Practitioner opinion is split over non-social work qualified staff carrying out child in need assessments, a poll has found.

Under 2023 reforms to the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance, staff other than social workers can take on child in need assessments, under the oversight of a social work-qualified manager or practice supervisor.

This approach is currently being tested by the 10 families first for children pathfinder areas, where assessments and cases have been allocated to a range of staff, as part of the development of family help teams. These are responsible for targeted early help and child in need services and include social workers, family support staff and practitioners from disciplines such as substance misuse or domestic abuse.

Under the government’s children’s social care reforms, family help will be extended nationwide in 2025-26, though it will be up to individual councils to decide how far they do – or do not – ring-fence child in need assessments and cases for social workers.

Divided opinion

A Community Care poll with 800 votes found practitioners were divided on having non-social work qualified staff carry out child in need assessments.

Almost half of respondents (46%) said having non-social work qualified staff carry out child in need assessments carried “too much risk for children”.

This chimes with concerns raised by the British Association of Social Workers and Ofsted about the 2023 Working Together changes after they were announced.

Another 43% agreed “in principle” with the idea, but said the staff would need “appropriate training and supervision” for this to work.

Only 11% fully backed the idea, saying that many alternatively qualified staff were “highly skilled” and it would free up social workers’ time.

Practitioners have ‘experience, but lack knowledge’

One social worker, in the comments of a related article, called the idea “dangerous”, adding that the practitioners would have “experience, but lack the knowledge”.

“It’s a short-term, cost-effective measure that will bear huge costs in the long term, not to mention the human cost and impact that could well be catastrophic.”

However, Tahin responded by saying that there should be less “assumed knowledge”, from having a social work qualification, and “more promotion of experience”.

What do you think of alternatively qualified staff carrying out child in need assessments and holding these cases?

By Professor Andy Bilson and Dr Matthew Jay

Our study using national data estimated that a quarter of all children in England became a child in need before their 18th birthday.

This means that these children, according to section 17 of the Children Act 1989, required services from children’s social care because they were disabled or would not otherwise reach a basic level of wellbeing.

The findings highlight the significant reach of social care interventions and raise questions about the systemic issues contributing to such widespread need.

The Department for Education’s (DfE) annual children in need census indicated that 3.4% of all children aged 0-17 were classified as “in need” on 31 March 2023. But this is an annual snapshot.

Estimating childhood rates of involvement

Our team took a different approach, using an anonymised version of the dataset to track children’s social care involvement over time.

As the DfE’s data doesn’t cover an 18-year period, we estimated cumulative incidences using three different birth cohorts, employing statistical models to ensure double counting of individuals was ruled out. In this way we produced a more comprehensive view of how many children interact with social care services throughout their lives, rather than just a yearly snapshot.

We estimated that 25.3% of all children would be identified as “in need” at least once before adulthood. Our findings are supported by earlier research by Professor Bilson, in which local authorities said that 14% of children in their areas had been a child in need before their fifth birthday in 2017.

Additionally, our study estimated that, before turning 18:

• 35.4% of children have been referred to social care services;
• 32.3% have undergone a social work assessment;
• 6.9% have become subject to a child protection plan.

Prevalence of abuse or neglect concerns

As a statistical study, we were not able to look at the quality or nature of the child in need services offered to children. Support may range from parenting assistance and home adaptations, under a child in need plan, to child protection plans or being taken into care, depending on the child’s circumstances.

However, a recent freedom of information request made to the DfE by Professor Bilson showed that, for 78% of all children placed on a child in need plan between 2015 and 2023, the initial need was either because of abuse or neglect or family dysfunction. The latter category refers to families where social workers consider that chronically inadequate parenting is impairing the child’s health and development “but for whom there is not yet hard enough evidence to invoke child protection measures.” (DfE Children in Need Census Guide).

Given our finding about the proportion of children who become involved with children’s social care, this suggests that nearly one in five children may be classified as in need, during their childhoods, because of concerns about abuse or neglect or inadequate parenting.

Higher rates of intervention in deprived areas

The Child Welfare Inequalities Project found that in England, the rate of children on a child protection plan (CPP) in the most deprived 10% of the country was 2.4 times the national average.

As noted above, we found that 6.9% of children were made subject to a children protection plan during their childhoods. If the deprivation ratio from the Child Welfare Inequalities Project holds for childhood involvement, this means that one in every six children in the most deprived 10% of areas would have been on a child protection plan before their eighteenth birthday.

Also, if we were to assume that the same ratio holds in relation to children being classed as in need, this would mean more than three out of five children in the most deprived 10% of the country would have been deemed to require services to achieve a basic level of wellbeing during their childhoods. And in most such cases, this would have been because of concerns about abuse or neglect or inadequate parenting.

Implications for policy and practice

The study’s findings have significant implications for social work practice, policymaking and resource allocation. The data suggests that children’s social care is not just an emergency intervention for a minority, but a service that touches the lives of many families, potentially a majority in the most deprived areas.

It also raises concerns about whether adequate support is in place to prevent families from reaching the point where their health or development is in jeopardy, particularly for those in the most deprived communities.

There were about 225,000 child protection investigations in England last year. Combined with the fact that the principal need for the majority of children in need relates to suspicions of abuse or neglect, it is likely that the focus of most such interventions would be investigative.

Need to tackle root causes of vulnerability 

With child poverty levels remaining high and public services under pressure from extensive government cuts, social workers and policymakers must consider how best to address the root causes of children’s vulnerability. Investing in community support and development and tackling the impacts of poverty at its core may be key to reducing the long-term reliance on social care services.

We recommend that the government monitor the cumulative incidence of children receiving social care support and analyse data by measures of deprivation, with a view to addressing upstream health and social determinants of social work involvement.

As the sector continues to grapple with increasing demand and service cuts, these findings serve as a call to action for a more holistic approach to supporting children and families before social care intervention becomes necessary.

The research, published in the International Journal of Population Data Science, was led by Dr Matthew Jay (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) with collaborators at the University of Edinburgh, University of Central Lancashire, the Fisher Family Trust and the University of Westminster.

Understanding the child’s experience

The short- and long-term impact of parental substance misuse on children can be significant. Understanding the child’s experiences is central when working with parental substance misuse.

