Newsletters
Our Regional Improvement Plan can be found here
Our Impact Report published in March 2023 can be found here
If you would like to apply to be a SESLIP consultant, please follow this link to Kent Business Portal – KentBusinessPortal and after registering on the portal, search for Ref – SC240046 – SESLIP – DPS
Updates
National Safeguarding Partner Multi-agency Facilitator
On 3 April DfE advertised for a National Safeguarding Partner Multi-agency Facilitator (LA Lead)
Enquiry deadline: 14 April 2025, 12:00pm
Tender submission deadline: 2 May 2025, 12:00pm
All submissions must be made via https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html
Headlines
DfE is looking for an individual who understands and has experience of working in local government at a senior level, in particular multi-agency safeguarding for children and local safeguarding partnerships.
DfE expect the work to be a maximum of 10 days per month.
12 month contract – with an option to extend for a further 12 months
Estimated value: £78,000 excluding VAT
Academic year 2023/24: Pupil absence in schools in England
On 20 March DfE published Pupil absence in schools in England data for academic year 2023/24
Headlines
Validated attendance data for the year 2023-24 includes some positive trends: overall attendance shows a small increase and the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent, a small reduction to 20%. However there are concerns regarding those missing most school: an increase in the proportion who are severely absent and of those, an increase in those who have SEND (both an EHCP and at SEN support) and those from a disadvantaged background.
Improving educational
outcomes for
disadvantaged children
On 7 March the HoC Committee of Public Accounts published Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children
Recommendations
- DfE to publish targets for reducing the disadvantaged gap and other success measures within six months
- DfE should re–assess the evidence base for funding decisions and set out its funding priorities for 2025–26, including where pupil premium falls within this.
- DfE should expand its evidence of early years interventions, including the role of Family Hubs, and in 12 months update the Committee on the impact of its decisions to increase Early Years Pupil Premium in 2025–26
- DfE should introduce stronger and clearer mechanisms to understand how schools spend funding.
- DfE should provide greater clarity on how it supports schools, early years providers, local authorities and academy trusts to make effective evidence–based decisions.
- DfE should set out how it will use the opportunities mission to further join–up data and performance information
Young Champions’ film on growing up in kinship care premiered in London
On 18 March Kinship premiered a A powerful short film revealing what growing up in kinship care is like.
The Kinship Young Champions’ film project funded by BBC Children in Need highlights the 141,000 children in kinship care in England and Wales – that’s double the number in foster care – and describes the highs and lows they face as they adjust to their new lives.
Headlines
Young Londoners with firsthand experience of kinship care used their voices and experience to co-create the striking animation which explains what it means to be raised by a relative or family friend when their parents are unable to care for them. They hope it will increase awareness and reassure children in kinship care that they are not alone.
Reminders From Previous Weeks
Families First Partnership programme
On 20 March the DfE published The Families First Partnership (FFP) programme guide
A joint ministerial foreword for this guide has been signed by the Department for Education, Department of Health Social Care and Home Office.
Headlines
Information to support safeguarding partners with the implementation of children’s social care reforms, including:
- delivery expectations
- areas for local flexibility
This guide clarifies the support that will be provided to safeguarding partners through the Families First Partnership programme.
It is for all statutory safeguarding partners and other relevant agencies, including education and childcare settings, who work with children, young people and their families. This includes:
- senior and strategic leaders
- senior and middle managers
- those in direct practice
Race, racism and safeguarding children
On 11 March the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published It’s Silent: Race, racism, and safeguarding children
Headlines
This report from the CSPRP is part of an ongoing series of publications to share information arising from work undertaken by the panel with:
- safeguarding partners
- those working in child protection
It explores what happened to 53 children from Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage backgrounds who were the subject of child safeguarding reviews between January 2022 and March 2024.
The purpose of this briefing is to share learning from analyses of rapid reviews and local child safeguarding practice reviews (LCSPRs) to inform the work of safeguarding partners
Child Sexual Abuse
On 20 March the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse published Child sexual abuse in 2023/24: Trends in official data
The CSA centre has also published an introductory guide What you need to know about child sexual abuse
Headlines
New analysis shows that the number of people charged and convicted following child sexual abuse offences both increased, yet the number of children with a protection plan for sexual abuse in England fell to it’s lowest level in thirty years – making up just 3.5% of all new plans in 2023/24.
Local authority children’s services in England recorded the lowest number of child needs assessments concerning any form of sexual abuse in nine years. This decreased by 8% since the previous year, despite there being no drop in the total number of child assessments recording concerns that were carried out.
We estimate that 500,000 children will experience some form of sexual abuse every year in England and Wales, so the number of children being identified by local authorities is only just the tip of the iceberg, and the gap is getting wider.
DFJ Trailblazers – Reducing Time to Family Court Pilot Programme
On 26 March Mutual Ventures published a range of case studies and a good practice guide in relation to the DfJ Reducing Time to Family Court programme
Headlines
A conference was held on 26 March, and presentations are available here
One pilot is based in Guildford, Surrey. See their presentation here https://youtu.be/Z8NJcZuHkUA and one page summary here
Tools & Templates
We have produced a Regional Improvement Plan (June 2024)
On 3 April DfE advertised for a National Safeguarding Partner Multi-agency Facilitator (LA Lead)
On 26 March Mutual Ventures published a range of case studies and a good practice guide in relation to the DfJ Reducing Time to Family Court programme
On 20 March the DfE published The Families First Partnership (FFP) programme guide
On 20 March DfE published Pupil absence in schools in England data for academic year 2023/24
On 18 March Kinship premiered a A powerful short film revealing what growing up in kinship care is like.
On 11 March the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published It’s Silent: Race, racism, and safeguarding children
On 7 March the HoC Committee of Public Accounts published Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children
On 7 March NSPCC published ‘Disguised compliance’: learning from case reviews
On 6 March TASO published Pathways into and through higher education for young people with experience of children’s social care
On 27 February ONS published Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK: February 2025
On 27 February the Children’s Commissioner published The educational journeys of children in secure settings
On 27 February DfE published Children’s social work workforce data for 2024
On 25 February Oftsed published Good decisions: supporting children aged 16 and 17 who need help when they are homeless
On 20 February the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman published Fostering better services: Helping to improve council services for foster carers and their children
On 13 February DfE published A level and other 16 to 18 results for academic year 2023-2024
On 7 February Foundations (previously the What Works Centre for Families and Children) published Parenting through adversity, the second in a series of practice guides commissioned by the DfE to support the roll-out of the children’s social care national framework
On 4 February Pause and Listen published In a Mother’s Mind: Birth mothers’ experiences of domestic abuse
On 3 February IJPDS published Estimated cumulative incidence of intervention by children’s social care services to age 18: a whole-of-England administrative data cohort study using the child in need census
On 1 February Centrepoint published Hidden In Plain Sight: Understanding Youth Homelessness in the UK
On 1 February The Fostering Network published State of the Nations’ Foster Care – Full Report 2024
On 28 January the Children’s Commissioner published Children’s involvement in the 2024 riots
On 28 January the APPG for Households in Temporary Accommodation published Child Mortality in Temporary Accommodation 2025
On 15 January ADCS published Safeguarding Pressures Phase 9. The full report (pdf 91 pages) is here. The summary briefing (pdf 2 pages) is here
On 14 January CAFCASS published “Sharing recommendations with you” which explains to children and young people what recommendations are and why it is important that they are understood clearly.
On 7 January LGA published a briefing on CWSBill