The Council is continuing its journey of improvement in services for children and young people and expects a graded Ofsted inspection in the autumn of 2024.
Improvements are being evidenced in relation to practice, and these need to be matched by evidencing best outcomes for children and young people and the delivery of services which provide value for money and sufficiency of placements.
The SEND Transformation Programme is in place to improve outcomes for children with additional learning needs. The challenge for the partnership driven Local Area SEND plan is to work with parents and partners to increase inclusion and improved outcomes through co-produced solutions.
Partnership working with schools, the police, NHS and district councils is essential to improve joint working arrangements, including the delivery of our respective statutory duties including housing and safeguarding.
The improvement of Children’s Services remains a primary focus for the whole Council in the coming year, working with the Department for Education.
We will continue to work through the Improvement Partnership Board with our partners on improving outcomes for social care with a strong focus on professional practice improvement and our relational approach with children and families.
This work is overseen by the Commissioner who has been appointed by the Secretary of State. The Commissioner also monitors and advises on our own improvement actions as a Council in all matters linked to social care.
Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
We know from what parents and young people are telling us and from our data and intelligence, that the current improvement activity alone will not drive the significant change required. We need everyone working together with a clear vision of what good looks like so that children and young people with SEND, and their families, receive the right support at the right time and in the right place so they can thrive.
What children and their parents experience on a day-to-day basis does not match the level of service we would want to deliver. We have listened to parents and understand that nothing less than fundamental changes will deliver the improvements that are needed. This requires a complete system-wide transformation of how the service is managed and delivered.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategic Partnership Board is working to ensure that all children and young people in Devon can thrive and achieve positive outcomes.
The SEND transformation programme addresses the significant challenges that the local area faces, improve the experiences of children, young people and their families in Devon and lead to the financial sustainability of the council.
Extra resources have been identified in the Council’s budget to strengthen our SEND casework team and to help us compete with other local authorities to recruit and retain experienced staff.
How do we perform?
Devon has a lower rate of looked-after children per head of population than the national average and is similar to near neighbour authority averages.
The prevalence of overweight pupils in year six is one of the lowest in the country. Educational attainment levels are broadly similar to the national average and are in line with near neighbour group averages.
However, Devon has a higher proportion of young people not in education, employment and training which has risen in recent years and is particularly poor for care experienced young people.
The proportion of care leavers in suitable accommodation is also significantly below the regional and national averages and compares poorly to near neighbour authorities.
Permanent exclusions from school are also significantly above the regional, national and near neighbour group averages, and have risen in recent years.
Family hubs
Family hubs are a new way of bringing together all the help a family may need in one place. They offer a welcoming environment and serve as a central point of access for all families, including those with SEND up to age 25.
They are part of a transition over the next 12 months to providing a network of support services for families. Where families need more targeted support, family hubs will support them with the process of referral and help them to step back when the time is right.
Children and Young People’s Futures: Improvement priorities 2024/25
Priorities
- Improve social work practice, develop the scrutiny of the quality assurance framework and exit children’s social care out of intervention.
- Improve the sufficiency of placements and ensure that the right children access the right service at the right time.
- Improve outcomes for children in care and care experienced young people through positive progress against our Corporate Parenting priorities.
- Continue to develop and improve the local authority and its partners transformation and approach to SEND.
- Reduce the numbers of permanent and fixed term exclusions, persistent and severe absence rates and work directly with schools and education colleagues to continue to improve attendance and inclusive practice for all children.
Sustainability
- Ensure all services deliver the best value for money and keep children safe from harm.
- Work with the DfE to meet the requirements of the DfE Safety Valve.
- Develop the effectiveness of the Place Called Home Board to ensure sufficiency and quality for all placements for children in our care and to provide assurance of quality and value for money across foster care, residential, and in-house provision arrangements.
- Develop and promote the conditions for a positive, healthy and sustainable permanent workforce. Increasing the recruitment and retention of high-quality staff, including newly qualified social workers thereby reducing the authority’s reliance on agency staff.
Change programme
- Improve the integration of services to meet the needs of children and families.
Technology
- Work with new technologies to make sure that services are accessible to all families.