It is important to bear in mind that children may know a great deal about their parent’s use of substances, despite best efforts to keep things hidden. Even very young children may know that ‘something’ is going on and can be sensitive to the shifts in their parent’s presentation, such as the changing sights and smells of the house or how their parents are responding to them and each other (Houmoller et al, 2011).

It may be difficult to directly ask the child about their parent’s substance misuse. The parent might not want you to, or might believe the child knows nothing, or the child might feel worried about telling a professional. In these situations, a good starting point is to assess what a ‘typical’ day or week looks like for the child.

For example, you could talk about who they see, what happens, who looks after them or who they go to for help if they need something or are scared. These kinds of questions may help to unpick what the child’s experiences are, and how safe and stable they feel home life is.

Tips for working with children

Below are recommendations for how to approach working with children affected by parental substance misuse. These recommendations have been developed from studies where researchers talked to children about what they wanted from professionals.

• Use a non-judgmental approach: Studies show that children can experience discrimination or stigma from professionals as a result of their parent’s substance misuse (Muir et al, 2022). Children are also very likely be aware of the shame and stigma that surrounds parental substance misuse. Professionals need to approach these conversations mindful of the language they use about substance misuse and the child’s parents/carers and the assumptions they may have made about the child’s experiences.
• Provide stability and consistency: Children affected by parental substance misuse may have experienced a great deal of inconsistency in their lives and may therefore be particularly affected by things like staff turnover. Aiming to ensure a stable and consistent professional figure in a child’s life is important. To create this stable relationship, there are important things a social worker can do such as:

• • Booking visits ahead of time, making the child aware of the location and time and giving notice if things change and the visit is not possible.
  • Not over-promising; ensuring that you follow through on what you say you will do (eg making a referral).
  • Being honest about who you share information with and why, and what might happen as a result.
  • Being clear about your role in their life, how long you might be in their life for and what might happen when you are no longer their social worker.
  • Ensuring a managed ending which the child can prepare for.

• Use professionalism: Children value professionals who are non-confrontational in their approach (O’Connor et al, 2014; Houmoller et al, 2011) and who do not ‘quiz’ the child about their parent’s substance misuse (Muir et al, 2022). Children want professionals who are reliable and proactive in responding to disclosures made by them (Muir et al, 2022). Children also need to know that professionals are trustworthy and safe and that the information they share is safe. Some information children tell professionals may need to be written down or shared with other people, which requires professionals to be transparent about information sharing.
• Listen and understand: It is important that children are listened to, respected and believed. Children value flexibility in how professionals communicate and engage with them (Muir et al, 2022). Some children particularly value being able to just ‘sit’ in a safe place with a professional (eg in a teacher’s office) and not necessarily talk about anything. Children also note that the most supportive professionals tend to have a good understanding of parental substance misuse (Houmoller et al, 2011). If children have additional needs around communication, social workers need to give further consideration to ensure they are listened to and understood and ensure that their approach is appropriate to the child’s development and needs. Inform Children users can find additional information and advice can on this in these case studies from a specialist team on working with disabled children.
• Acknowledge and respect the child’s expertise: Children are experts in their own lives. Children may also have considerable strategies already in place to protect themselves and their siblings. These might include having a safe family member or friend to talk to or stay with, having a safe space in the house away from their parents, writing in journals or practising mindfulness (Muir et al, 2022). Children may also have coping strategies which are potentially harmful, for example, isolating themselves (Velleman and Templeton, 2007). When working with children, it is important to respect their expertise and potentially build on their protective strategies if it is appropriate to do.
• Support the whole family: Children report wanting practical and emotional support for them and their family. Practical support, such as financial support and help with day-to-day issues, may immediately improve a child’s life. Emotional support can be provided through one-to-one support, group work or specialist support in the local area. There are also useful websites which have resources for children affected by parental substance misuse. Children may also want support in understanding more about substance misuse. Many children report being frightened by their parent’s substance use, including worrying about them dying or being very unwell. Children do not necessarily have age-appropriate ways of finding out information about substance misuse. The signposting section in the full guide includes some resources which may be helpful to use when working with children and young people.
• Use holistic interventions: Interventions which work to help achieve best outcomes for children and families are:

• • holistic, providing support for different issues in family life;
  • integrated, with different professionals working collaboratively with the family and each other;
  • long term, as substance misuse is a relapsing and remitting issue which is unlikely to be resolved quickly and without ongoing support;
  • engaged with the whole family, with support available for the children as well as the adults in the family (McGovern et al, 2022).

What to read next

• Parental mental illness
• Increasing parental motivation and aspiration
• Parenting assessments

References

Houmoller, K, Bernays, S, Wilson, S & Rhodes, T (2011)
Juggling Harms: Coping with Parental Substance Misuse

Muir, C, Adams, E. A, Evans, V et al (2022)
‘A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies Exploring Lived Experiences, Perceived Impact, and Coping Strategies of Children and Young People Whose Parents Use Substances‘

McGovern, R, Newham, J, Addison, M, Hickman, M, Kaner, E (2022)
‘The effectiveness of psychosocial interventions at reducing the frequency of alcohol and drug use in parents: findings of a Cochrane Review and meta-analyses‘

O’Connor, L, Forrester, D, Holland, S & Williams, A (2014)
‘Perspectives on children’s experiences in families with parental substance misuse and child protection interventions’

Templeton, L, Velleman, R (2007)
Understanding and modifying the impact of parents substance misuse on children

There is strong evidence that parenting support services improve outcomes for children and adults in families experiencing adversity, councils have been told.

The latest government-commissioned practice guide to what works in children’s social care said interventions for parents of children aged 0-10 could improve parenting practices and child behaviour, lessen levels of stress and support adults mental health.

It also highlighted the vital importance of practitioners’ skills in building trusting relationships with, and in empowering, parents, and also the value placed by staff and parents alike on interventions that recognised the interconnections between parents’ and children’s needs.

Case for prioritising parenting support ‘has never been stronger’

Sector what works body Foundations, which published the guide today, said it was based on the first major review of UK and international evidence on parenting support for families experiencing adversity, including adult mental health problems, substance misuse or domestic abuse.

