Digital Solutions: Policy context

Unable to attend meetings in person, open centres or undertake home visits for months at a time, local authorities and other statutory and voluntary agencies rapidly scaled up digital systems to maintain contact with children and families – and ensure practitioners could continue to deliver support.

The pandemic highlighted how digital services can be part of the solution to delivering care and support to vulnerable children and families – and, in some cases, provide new ways of tackling problems previously unrealised. But it also illustrated what its limitations are and why digital approaches cannot fully replace all in-person provision.

“Face-to-face communication is essential in some circumstances to ensure families and children are receiving the support they need,” says Hannah Saunders and Fiona Gold, public services experts at PA Consulting. “But a lot of the time, virtual meetings, pop-up clinics and video-only surgeries provide more benefits. They save valuable practitioner time and offer a different way to interact that can better suit a variety of personalities [and] in a place where the service user feels comfortable.”

And as service providers think about the future and retaining some of the changes implemented during the pandemic, Saunders and Gold warn not to “slip into offering services as digital by default”, but rather ensure they remain child focused and meet individual’s support needs.

Reducing costs

Another factor driving the shift to more digital delivery is the potential that it offers for reducing council costs at a time when children’s services budgets are under intense pressure. For example, a survey by tech company Agile Datum found that councils hoped to save nearly £200m in 2020 by using more artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in their functions and services. The survey found that a quarter of councils had an AI strategy in place and that 91 per cent expected to have developed one by 2022.

The application of AI has “great potential” to help children’s services manage cases and improve safeguarding of children in care, according to Coram chief executive Carol Homden. Microsoft is part of Coram’s Children’s Innovation Incubator project, which is testing tech-based solutions in children’s services departments, including its Knowledge Mining tool which uses AI to process and analyse data to highlight patterns of practice.

In addition to finding more cost-effective ways of working, digital solutions can also be used to free up frontline practitioners from administrative tasks enabling them to spend more time helping children and families.

Research by FutureGov for the Department for Education found that better use of digital and tech-based systems could help social workers prioritise time, record information in real-time and improve the quality of assessments (see box). The researchers concluded it could be particularly beneficial for front-door workers and lead to better referrals and the inclusion of the relevant information in cases.

Such solutions have been developed for use in some councils. For example, Barking and Dagenham Council has successfully trialled a predictive analytics tool developed by Ventura and EY to create a new front door for residents it is working with through the Supporting Families programme. “The potential for such a tool to be applied in a children’s services context is vast,” says Homden.

Government drivers

Last April, the DfE published its digital and technology strategy. One of its key aims is for the department to become a leader in digital and technology “to be able to support a world-class, modern education and care system”.

The strategy recognises that there is a “common consensus” for the need to place digital, data and technology at the heart of how the department operates. The department has digital, data and technology specialists who focus on user-centred design, delivery, data and technology. These specialists partner with teams across the DfE to deliver services that improve the outcomes of children and learners in education and care.

This policy is translating into practice on the ground with DfE funding helping providers to develop digital approaches to engaging with children and families and deliver support. For example, a key element of the family hubs programme is a £14m project to deliver support for local sites, including the development of data and digital products that help practitioners collaborate and plan with families to deliver local services and improve outcomes for disadvantaged children aged 0-5.

Other government departments are also driving change. In November 2021, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced recipients of the fifth round of its Local Digital Fund. Two of the nine projects are focused on children and families – Bristol City Council is developing a digital version of its special educational needs top-up funding system to replace an inefficient manual assessment and application process; and Birmingham City Council is to improve how children’s placement data is captured and analysed so there is a more strategic and cost-efficient approach to child placement across the region.

The DfE is also trialling the use of virtual reality (VR) headsets to improve training for practitioners working with children involved in the youth justice system (see practice example). The project will help practitioners improve their response to children at risk of criminal exploitation in Ealing and follows VR being used to train other children’s services professionals including social workers and foster carers.

Meanwhile, the NHS Digital-funded eCDOP case management system designed to digitalise the child death review process to aid learning and inform practice is now being used across 95 per cent of England (see below). It illustrates what can be done with not a lot of funding, but plenty of perseverance and a digital solution that works.

