offending Team (YOT) has been given an overall rating of “good” after an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation. Partnerships and services were rated “outstanding” with inspectors particularly impressed by the YOT’s restorative justice unit. However, the service was told to improve provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

HEALTH
The pandemic affected the quality of maternity care experienced by women, found the latest survey by the Care Quality Commission. The survey of more than 23,000 women who gave birth in England in February 2021 – during the third national lockdown – found the majority were positive about the care they received. However, a fifth said they were not offered a choice about where to have their baby and many said they would have liked more information and support postnatally. The proportion who said partners and loved ones were able to stay with them as much as they wanted fell from 74 to 34 per cent since 2019.

YOUTH JUSTICE
Inspectors have praised Warwickshire Police’s efforts to keep children and young people out of police custody. An unannounced inspection of custody suites by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and HM Inspectorate of Prisons found the force prioritised diverting children and vulnerable people away from custody. “It works well with partners such as the youth offending service to do this,” said their report. However, the inspectorates identified room for improvement in other areas including the safety of detainees and quality of custody reports.

SOCIAL CARE The Department for Education has revoked statutory intervention measures at Wakefield Council’s children’s services after Ofsted found significant improvements. An inspection in November last year saw the overall rating for the service jump from “inadequate” to “good”. Children’s minister Will Quince said this was a “testament to the strong practice from social workers”.