On the back of the guide, Foundations’ deputy chief executive, Donna Molloy said: “As councils struggle to cope with the costs of children’s social care, our evidence shows that proven models of parenting support can help to keep children safe with their families, improve their outcomes and alleviate pressure on an already overstretched system.

“The case for prioritising proven parenting interventions has never been stronger.”

Evidence to meet government social care outcomes

The practice guide is the second of a series of Department for Education-commissioned resources from Foundations designed to provide senior leaders in councils and partner agencies with the strongest available evidence to deliver on the outcomes in the children’s social care national framework.

The DfE-issued statutory guidance, published in 2023 under the previous government’s children’s social care reforms, sets four overarching objectives for the sector and three key enablers for achieving them:

• Outcome 1: children, young people and families stay together and get the help they need.
• Outcome 2: children and young people are supported by their family network.
• Outcome 3: children and young people are safe in and outside of their homes.
• Outcome 4: children in care and care leavers have stable, loving homes.
• Enabler 1: multi-agency working is prioritised and effective.
• Enabler 2: leaders drive conditions for effective practice.
• Enabler 3: the workforce is equipped and effective.

The first guide, on kinship care, was published in October last year, and the one on parenting through adversity for parents of babies and children aged 0-10 is the first of four on parenting support. The others will cover support for families in adversity with children aged 11-19, parents or carers of children with disabilities or severe mental illness and adoptive and foster parents.

Rising parental mental health needs ahead of family help reforms

The parenting through adversity guide comes amid a growth in the numbers of children in need assessments identifying parental mental health or substance misuse problems, which directors of children’s services have warned is increasing risks to the youngest children.

At the same time, councils are set to implement significant reforms to the way they support families, through the rollout of the family help model in 2025-26.

This involves the merger of targeted early help and child in need services into multidisciplinary teams, designed to provide families experiencing adversity with early, non-stigmatising help, =to resolve issues and prevent them escalating into child protection concerns.

Though the government is providing a £270m grant to implement the changes, the reforms come with councils under significant financial strain.

Guide ‘will help councils focus resources on what works’

Foundations’ head of practice guides, social worker Nimal Jude, said the latest guide would enable authorities to determine where to invest their resources.

“We are acutely aware of some of the workforce pressures and the wider financial situations that local areas are in,” she said. 

“It feels like this guide has come at such a crucial time during this transformation to family help, because you can really make some decisions about what things that you might want to scale back and what things that you might want to focus attention on, not least because you can now focus your attention with the full confidence that this is actually the best available evidence.”

The evidence base

The guide is based on two systematic reviews of the evidence around parenting support for families with multiple and complex needs.

The first, carried out by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI), in partnership with the universities of Oxford, Amsterdam and Monash, examined which interventions relevant to the UK, had the strongest evidence for reducing child maltreatment or improving child outcomes, along with what practice and delivery approaches contributed to success.

It examined 95 randomised controlled trials – where participants are randomly allocated into a group that receives the intervention and a control group – of 50 parenting interventions, finding:

• Small to moderate statistically significant effects on children’s emotional and behavioural problems, child wellbeing and parent-child relationships.
• Small to moderate statistically significant effects on promoting positive parenting (for example, appropriate disciplining, praise, warmth, and nurturing behaviours) and reducing negative parenting (for example, hostile parenting or laxness).
• Small statistically significant effects on parental mental health and reducing parental stress.
• Small but non-significant effects on reducing parental maltreatment and child abuse risk.

Strengthening parent-child relationships 

Based on the CEI’s systematic review, Foundations said there was “strong evidence” for the benefits of providing parenting interventions to strengthen parent-child relationships, and that councils should make these available to families with children aged 0-3.

It said these should be based on, and delivered by practitioners well-trained in, attachment and/or social learning theory (which posits that children learn through observation, including parental modelling). These staff should be able to observe and reflect on how parents respond to children’s cues and explore parents’ own attachment experiences.

The guide also said there was “strong evidence” for councils commissioning interventions to improve child behaviours, reduce negative parenting practices and improve positive practices.

Improving child behaviour and parenting practices

In relation to behaviour, key features shared by effective interventions were supporting parents in setting clear expectations and boundaries and promoting child-led interactions.

Promoting positive parenting can include practitioners taking on a coaching role, which requires them being skilled in coaching techniques and being able to build long-lasting, trusting relationships with parents.

The guide also said there was “strong evidence” that parenting interventions can reduce parental stress and improve mental health for those with mild-to-moderate problems.

Improving mental health

It said practitioners should be skilled in understanding the impacts of stress on parents experiencing adversity and should be given time to develop relationships with them, to enable parents to learn new skills and make use of feedback.

While the guide stressed that that parenting interventions were not sufficient to achieve significant changes to mental health, it said there was evidence they could improve parenting skills, even in adults with clinical levels of illness.

It said these programmes should involve practitioners offering guidance on child development and supporting parents’ abilities to manage their emotions.

Evidence ‘promising’ in relation to reducing harm

On reducing the risk of harm to children, Foundations said the level of evidence for parenting interventions was “promising”.

It said programmes that involved a fixed and structured series of sessions tended to be more effective in this area than those that were flexible.

The guide added that local leaders should examine the need to invest in these services for families with children on the edge of care and in the rollout of family help.

Vital importance of practitioners’ interpersonal skills

Alongside the CEI review, Foundations carried out its own systematic review of studies on the barriers and enablers to successful implementation of parenting interventions for families in adversity and on parents’ views, experiences and preferences in relation to these. This drew upon 33 studies.

Among two findings that had “high” certainty, based on the strength of the evidence, was that practitioner interpersonal behaviours were “essential to building trusting relationships and empowering parents”.

The review said parents valued practitioner characteristics such as openness, non-judgmentalism and encouragement, which facilitated the development of the trust that was “essential” in promoting change.

Building trust was supported by an initial home visit, communication outside of scheduled sessions, regular attendance from the parent and a consistent workforce, with parents highlighting the challenges of doing so when workers changed.

Recognising that parents’ and children’s needs are ‘intertwined’

The other finding that was deemed to be of high certainty was that both parents and practitioners value interventions that recognise “the intertwined relationship between parents’ practical and psychological needs and the needs of their children”.

