UPDATE NO 450 23 April 2021

Looked after children

The House of Commons Library has published a briefing on out of area placements and unregulated or unregistered accommodation for looked after children. 

The briefing gives an overview of definitions and relevant legislation across the UK and provides data and statistics on placements in England. The briefing also signposts other reports and debates on these topics.

The full report is here

High needs provision capital allocations

On 9 April 2021, DfE announced local authority capital funding to support the provision of new places for children with special educational needs and disabilities or requiring alternative provision.

High needs provision capital allocations (HNPCA) are provided to local authorities to support the provision of places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and pupils requiring alternative provision (AP).

In April 2021 we announced allocations totalling £280 million, intended to provide places needed for September 2022. The allocations spreadsheet shows how much funding has been allocated to each local authority.

Ofsted issue revised education inspection framework and handbooks

On 19 April Ofsted published a revised education inspection framework (EIF) which applies to maintained schools and academies, non-association independent schools, further education and skills providers and early years settings. 

The revised EIF is here

Also revised are the following inspection handbooks and guidance:

• Early years inspection handbook
• School inspection handbook 
• Section 8 school inspection handbook
• Further education and skills inspection handbook
• Inspecting schools: guide for maintained and academy schools

Improving Commissioning and Sufficiency Planning to Increase Stability and Permanence for Looked After Children

Rosemary Perry (contact details below) writes

Through an open request,  the DfE project has gathered views from 19 providers of residential and fostering services (some small and some large) about how they would like to engage with local authorities in developing more local and flexible services for children and young people in the south east. The overwhelming theme from the survey is the importance of developing trusting and long term relationships between local authorities and providers. Alongside this, the project has also collected more detailed information from the 4 local authorities involved in this phase of the project (West Sussex, Kent, Milton Keynes and Portsmouth) and is starting to formulate a view about the type of service which should be commissioned to meet need. 

Both reports have been added to the secure area of the website as well as being circulated to Board members. The provider report has been sent to the commissioners network.  The next step of the project is to enter a period of co-production, starting in the middle of May; this will take the form of a further request to the market with invitations to attend a series of workshops based around a series of themes and geographical areas.  This is the most critical part of the project so far.  Recognising the importance of this work, the Board has agreed to extend the project by 2 months to the end of September, to ensure that a further dialogue with the market can take place later in the summer, focussing on a definitive specification and contract. This is within the timescales set by the DfE. The project has been made aware of parallel work in a local authority outside of the region and it is hoped that the learning from this work can be shared with DCSs and commissioners in the coming weeks.

Future dates for Network meetings

Lead Members Group: More information from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 13 July 2021. More information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Tuesday 13 July 2021. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 7 May 2021 – 10.30am. More information from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 11 June 2021. More information from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: More information from Amanda Meadows (contact details below)

Fostering Network: 10.30am 19 July 2021. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: More information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Two-child limit on child benefit and its impact on child poverty

“It feels as though my third child doesn’t matter” The impact of the two-child limit after four years.

This report from CPAG, the Church of England and the Welfare Reform and Larger Families research project presents the latest estimates of the number of families affected by the two-child limit, and provides an insight into the impact of the policy using survey data from families directly affected by it. It is a continuation of a series of annual reports tracking the impact of this policy over time.

Since 6 April 2017, parents having a third or subsequent child are no longer eligible for support for that child through child tax credit and universal credit if they need it. This support is worth up to £2,830 per child per year. If the limit was removed today 200,000 children would be lifted out of poverty.

The full report is here.

The road not taken – a new report on post-16 course choices from the Social Mobility Commission

The Social Mobility Commission investigated the drivers of socio-economic differences in post-16 course choices and their likely social mobility consequences.

The full report is here, and a literature review and technical evidence report is here.

Social Mobility Commission analysis of students’ post-16 choices and later earnings shows those from more disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to follow courses that lead to higher earnings and this is even more so for women.

The careers guidance available was limited, especially about technical qualifications and employment, and gendered norms for job roles need to be challenged.