Those behind eCDOP now say that the same approach should be harnessed to better join up information held by agencies involved in the safeguarding of children. This would place digital systems at the heart of child protection services and help reduce the risks to children.

Child death reviews system offers lessons for safeguarding and must be utilised

By Sue Gower, ACEs programme manager, Kent County Council

In the aftermath of the tragic death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, it was reported that the number of children dying in England as a direct consequence of maltreatment has “remained relatively steady” at 28 per year. That was despite a “steady increase in child protection activity”.

Former children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said: “For anyone who looks at the serious case reviews… you will see the same things coming up time and again. Missed opportunities. Lack of co-ordination. Lack of data sharing. The things that professionals need to have at hand to be able to protect these children, which still aren’t in place.”

Why in a world dominated by “the cloud” is it apparently beyond the ability of safeguarding partners to develop robust information sharing systems?

In 2015, Kent Safeguarding Children’s Board (KSCB) developed eCDOP – a case management system designed to digitalise the child death review (CDR) process to aid learning and inform practice, helping to reduce further child deaths in England. This was done without national direction or support.

Yet the need for such a system had been formally identified in 2013 in a report commissioned by the DfE and produced by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford.

A second report published nine months after eCDOP went live essentially reinforced the earlier findings, but called for a greater focus on the need for a national child death database.

Despite this, there was no central or local direction to progress the recommendations or to engage with KSCB whose eCDOP system was fast being recognised as a key change agent. It was KSCB’s local commitment and promotion of the eCDOP system which led to it being validated by NHS Digital and supported by Health London Partnerships – who provided two years’ funding for all London CDOPs to implement the system.

The eCDOP system is now used by 95 per cent of England’s CDR partnerships and has been integral to the standardisation of CDR practice. The system is compliant, web-based and supports national guidance to ensure consistency among safeguarding teams’ approaches. It allows CDR partnerships to facilitate secure multi-agency information sharing, derive lessons and recommendations, and implement changes in practice through the action tracking feature.

Sophisticated reports are available in real-time to identify and react to emerging trends on local and regional levels, with new digital solutions introduced regularly to align with national policy developments.

The successful digitalisation of the CDR process and real-time reporting of child deaths into eCDOP means that more information can be appropriately shared through the system. This led to the creation of the world’s first National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), into which all eCDOP systems now feed, to support the national approach of analysis and reduction of child death.

As data is held digitally, the technology allows cases to be transferred between different areas and eCDOP systems with full audit logs if a case has been received or sent out of area/borough.

The success of digitalising the CDR process has also realised significant improvements in the quality and efficiencies of real-time multi-agency data collections. Digital learning has been used to inform other safeguarding areas and continues to evolve to ensure the effectiveness of multi-agency information sharing.

The following systems have now been developed by QES – responsible for both eCDOP and NCMD – to improve security, efficiencies and real-time reporting within different areas of safeguarding:

• Serious Practice Review and Serious Adult Review

• Domestic Homicide Review/MARAC

• Suspected and Attempted Real-Time Suicide Surveillance

• Drug and Alcohol Related Death Reviews

• Homeless Mortality Reviews

• Local Authority Designated Officer

So why, with clear evidence of what is possible with local input and minimal funding, do so many safeguarding partners continue to work with excel spreadsheets to store information; use IT systems that are not cloud-based and require “bolt-ons” to be adapted to new processes and practice, holding information that cannot be accessed in real-time by other key safeguarding partners?

Why given the eCDOP exemplar is there little national interest in similarly digitalising other key safeguarding areas – and for how much longer will “poor information sharing” be identified as a factor in the deaths of children?

The technology is out there: there is no excuse for not using it effectively.

RESEARCH SUMMARY
IMPROVING CHILDREN’S SOCIAL CARE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

The Department for Education asked consultancy FutureGov to undertake a review into how digital and technology systems could be used by social workers to improve information sharing in children’s social care. FutureGov supports public sector organisations with digital transformation and service design.

The DfE recognised that social workers were spending much of their time on administrative tasks and needed to be freed up to have more time to work directly with families in need.

Through a combination of desk research, interviews and mock-ups of lo-fi and digital concepts, FutureGov tested the hypotheses by speaking to front-door staff, social workers, team managers, health visitors and police officers at councils across England. The research was not just about understanding user needs, but also assessing feasibility and viability.