Practitioners appreciated that supporting the parent, by focusing on their practical, social and emotional needs, was often the best way to help the child, with this approach welcomed by parents, the review said.

Based on its review, Foundations identified 12 principles for working with families in delivering parenting interventions:

1. Tailoring parenting support to ages and stages of child development.
2. Using strengths-based approaches to engage parents and offering parenting support across the system.
3. Ensuring that parents from minoritised ethnic backgrounds have equitable access to effective parenting interventions and that these are delivered in a way that fully meets
   their needs.
4. Understanding that parenting interventions work well for families where the parent has poor mental health, and, when delivered successfully, support parents to improve parent and child outcomes.
5. Prioritising face-to-face delivery of support.
6. Implementing both fixed and flexible delivery models to support a mixed local offer and prioritising more structured interventions to effectively reduce the risk of serious harm to children, directing resources where they are most needed.
7. Tailoring local programmes to meet the specific needs of families, offering both group and individual options to support engagement and provide parents with choice.
8. Focusing on careful implementation, effective delivery, and ongoing quality assurance to ensure the success of interventions.
9. That a strong local offer should start with a robust population needs analysis and involve place-based system leadership to develop a multi-agency offer.
10. That local areas should have effective referral routes into parenting interventions from a range of local services.
11. That effective parenting support requires a skilled and integrated workforce to deliver effective interventions.
12. Parenting support should form part of a wider system of support that strengthens the resources available to parents.

It is “impossible” to meaningfully assess the effectiveness of child in need (CIN) plans because of their lack of clear measures of success.

That was the warning from Children’s Commissioner for England Rachel de Souza in a report that called for tighter national guidance on CIN plans and support to improve consistency and their impact for families.

The commissioner found CIN plans lacked high-quality actions, including because of the absence of timeframes and specific measures against which to measure improvements for families.

Case records also often did not record whether actions had been completed when CIN plans were closed.

Social workers interviewed for the study also reported that families were staying too long on CIN plans because of the lack of early help provision to refer them on to.

On the back of the findings, De Souza called for tighter requirements and guidance on CIN provision, including national thresholds for accessing support and a national child in need plan outcomes framework.

Huge variations in council practice

The commissioner’s study was a follow-up to a report earlier this year that found significant variations between councils in the proportions of children in need on CIN plans, the number of plans per head of population, their duration and the frequency of social worker visits to families.

This was underlined by the latest Department for Education children in need census, published this week, which showed that the rate of CIN plans per 10,000 children ranged from 37.4 to 243.9 between councils with published figures.

The national average was 86.2, with about 105,000 children on a plan as of March 2024.

De Souza’s latest report was focused on the content and purpose of CIN plans.

Her office examined 77 CIN plans from eight local authorities, identifying 626 actions, which it assessed on whether these were actionable, measurable and had a responsible owner, a defined measure of success and specific timeframe.

Lack of ‘high-quality’ actions

Just 15.3% of actions met all five criteria required to be classed as high-quality by the commissioner’s office. While most were actionable and measurable and had a responsible owner, just 28% had a timeframe and 48% a defined measure of success.

This is despite Working Together to Safeguard Children, which councils must follow other than in exceptional circumstances, stating that CIN plans should “set clear measurable outcomes for the child and expectations for the parents”.

Plans also had a “large number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the recording of key details such as information on parents’ names and ethnicities”, found the report.

“This may reflect the high caseloads of social workers, lack of oversight in the production of documents, or other factors, but will make these documents harder to use, and could be confusing or upsetting for children or families to read,” it added.

Plans ‘often more about co-ordinating professionals’

Social workers and parents interviewed for the study said CIN plans often did not reflect the work being done to support the family.

The commissioner’s office was told that plans often felt more targeted towards co-ordinating professionals rather than providing the family with guidance on what support was in place.

Some parents told the team that they did not receive a copy of the CIN plan, while others said that plans were unclearly written and difficult to understand.

The report said this meant that “neither the social worker nor the family will be able to confidently say the plan’s objectives have been met, nor effectively use it to document individual’s commitments to or accountability for the work as part of the intervention”.

Question marks over plan closures

The study also raised concerns about the reasoning for plans being closed, with just 35% of closure documents stating that all the plan’s objectives and actions had been completed.

In over a quarter of cases (29%), there was no update on whether actions had been completed, while 34% stated that some had been achieved and 3% that none was completed.

Social workers interviewed for the report suggested that decisions to close plans were not based on actions being completed but more subjective factors, such as the families; wishes or whether practitioners believed families could continue with the work required.

In just over half of cases, the family was closed to the local authority entirely, while in 35% of cases they were stepped down to universal services.

Lack of early help provision

However, practitioners interviewed by the commissioner’s office said they struggled to refer families to early help because of a lack of such provision.

In some cases, this led to CIN plans continuing beyond the point of necessity, despite the stigma families can feel when accessing section 17 support.

Several studies in recent years – notably the 2022 final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care – have highlighted cuts to early help as a key factor in the growth of the care population and in the number of child protection enquiries.

Testing the family help model

This analysis was accepted by the last government in its 2023 Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy, leading to the testing of a new approach – family help – in 10 areas, through the so-called families first for children pathfinder.

This is designed to ensure families receive early, non-stigmatising support to resolve their problems and do not have to change worker when their needs move between targeted early help and child in need, through the merger of these services.

The Labour government is continuing with the pathfinder. Though it has not confirmed funding for it beyond March 2025, it has allocated £250m to testing children’s social care reform in 2025-26, meaning the pathfinder may be extended for another year.

The government is also due to publish its Children’s Wellbeing Bill – setting out its wider plans for reforming children’s social care – over the coming months.

Children’s Wellbeing Bill ‘a pivotal opportunity’

In her report, de Souza said the bill was a “pivotal opportunity” to improve the provision of early help and CIN support, including by placing councils under a duty to provide universal early help, backed by the necessary funding.

Her other recommendations for government included:

• Setting “clearly defined national thresholds” for families to access support through a CIN plan.
• Producing guidance on expectations for how often children receive help and how frequently that help is reviewed when on a CIN plan.
• Developing a national child in need outcomes framework setting out a core set of measures that address family need and a national measure for understanding the effectiveness of CIN plans.

Children’s social care case numbers in England fell last year, official figures have shown.

