The value of children's trusts

As manager of one of four children's action teams in Reading, Andy Fitton sees the benefits of children's trusts on a daily basis.

He recalls a recent case where a young mother living in privately rented housing got into debt and fell behind with her rent.

In her frustration, she damaged the property, got evicted and found herself unable to find a social housing place after officially making herself "intentionally homeless".

"Because we have a trust in place, which the action team and housing team is part of, we were able to work quickly to get her a home, address child protection concerns and come up with a package of support to help her, including debt management," says Fitton.

The children's action teams involve children's professionals such as health visitors, school nurses, family support workers and youth workers, all working together in the same building.

Positive steps

Anna Wright, Reading's director of education and children's services, says the action teams are one of the most effective initiatives to emerge from the town's children's trust, which was set up two years ago but was preceded by a less formal partnership group.

The area's children's trusts arrangements are overseen by a board that meets six times a year, as well as a joint commissioning group that meets more regularly to decide where money should be spent.

There are 13 partners involved in the arrangements - including NHS Berkshire West, Thames Valley Police and Reading Children's & Voluntary Youth Services.

"The action teams ensure that the priorities that are set through our children's plan, such as tackling child poverty, are put into practice locally. The trust and the action teams have brought us out of our silos," explains Wright.

Tracey Daniel, teenage pregnancy co-ordinator for Reading, believes that the joint commissioning role of the trust is helping the area to tackle its high levels of teenage pregnancy rates for under-16s.

Daniel, who has a background in youth work, rather than healthcare, explains that historically, teenage pregnancy was the sole responsibility of the local health trust. She says: "This approach meant that schools, youth workers and youth offending teams were not properly involved. Condom distribution was not well co-ordinated, and usually happened through hospitals, not where young people actually went."

Initiatives introduced under the trust arrangement include joint commissioning of a "C-card" for young people, who can use it to get free condoms in places they regularly attend, such as youth clubs. The scheme will soon include local chemists, which will be reimbursed through the trust.

Divided opinion

A peer education scheme has also been set up through the children's trust, where 25 young people have been trained to provide sexual-health and substance-misuse advice to other young people.

"We had one teenage mum become a peer educator," says Daniel. "Because of this involvement, she now has a part-time job, is more confident and helps us with launches of sexual-health campaigns.

"All of these initiatives would have been very difficult to organise without a trust," she adds.

Despite this enthusiasm for children's trusts in Reading, Education Secretary Michael Gove is less impressed. Last week, he confirmed the government's plan to remove the legal requirement on local authorities to set up children's trust boards and produce children's and young people's plans. And while the legal requirement for key agencies to cooperate will continue, the list of statutory partners will be reviewed.

Wright, however, is adamant that Reading's trust will remain. "It will carry on here," she says. "It has made an enormous difference. From police to health and across the council, we have the same priorities regarding young people and can now pool our budgets more easily."

She disagrees with the accusation that trusts are a bureaucratic burden, countering that they actually provide a cost-effective way for those working with children to share resources.

The council, Wright says, employs just one part-time children's trust manager to "chase people and ensure they are doing what they say they will". Despite the fact that the role is currently being reviewed as part of wider cost-cutting plans, it will remain in place, Wright says, although possibly with the addition of other duties such as co-ordinating the local safeguarding board.

Ben Cross, development worker at Reading Children's & Voluntary Youth Services and vice-chair of the trust, says local charities also want the children's trust to continue.

"The trust is very beneficial," he says. "It gives us the opportunity to be a partner in providing and allocating services. This does not feel like a 'Reading Council plus others' situation at all."

But not all trusts have proved as effective, admits Sir Paul Ennals, chief executive of the National Children's Bureau. "Some areas are resistant to the concept and have tried to do everything they can to get around working together," he says. "If trusts are not statutory, the good ones will continue and the bad ones won't. That is a worry."

Another challenge facing trusts is the government's plan to reform the health service. Under the new NHS white paper, the government proposes axing primary care trusts, with GPs taking centre stage in the commissioning of local healthcare services. Ennals believes this will create another layer of bureaucracy and will mean trusts having to forge new relationships with health partners.

He adds that the determination to make cutbacks in the public sector makes the joint-commissioning function of trusts even more important. "Children's trusts' time has come. Most people are aware that there is a need to pool resources - it just makes financial sense," he says.

Extra benefits

Care for children with disabilities is one of the main services that benefits from a trust arrangement, says Jo Fisher, Luton council's integrated service manager for children with additional needs.

"Joint commissioning, through the children's trust, of services for children with multiple needs is invaluable to our work as we don't have to chase money," she says.

Fisher cites a package of services jointly commissioned by the trust for one disabled 12-year-old girl, who also has health conditions including epilepsy. "We have been able to employ a carer, like a foster carer, who stays with her at night. But because we are part of a trust, the carer gets training from a community nurse," she says.

A shared carer scheme - where families of children with disabilities can get a break, with the child staying with another family in Luton for a night - is also funded jointly through the trust.

And despite trusts being statutory and being required to involve certain partner agencies, there is still plenty of scope to tailor them to specific local needs.

In East Sussex, which covers a wide rural area as well as urban areas of high social deprivation, such as Hastings and Eastbourne, the children's trust has been divided into 22 distinct groups based on clusters of schools. Higher up the structure there are five regional groups based along borough and district council boundaries, as well as a central trust board.

Dave Ely, children's services manager for one of the trust's partners, Action In Rural Sussex, says this structure is invaluable to the charity's work with families.

The charity has been commissioned by the trust to provide support such as family counselling in rural areas. "We really feel part of the trust," he says. "At a local level, we know the school staff through the local groups. At a central level, the trust helps as we are part of a wider structure that has a common assessment framework and is working to the Every Child Matters agenda."

Here to stay

Ely cites a pupil whose behaviour at school was being affected by the separation of his parents. "There were lots of issues, such as conflict over access," he says. "We were able to organise a family counselling session, which included the school and a school nurse, to look at how the situation could be improved for the benefit of the child."

Matt Dunkley, East Sussex County Council's director of children's services, is also adamant that the trust will remain after the legal requirement is removed. "We've already had this conversation between the partners. The trust works, it's cost-effective and is now invaluable to us in supporting families," he says.

CHILDREN'S TRUSTS: HOW THEY WORK

What are children's trusts? Children's trusts were established through the 2004 Children's Act to bring together organisations that work with children. These organisations are expected to work in partnership to improve outcomes for children. By 2008, all areas in England were supposed to have a children's trust in place.

Are all children's trusts the same? There are similarities. All trusts must have a board to oversee their operations, but there is scope to tailor their structure to fit the local area. For example, those in more rural areas can involve distinct local groups within the trust. In small urban areas, such groups may not be necessary.

What does the children's trust do? An important duty of trusts is to develop the children and young people's plan, which outlines the priorities for all the partners in improving outcomes for children and young people. Priorities will be distinct to each local area. While the trust prepares the plan, it is up to the partners to deliver it. Many trusts have pooled their resources and jointly commission services.

Who is part of the trust? The top-tier local authority is required to set up and maintain the partnership. There are a number of statutory partners, including primary care trusts, the police and schools, which are required to be involved. The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 updated the list of partners to include maintained schools, non-maintained special schools, academies, further education colleges and pupil referral units.

Are voluntary organisations included in children's trusts? Often, local charities that provide services for children and families are included as partners, but it is left up to each area to decide the level of input from such non-statutory groups.