Care Review: Local authorities pilot recommendations
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Pilots to test recommendations taken forward by government from the Care Review have been launched across seven local authorities.
Dorset, Lincolnshire and Wolverhampton councils will be the first to deliver the Families First for Children (FFC) programme.
Based on the government’s response to the Care Review, Stable homes, built on love, it is designed to “test new ways to reform every part of the children’s social care system, helping children to stay with their families in safe and loving homes, whilst protecting vulnerable children where needed”.
Backed by just under £40m in funding, it will test a move towards locally based, multi-disciplinary family help services and a shift towards the review’s aim of “keeping families together” through an increased use of family group decision-making.
Local authorities taking part will also see the introduction of family network support packages (FNSPs) to remove any financial or practical barriers faced by families accessing services.
The FFC also includes the introduction of specialist child protection social workers in children’s services departments and a scheme to strengthen data sharing among partner agencies in a drive towards improving safeguarding partnerships.
FFC pilots will run until March 2025.
A second wave of local areas piloting the programme is expected to launch in spring 2024.
Four local authorities - Brighton and Hove, Sunderland, Gateshead and Telford and Wrekin – have also been chosen to test a family networks pilot, backed by £7.8m of funding.
The pilot will prioritise family-led solutions by increasing the use of family group decision-making and testing the introduction of FNSPs.
While the impact of FNSPs will be looked at through the FFC, a standalone pilot is being run to “understand the impact of this policy in isolation”, according to the DfE.
Staffordshire, Hartlepool and Hammersmith and Fulham are also expected to take part in a second wave of the family networks pilot from spring next year.
Public services delivery organisation Mutual Ventures, alongside social enterprise Innovation Unit, have been named as delivery partners for the pathfinders.
Responding to the launch of the pilots, Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Children and Young People’s Board, described it as “a helpful step forward”.
However, she added that the LGA “remains concerned” that the £45m put forward by government falls short of the £2.6bn to reform children’s social care called for by Care Review chair Josh MacAlister in his final report.
John Pearce, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), added: “During this period of pathfinding and piloting it is crucial that real-time progress and learning is shared with the sector to help other local authorities implement the reforms in the future. The earlier we work with, and provide support to, vulnerable children and families to help them overcome the issues they face, and to stay together safely where possible, the less impact these challenges will have on their lives but also on society.
“While the investment announced today is welcome, we continue to need a long-term equitable funding solution for children’s services so that all children and families can thrive, wherever they live.”
The DfE has also called on councils to apply to pilot regional care co-operatives to commission children’s social care placements after the ADCS warned that there had been a lack of interest across the country.