Councils received fewer referrals and carried out fewer assessments in 2023-24 compared with 2022-23, according to the Department for Education’s annual children in need census.

As of 31 March 2024, authorities were supporting fewer children in need – a category that encompasses all those receiving a service from children’s social care – than they were 12 months earlier.

There was also a drop in the numbers on a child protection plan over the same period.

However, the number of child protection enquiries was stable year on year and well above pre-pandemic levels, while councils were also supporting more children in need than they were at the start of the decade.

Falling numbers of referrals

The number of referrals to children’s social care fell for a second consecutive year with 4.4% fewer received in 2023-24 (621,880) compared with 2021-22 (650,270). It was also below the level seen in the year before the pandemic (2019-20).

The fall over the past two years has been driven by a reduction in the number of referrals from the police, the biggest source of reported concerns to children’s social care. Constabularies sent in 177,210 referrals in 2023-24, down 7.6% on the 191,840 they sent in 2021-22.

Health and schools referral numbers have also fallen over the past two years, but more slowly.

The proportion of referrals that were re-referred within 12 months of a previous report was 22.4% in 2023-24, the same as in 2022-23 and a similar rate to each of the previous three years.

Outcomes of referrals

The percentage of referrals that resulted in no further action fell from 7.1% in 2022-23 to 6.3% in 2023-24, the same rate as that recorded in 2019-20.

The proportion of referrals that resulted in an assessment in which the child was found not to be in need was also at a similar level in 2023-24 (30.3%) as in 2019-20 (30.2%), though an increase on that recorded in 2022-23 (29.9%).

The number of completed assessments fell from 655,540 in 2022-23 to 643,170 in 2023-24, with the level also below the 665,660 carried out in 2019-20.

Assessments taking longer

The frequencies with which specific needs were recorded following an assessment in 2023-24 were similar to those in 2022-23.

As in the previous year, mental health and domestic abuse concerns about a parent were the two most commonly recorded factors, with each cited in just under one-third of cases where such information was recorded.

However, over time, the (median) average duration of assessments has increased, hitting 34 days in 2023-24, up from 33 in 2022-23 and 32 in 2019-20.

Children in need more likely to be older and from minority background

As of 31 March 2024, 399,460 children were classed as in need, a category that includes those on child in need (CIN) plans and child protection plans, looked-after children, disabled children and care leavers. This was down 0.9% on the level recorded in March 2023 (403,090) but up 2.6% on the March 2020 figure (389,260).

The proportion of children in need from an ethnic minority rose from 25% to 31% from 2015-24, exceeding the 27% of children in England and Wales who were from a minority, as recorded by the 2021 Census.

There has also been a shift in age, with those over 10 accounting for 59% of children in need in 2024, up from 48% in 2015.

Using data from 150 of the 153 authorities, the DfE estimated that 105,000 children were on CIN plans as of March 2024, the same as in 2023, but down from 110,000 in 2022. It said these figures should be treated with caution as this particular statistic was still in development and councils were likely to have variable recording practices for it.

Child protection enquiry numbers remain high

While the number of child protection enquiries fell from 2022-23 to 2023-24, this was only by 0.4%, and the number carried out (224,520) was significantly above the pre-pandemic total (201,000).

However, the number of children on child protection plans as of March 2024 by 1.7% on the previous year, reaching 49,900, the lowest year-end number since 2015.

The number of children on protection plans decreased across all categories of abuse – emotional, physical, multiple and sexual – in 2023-24, but rose by 1.2% for neglect. This remained the biggest category, accounting for just over half of all child protection plans (25,350 out of 49,900) as of March 2024.

While the overall number of plans recorded in 2024 was just 3.3% higher than a decade earlier, the number for neglect has grown by 21% over that time, a figure that prompted concerns from the NSPCC.

Concerns about rising levels of neglect

The charity’s associate head of policy, Abigail Gill, said: “Neglect is persistently the top concern reported to the NSPCC Helpline. We know that it can have a devastating impact on children, including on their physical and mental wellbeing, their attachment, and their brain development.

“We cannot continue on this trajectory. We need to see a national strategy put forward by government to support families earlier, so that we can prevent neglect before it damages their lives.”

One in ten children known to social care missed at least half of school time during 2022-23, show Department for Education statistics released today.

The 10.1% severe absence rate for children in need in England was almost five times that for pupils in general (2.2%), according to the annual figures on educational outcomes for children in the social care system.

And while the rate for all pupils grew by one percentage point from 2020-21 to 2022-23, it rose by 4.5 percentage points for children in need, a category that includes children on child protection plans and those who are looked after.

Absence particularly high for children on CPPs

The problem was particularly acute for children on child protection plans, whose severe absence rate was both higher than for all other children’s social care groups, at 14.8% in 2022-23, and had grown by more (6.6 percentage points) since 2020-21.

In secondary schools alone, over a quarter of children on child protection plans in state-funded secondary schools (26.4%) were severely absent – defined as missing 50% or more of possible sessions – in 2022-23.

Overall, children in need missed 16.4% of school in 2022-23, more than double the rate for pupils in general (7.5%), and up from 13.3% in 2020-21.

Post-pandemic rise in school absence

The rise in school absence in the wake of the pandemic has caused significant concern about long-term harm to affected children’s life chances.

In a report last year, Parliament’s education select committee identified low incomes and increasing levels of mental health problems among children – amid long waiting times for healthcare – as key drivers of the rise in absence levels.

Separately, analysis by think-tank the Education Policy Institute flagged disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and disability (SEND), particularly children with emotional and mental health needs, as having seen the greatest increases in absence levels.

These factors partly explain the trends in absence rates for children in need.

Higher rates of SEND and poverty among children in need

The DfE data showed that while 17.1% of all pupils had a special educational need as of 31 March 2023, the rate was 50% among children in need generally and 59.2% for those on a child protection plan.

Meanwhile, three in five children in need (59.8%) were eligible for free school meals, which is based on a family claiming income-related benefits, as of March 2023, compared with 23.9% of all pupils. Again, the rate was particularly high for children on child protection plans, at 76.7%.

The statistics also showed significant and persistent inequalities in attainment between children known to the social care system and others.

