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Residential trips are a priceless commodity

    Other
  • Monday, August 4, 2014
  • | CYP Now
Necessity is the mother of invention, so the saying goes. It is a maxim that could be applied to most of the services for children and young people today - being able to do more with less is a key requirement for any chief executive, middle manager or frontline practitioner.

Free childcare scheme needs more investment

    Other
  • Monday, June 23, 2014
  • | CYP Now
The government's free childcare offer for disadvantaged two-year-olds is both laudable and much needed. But that alone will not guarantee its success. Concerns about implementation of the initiative - which is meant to provide 15 hours of free childcare per week for the 130,000 most disadvantaged two-year-olds - have been around for some time. In the spring, the government's own figures showed a quarter of the expected number of places had yet to be created.

Outsourcing proposals require time and care

    Other
  • Monday, June 9, 2014
  • | CYP Now
If the submissions to the government's outsourcing consultations gathered by CYP Now is an accurate barometer of the sector overall, then the jury is well and truly out as to whether local authorities should be allowed to contract out children's social care services.

Councils must build on youth housing solutions

    Other
  • Monday, May 26, 2014
  • | CYP Now
The 10 per cent rise in house prices in England reported last week was widely seen as another sign that the economy is recovering from the deepest recession in living memory. Good news for home owners certainly, but soaring property prices are making it harder for young people to not just get on the housing ladder, but branch out into independent living generally.

Editorial: Outsourcing proposals could benefit charities

    Other
  • Tuesday, May 13, 2014
  • | CYP Now
The announcement last month of the consultation into the widescale outsourcing of children's services would have surprised few in the sector. Controversial though it may be, the government has been laying the groundwork for the creation of a children's social care "market" for the past year. But although the direction of travel has been clear for some time, the ramifications of such a move are only now starting to be thought through.

Councils need help to beat child poverty rise

    Other
  • Monday, April 28, 2014
  • | CYP Now
Projecting what will happen to child poverty figures between now and 2020 is a difficult task for the statisticians and number crunchers, let alone politicians and campaigners. So pronouncements on what the future holds have to be treated with a hefty dose of caution, particularly with a general election not far away.

'Schoolification' is not the answer to narrow the gap

    Other
  • Monday, April 14, 2014
  • | CYP Now
Patience is a virtue in short supply in public services, particularly among politicians and policymakers. There can be few areas where this is more evident than in education, where initiatives and overhauls of curriculums, exams and structures seem to come ever thicker and faster. A couple of weeks ago, early years providers discovered how impatient the government and its agencies are to raise standards, with the sector's record for improving the outcomes for disadvantaged children coming under scrutiny.

Where is the long-term plan on job Å creation?

    Other
  • Monday, March 31, 2014
  • | CYP Now
At an event in parliament last week, young people and MPs gathered to discuss the challenge of youth unemployment. Organised by youth initiative the 99% Campaign, the panel concluded that unless speedy solutions are found to help the near one million young people not in education, employment or training (Neet), the problem could blight a generation for decades.

Editorial: You have to be inside the tent to influence decisions

    News
  • Monday, March 31, 2014
  • | CYP Now
The decision by children's minister Edward Timpson to commission what amounts to a feasibility study into the widespread outsourcing of struggling children's services represents the thin end of the wedge (news roundup, p5). While the study is linked directly to the future of children's social care in Birmingham, the fact it has one eye on developing alternative delivery models that can be applied elsewhere means the government is determined to make it easier for councils to outsource services if they are deemed to be failing.

Labour must produce a clear vision for children

    Other
  • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
  • | CYP Now
After a slow start, Labour seems to be finding its feet in opposition. But with a general election a little over a year away, time is running out for the party to produce a coherent policy vision for children, young people and families.

New Ofsted inspections must show consistency

    Other
  • Tuesday, March 4, 2014
  • | CYP Now
Inspection is a tough brief. Just like a football referee, an Ofsted inspector will rarely please everyone: one minute you are being accused by politicians and the public of being too soft and failing to spot bad practice, while the next, those you regulate will be hopping up and down over a perceived injustice in judgment.

New Ofsted inspections must show consistency

    Other
  • Tuesday, March 4, 2014
  • | CYP Now
Inspection is a tough brief. Just like a football referee, an Ofsted inspector will rarely please everyone: one minute you are being accused by politicians and the public of being too soft and failing to spot bad practice, while the next, those you regulate will be hopping up and down over a perceived injustice in judgment.

Creative thinking is vital for children's centres to survive

    Other
  • Tuesday, January 21, 2014
  • | CYP Now
Barely a week goes by without another council announcing plans to downsize its network of children's centres. From Kent to Bradford, Northants to Nottinghamshire, children's centres, like most other local authority services in England, are being squeezed in the face of unrelenting funding cuts.

Councils need the means to deliver foster care support

    Other
  • Tuesday, December 17, 2013
  • | CYP Now
A little over two months ago, the Fostering Network called on the government to do the right thing - both morally and economically - by extending financial support to foster carers and in doing so enable children they care for to stay in the placement past their 18th birthday and up to 21 if they so wish.

Youth work must tap into education policy spine

    Other
  • Tuesday, November 12, 2013
  • | CYP Now
The admission by minister for civil society Nick Hurd that he is still unsure where council-led youth work fits into the government's future vision for the sector is not the most surprising of revelations.

Blame games make the job of a DCS untenable

    Opinion
  • Tuesday, October 15, 2013
  • | CYP Now
Last Friday, the Reading Post published a story about how children's services in the town received only one application for each of the three senior social worker jobs it advertised. On the same day, the Coventry Telegraph reported that 30 demonstrators had gathered outside the city's town hall calling for more action to be taken against the agencies involved in the Daniel Pelka case.

Children's services need clarity of accountability

    Other
  • Tuesday, August 20, 2013
  • | CYP Now
The government's proposals to transfer responsibility for children's social services in Doncaster from the local council to an independent trust have come under attack from Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones in her detailed response to the plans.

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