Ultimately, it found there is an opportunity for the DfE and digital to help:

• Enable more effective recording for social workers

• Build stronger relationships with and around families

• System leaders and social workers align on recording best practice.

Key findings

Facing complex caseloads and ineffective technology, it can be difficult for social workers to prioritise tasks, record content and complete all visits and assessments. Researchers concluded there is an opportunity to enable more effective recording for social workers to help with prioritisation of time, recording on the go and for different audiences, all through a trusted system.

Front-door staff often need to make crucial decisions quickly. To do so, they need basic information, but do not have access to verified databases that contain a more complete understanding of a child’s experience. FutureGov identified six opportunities for technology to help improve children’s social care outcomes for families, practitioners and councils:

1. To support front-door workers to gather information from those who can access different agencies’ systems and databases, leading to better referrals and the inclusion of the relevant information in cases.

2. To provide a flexible referral tool to allow for the timely sharing of information and concerns with partners.

3. To provide access to the most appropriate tools, resources and services for a given situation.

4. Providing more flexible tools will enable more ownership of workers’ schedules and versatility in recording, reducing the time spent on administration.

5. Enable a stronger relationship between social workers, children and families preparing both workers and families for visits and creating the opportunity for families to contribute to their story.

6. Could add clear guidance and best practice to provide social workers with the assurance to support children and families, knowing that statutory and internal reporting needs are being met.

FutureGov says delivering these measures could improve efficiencies and reduce the amount of time practitioners spend on unnecessary recording.

• More from wearefuturegov.com/case-study/dfe-childrens-social-care
  
  

HOW INFORMATION IN EDUCATION, HEALTH AND CARE PLANS CAN HELP COUNCILS MANAGE SEND BUDGETS

By Natalie Kenneison, chief operating officer, Imosphere

One of the driving factors behind the recently published review into special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was to understand the reasons behind the rise in the number of education, health and care plans (EHCP) being issued.

The number of EHCPs have increased year on year since their introduction in 2014 and as of January 2021, there are 430,700 young people with an EHCP – an increase of 10 per cent compared to 2020.

With more EHCPs, there are also more young people needing to share the High Needs Block of funding in each local authority. It is predicted that the deficit for SEND services will total up to £3bn by 2023. Under this strain, local authorities are struggling to provide adequate provision for all young people requiring support, while also keeping a handle on their budgets. This in turn is putting financial pressure on schools to provide more with less.

The intentions of the Children and Families Act 2014 are good, but sadly the EHCP, like the statement of need, is still being seen primarily as an education document. Plans often miss out details about health and social care provision because the three agencies work separately and protect their individual budgets. Reviews are conducted by each agency, but that information doesn’t always make its way to the EHCP annual reviews, which means that plans get out of date quickly and leaves authorities unable to meet their statutory duties.

I often talk about the richness of the detail within EHCPs and about how the information captured around an individual’s needs is predominantly qualitative, and rightly so. However, this qualitative information also makes it incredibly difficult to provide any data to forecast future spend and commissioning decisions or support the government to provide the funding to local authorities based on current and historical information.

If information related to need isn’t captured in a quantifiable way, then it becomes difficult to report on and identify trends, and to improve things for the future. Increasingly, we’re seeing local authorities implement digital tools that give them a better together approach to assessments – using both qualitative and quantitative data. Education Banding Tools are a good example of this and help local authorities calculate the education element of the High Needs Block “top up” funding. Using a needs profile, the tool captures a child or young person’s special educational needs using the information in their EHCP. This is then used to calculate an individualised funding band based on a complete picture of their needs.

Digital tools like this look at the holistic needs of each young person and ensure that calculations are based on the support required to meet their educational needs. It also provides a fair and consistent way of calculating funding which can be revisited when a child or young person’s needs change. This allows local authorities to take a needs-led approach while enabling efficiencies and allowing for subsequent data analysis that can help identify local trends, delivering a more integrated approach. Ultimately, digital systems can make a positive contribution to this process, enabling local authorities to secure the special educational provision needed and achieve the best possible outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

• More from www.imosphere.com

Read more in CYP Now's Digital Solutions special report