At Key Stage 4 (GCSE), the average ‘attainment 8’ score – based on performance in up to eight subjects – was 18.3 for children in need, compared with 46.3 for all pupils. This was partly explained by children’s in need’s higher rates of SEN, because attainment levels were lower on average among those with special educational needs.

Better outcomes for children in long-term care

The data also showed that attainment was significantly higher among children who had been looked after for more than 12 months, who had an average attainment 8 score of 19.4, compared with those who had been in care for less time (13.1).

There was a similar gap in relation to attendance, with children who had been in care for 12 months or more having a severe absence rate of 4.9%, as against 11.4% for those who had been in care for less than a year.

National thresholds and stronger guidance are needed to address a postcode lottery in support for children in need, the Children’s Commissioner for England has warned.

Despite the focus of current government reforms on intervening early to help children stay with their families, the changes are insufficiently focused on those on child in need (CIN) plans, said the rights watchdog.

Rachel de Souza delivered the messages in a report issued today analysing Department for Education data – some of it previously unpublished – on children on CIN plans.

Postcode lottery 

This identified huge variations between councils in the likelihood of children having no further action taken following a social care referral, proportions of children in need on CIN plans, the number of plans per head of population and their duration.

Also, most councils did not set minimum requirements for children on CIN plans to be visited by social workers or other lead practitioners, the research found.

The commissioner said the findings reflected a lack of guidance and robust data in relation to children on CIN plans, compared with those on child protection (CP) plans or who were looked after.

“It is vital that we get things right for children on child in need plans,” said de Souza. “Good support will not only help to make their lives happier and healthier but can also prevent things escalating to the point where a child might need to be taken into care.”

About the research

The commissioner’s report drew on:

• Data from 145 of the then 152 councils from the DfE’s 2022-23 child in need census, including on the number and rates of child in need plans.
• Unpublished 2021-22 DfE data from 144 authorities on the characteristics of children in need, linked to statistics on the same children’s education, including attendance and special education needs provision.
• Analysis of CIN policies and procedures from 125 councils.

The research found that, in 2021-22, the proportion of children’s social care referrals that resulted in no further action (NFA) ranged from 1.6% to 63% between authorities, with an average of 32%.

Such divergence was “surprising”, said the report, and it was not clear how far this was down to different thresholds for action, differences in referral practice by partner agencies or variations in early help provision to refer families onto in NFA cases.

Wide variations in CIN plan rates

While 0.9% of children were on a CIN plan nationally as of March 2023, this ranged from 0.3% to 3.16% in different areas.

And though 27.5% of children in need were on a CIN plan as of March 2022 nationally, the rate varied from 3.6% to 70% between individual councils. Children not on CIN plans include those on CP plans, looked-after children, care leavers, adopted children and those in the assessment process.

“This suggests that, unless the levels of underlying need are indeed this variable, local areas have substantially different thresholds for section 17 support,” said the report.

Another area of large variation was the average duration of plans, which ranged from 35 to 388 days in 2021-22.

Guidance on social work visits lacking

Analysis of council procedures found that 74% did not specify how often social workers or lead professionals should visit children on CIN plans, with most of these authorities stating that this should be as often as the plan says.

For those that specified a frequency, the biggest group stipulated visits at least every four weeks (13%), with the others ranging from twice a month to once every three months.

There was more consistency in procedures in relation to frequencies of plan reviews, with 66% requiring this at least every three months and a further 18% specifying reviews every two months.

Variations linked to lack of CIN guidance

The commissioner’s report linked the huge variations in support for children in need to a lack of national guidance on CIN provision.

While Working Together for Safeguarding Children sets out detailed guidance on carrying out child protection enquiries, holding conferences, drawing up CP plans and reviewing them, including with timescales, there is much less prescription in relation to the CIN process.

The only guidance in relation to CIN plans states that they should set “clear measurable outcomes for the child and expectations for the parents”, reflecting the family’s strengths and weaknesses, and acknowledging extra-familial factors undermining parenting capacity or the child’s safety.

Councils have ‘latitude’ in determining thresholds

The statutory guidance “leaves a great deal of latitude for determining the threshold” of support – as set out in councils’ threshold documents, said the commissioner’s report.

“It is no wonder that the level of intervention that children receive differs greatly as there is no national guidance that sets out the thresholds of need that should prompt intervention or that define how often children should receive help or how frequently it is reviewed,” it added.

The commissioner’s report acknowledged that the DfE’s Stable Homes, Built on Love reforms were focused on providing improved support to children and families earlier on, to prevent their needs from escalating.

This would be delivered by a new family help service, merging existing targeted early help and child in need provision, a model that is currently being tested in three local areas.

However, the strategy contains no specific measures on CIN plans, and the commissioner’s office said it was “concerned that these reforms are not informed by a robust understanding of how child in need plans serve as a distinct intervention for families”.

National guidance and thresholds urged

The report called for the government to set national guidance defining automatic triggers for referral to social care, thresholds that children and families must meet to receive CIN support and expectations for frequencies of visits to children and plan reviews.

The DfE should also include a measure for assessing the progress of children on CIN plans in the children’s social care dashboard it will publish later this year to track the performance of the sector, it added.

The only indicators relating to CIN in the proposed dashboard are the rates of children in need in each area and the attendance and educational attainment of those on CIN plans. However, the department has acknowledged that the proposed measures have “limitations” in measuring outcomes, given they are based on available data.

Among the commissioner’s other recommendations was the proposed introduction of a statutory duty on councils to deliver early help, to ensure that families denied CIN services are supported to prevent their needs from escalating.

DfE defends Working Together guidance

Despite the commissioner’s report highlighting Working Together’s alleged deficiencies in relation to CIN plans, the DfE’s response focused squarely on the statutory guidance.

“In December 2023, we published revised multi-agency statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, with a focus on strengthening multi-agency working across the whole system of help, support and protection,” said the spokesperson.

“This guidance makes clear that all local authorities must set out clear arrangements for how cases will be managed once a child is referred into local authority children’s social care as part of their local protocols.”

The spokesperson also pointed to the £6.48m that the department had provided to help local areas implement the changes to Working Together.

Directors stress need for local flexibility

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services welcomed the report’s call to “put early help on a statutory footing with dedicated, ring fenced funding, and calls for better national data”.

However, ADCS president John Pearce urged caution in relation to its recommendations for “consistency and blanket guidance” because of the need for services to be “tailored to individual needs”.

He said councils’ service offer would “look markedly different from place to place” because of their local population, geography, context and finances – particularly in the “14th year of austerity”.

“This flexibility is particularly important here given the broad range of needs of the children we work with in this space, including homeless young people, families with no recourse to public funds and children with disabilities,” he added.

“It is important that social workers can use their professional judgement when assessing the level of support required and the frequency of visits.”

Children’s social workers’ caseloads have grown increasingly complex over the past decade, alongside a sharp rise in concerns relating to child mental health, an analysis of official data has found.

From 2014-21, the steepest rise in demand concerned child mental health as a single factor, with the number of such cases annually more than doubling from 2014 to 2021.

But there was disproportionate growth in cases involving multiple risk factors, including cases where:

• Children faced risks both inside and outside the home, or simply risks outside the home.
• Domestic abuse was combined with other factors, particularly emotional abuse and parental mental health (‘complex domestic abuse/risks at home’).
• There were concerns relating to family members other than the child or parent (‘concerns about another person’), which tended to co-exist with other risks, including domestic abuse.
• There were complexities related to parental mental health, which often involved domestic abuse and substance misuse.

Complex cases linked to child protection plans and re-referrals

Of 12 categories of children’s social care demand identified by researchers, risks in and outside the home, complex domestic abuse/risks at home and concerns about another person had the highest proportions of child in need episodes lasting more than 12 months.

They were also the categories most likely to result in children being put on a child protection plan following assessment.

In addition, re-referral rates to children’s social care cases were highest for risks in and outside the home and concerns about another person, which were also the categories most likely to result in a repeat child protection plan.

The children facing the worst outcomes

The Studying the outcomes of children’s social care provision for different types of demand paper also found that children with ‘risks in and outside the home’ or simply ‘risks outside the home’ consistently fared worse across almost every outcome researchers examined. These were often older children and adolescents.

In addition, the researchers, from Kingston University, Sheffield University, the National Children’s Bureau and Ofsted, identified poor outcomes for children who had suffered neglect, particularly older children on child protection plans.

“Our findings reflect increasing levels of concern about adolescent mental health, complex safeguarding cases, and extra familial harm,” said the report.

“Local authorities are seeking to reduce numbers of children entering care, while finding ways to deal with cases of multiple risks elsewhere in the system. However, in the absence of sufficient resources to address the variety of demand, the risk is that many children will not receive the right kind of help early enough and will return into the system when they are older and their problems are more entrenched.”

The study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, took data from the Department for Education’s (DfE) child in need (CIN) census from 2014-21, identifying 3.6m cases where a risk factor was recorded following assessment.

Categorising cases by type of demand

Researchers identified 34 risk factors in total after data cleansing, and then created 12 mutually exclusive categories of demand from these based on clusters of factors – or single risk factors – that commonly appeared in assessment records. These were, in order of prevalence:

1. Domestic abuse as a single factor (20% of cases)
2. Complexities around parental mental health (19%)
3. Other – where no needs were specified (13%)
4. Disability (7%)
5. Risks outside the home (7%)
6. Complex domestic abuse/risks at home (7%)
7. Child mental health (6%)
8. Physical abuse (6%)
9. Neglect (4%)
10. Sexual abuse (3%)
11. Concerns about another person in the household (3%)
12. Risks in and outside the home (2%)

Growing areas of need

While the overall number of assessments identifying risks per year increased by 22% from 2014-21, there was disproportionate growth in:

• Child mental health (111%)
• Risks in and outside the home (78%)
• Complex domestic abuse/risks at home (63%)
• Concerns about another person (52%)
• Risks outside the home (46%)
• Complexities around parental mental health (46%)

Strong links to deprivation

Researchers also mapped children’s characteristics against the demand categories, finding that:

• In all cases, prevalence was strongly linked to the level of deprivation of the area in which the child lived.
• Boys were overrepresented in disability, risks outside the home and physical abuse, and girls in sexual abuse, child mental health and risks in and outside the home.
• White children were overrepresented in concerns about another person, sexual abuse, child mental health, complexities around parental mental health and complex domestic abuse/risks at home. Black children were overrepresented in physical abuse, risks outside the home and neglect, and Asian children in physical abuse, domestic abuse and disability.

They then analysed the categories based on how likely a child was to receive no intervention (40% of cases), a child in need plan only (45%), a child protection plan (9%) or be taken into care (5%), for which they used data from the DfE’s looked-after children statistics.

Biggest sources of intervention

This found that:

• Three categories accounted for half of care episodes: complexities around parental mental health (20%), complex domestic abuse/risks at home (15%) and risks outside the home (14%).
• The three most likely categories to lead to an episode of care were risks in and outside the home (16%), complex domestic abuse/risks at home (16%), and risks outside the
  home (11%)
• Three categories accounted for 60% of child protection plans: domestic abuse as a single factor, (22%), complexities around parental mental health (21%), and complex domestic abuse/risks at home (17%)
• The three categories most likely to lead to a CP plan following assessment were complex domestic abuse/risks at home (32%), concerns about another person and risks in and outside the home (20%)

Differences in outcomes

Researchers finally assessed outcomes for children – including re-referrals, repeat child protection plans, re-entries to care and school exclusions – based on their characteristics and demand categories. This found that:

• 41% of CIN episodes that ended resulted in a re-referral from 2014-21. The demand categories most likely to result in a re-referral were risks in and outside the home, concerns about another person, risks outside the home and complexities around parental mental health, after adjusting for child characteristics, source of referral and length of episode.
• 10% of CP plans that ended were followed by a repeat plan during the period. The categories most likely to result in a repeat CP plan were concerns about another person, risks in and outside the home, domestic abuse and violence and risks outside the home, after adjusting for other factors.
• 27% of care episodes that ended resulted in a re-entry, with disability, risks in and outside the home, risks outside the home and child mental health the most likely categories.

‘Absence of sufficient resources’

Lead researcher Rick Hood, professor of social work at Kingston University, said: “This study represents the largest and most comprehensive analysis of data on social work assessments carried out so far in England. We hope our findings will help local authorities understand demand and match services to what children and families need in order to thrive and meet their potential.

“There is an absence of sufficient resources available to address the variety of demand meaning many children will not receive the right kind of help early enough and end up returning into the system later in life.”

The study’s recommendations included:

• Increasing investment in youth and child mental health services to tackle the rising proportion of cases involving older children and adolescents with complex needs.
• Enhancing practitioner training around the complex links between domestic abuse and social inequality, between early childhood adversity and extra-familial harm, and the evidence for racial and ethnic disparities in assessment.
• Polices to improve families’ financial circumstances in the light of the strong inverse link between socio-economic circumstances and children’s social care interventions.
• Substantial investment in preventive services.

Social care reform agenda

The research comes with the government seeking to shift the balance of children’s social care from intervening late after needs have escalated towards providing preventive support for families, through its reform programme for the sector.

Currently, three areas – Dorset, Lincolnshire and Wolverhampton – are testing the so-called families first for children model. This involves the merger of targeted early help and child in need provision into a single family help service, greater use of family networks to make decisions about children and a specialist child protection response.

However, the DfE has so far committed just £45m to testing these reforms and £200m in total for its children’s social care programme over two years. This is substantially less than the £2.6bn over four years proposed by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on whose 2022 findings the reform agenda is largely based.

At the same time, there are widespread concerns that children’s social care is significantly underfunded currently, with authorities set to overspend their budgets this year despite having increased expenditure by 11% in 2023-24.

Earlier this week, ministers responded – in part – to these calls by providing an extra £500m for children’s and adults’ services in 2024-25.

Child in need assessments have been opened up to non-social work qualified staff despite concerns that the policy will increase risks to children.

The Department for Education’s (DfE) revised version of Working Together to Safeguard Children has removed the previous requirement for child in need assessments to be reserved for qualified social workers.

Under the new policy, staff, including those outside of the local authority, will be able to take on the role, now termed ‘lead practitioner’, under the oversight of a social work qualified manager or practice supervisor.

Child protection enquiries and casework will remain ring-fenced for social workers.

Case for opening up child in need role

In its consultation on the plans, the DfE suggested this would enable staff already working with families – including family support workers, drug and alcohol practitioners, domestic abuse workers and youth workers – to take on the lead practitioner role.

The move is designed to provide local authorities with more flexibility in how they support families and also reflects the Children Act 1989, which does not stipulate that social workers should hold child in need cases under section 17.

In addition, it foreshadows the DfE’s plan to merge targeted early help and child in need provision as part of its children’s social care reforms. This move, recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, is designed to reduce the need for families to be transferred between teams and provide those with children in need with a less stigmatising response.

However, while the plans were backed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, both Ofsted and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) raised concerns they would undermine the quality of practice and increase risks to children.

With existing early help staff likely to be among those taking on child in need cases, Ofsted and fellow inspectorates have warned that some of these practitioners were already holding cases  “above a level that they felt was appropriate for them”.

Split response to having non-social work case-holders

This split was evident in responses to the DfE’s consultation on the plans, the results of which were published last month.

Of about 1,000 respondents, 36% said they believed the changes would improve outcomes for children and families supported under section 17, while 38% disagreed.

And though 30% felt the role of social work qualified supervisor or manager would ensure appropriate social work oversight, 35% rejected this.

Supporters of the plan said it would increase flexibility in the delivery of support and enable councils to deploy practitioners with the right skills and relationships with families in the casework role.

However, detractors warned that harms could be missed where social workers were not the lead practitioner or, alternatively, cases may unnecessarily be escalated to child protection to ensure social work oversight.

Others raised concerns about how lead practitioners would be overseen by social work qualified managers, particularly when case-holders were based outside the local authority.

DfE presses ahead but tightens guidance

Though it has decided to press ahead with the policy, the DfE has made changes to the draft guidance to strengthen the expectations on councils to ensure appropriate oversight of cases held by non-social workers. It also stressed that it expected social workers to be lead practitioners for many child in need cases.

The revised guidance states that:

• The lead practitioner should have the skills, knowledge, competence, and experience to work effectively with the child and their family.
• The required skills, knowledge, competence, and experience, and how these will be monitored locally, should be set out in local assessment protocols.
• The protocols should also define who can act as a lead practitioner under section 17, and set out the process for the allocation of lead practitioners, accountability for cases and auditing.

In line with the draft guidance, the revised Working Together states that the social work qualified manager or supervisor’s role encompasses:

• agreeing with partners who the most appropriate lead practitioner should be and allocating the case to them;
• approving the lead practitioner’s assessment;
• reviewing and approving the plan for the child;
• meeting families and attending home visits where appropriate.

As statutory guidance, councils and relevant partners may only depart from Working Together for legally defensible reasons and not to a substantial degree.

Revised guidance on disabled children’s assessments

The DfE has also strengthened guidance on the assessment of disabled children and their families after this was backed by two-thirds of respondents.

While the previous version of Working Together simply set out councils’ legal duties around providing support to disabled children and their carers, the redraft sets out the value of providing this support.

It says practitioners’ assessments should be strengths-based and inform decisions on the help needed for the child to achieve the best possible outcomes, enable the family to continue caring for them where right for the child and ensure practical support to enable them to thrive.

However, while not proposed in the consultation, the revised Working Together also states assessments should inform decision making around safeguarding children where there is abuse, neglect or exploitation.

Though many parent respondents to the consultation stated that assessments of disabled children and their families were too safeguarding-focused currently, others highlighted these children’s vulnerability and the need for staff to “adopt a safeguarding lens when appropriate”.

Designated social care officer role (DSCO) promoted

The revised guidance also encourages councils to appoint designated social care officers (DCSOs), senior social work leads for special educational needs and disability provision (SEND).

The role is designed to oversee social care’s contribution to SEND provision, such as education, health and care assessments, plans and reviews, as well as strategic planning of services for disabled children, such as short breaks.

As of last March, just over 40 councils had a DCSO in place or were recruiting to the position, according to the Council for Disabled Children.

These changes to Working Together’ comes with the government having asked the Law Commission to review the “patchwork of outdated legislation for disabled children” and advise on how it can be simplified and streamlined.

The commission started its review in October 2023.