Agenda item

[Report of the Interim Deputy Chief Executive. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families.] Report outlining the future design of services for young people leaving care in Haringey and the Care Leavers Strategy agreed with local partners.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families was pleased to introduce the report, which sought approval of an outline Local Offer for improving support to care leavers in line with requirements of the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

The Council was required to consult with stakeholders in developing the Local Offer to ensure all services that may support care leavers in moving to and sustaining independent living were reflected and that the Local Offer was presented in a way that supports access to information and advice and relevant services for care leavers. Final statutory guidance on the Local Offer was still pending, but the approval of Cabinet to consult was being sought in advance of this to ensure that officers are able to finalise a Local Offer as soon as possible after the Children and Social Work Act comes into force.

RESOLVED

1.    To approve for consultation with stakeholders, including children in care and care leavers, a draft Local Offer and Care Leavers Strategy in line with the outline versions in Appendices 1 and 2;

2.    To delegate to the Director of Children Services in consultation with the Lead Member for Children Services authority to finalise the draft Local Offer and Care Leavers Strategy for consultation with stakeholders;

3.    To agree that a report on the outcome of the consultation be brought back to Cabinet for a final decision on the Local Offer and Care Leavers Strategy.

Reasons for decision

New statutory duties

The Children & Social Work Act 2017 is the first major change to the existing statutory duties set out in the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. The focus on care leavers also reflects recent central government policy and is expected to be reflected in the future Ofsted inspection framework for Children’s Services. The majority of leaving care duties from the original legislation remain, but in addition, the Act introduces the following:

·                Corporate Parenting Principles – codifying for the first time the ways in which all-local authority departments, not just Children’s Social Care, must have regard for the wellbeing and development of Looked After Children and Care Leavers. These are intended to act as a set of tests for helping the council as a whole to deliver services to looked after children and care leavers in a way that mirrors as far as possible the way a good parent would support their child. In Haringey, this has already been given consideration through the Corporate Parenting Pledge that was adopted by Haringey’s Full Council on 24^th July 2017 and further work to reinforce the Pledge across the local authority will be part of the proposed Care Leavers Strategy.

·                Extension of leaving care duty to 25 – amending the previous upper limit for providing support to the age of 25 for all care leavers, where before it had been 21 unless they were in full-time education; this entitles former relevant care leavers to have an allocated Personal Adviser and support to develop and achieve a Pathway Plan until they are 25 if they request it, with the draft guidance indicating that support is likely to taper as they become older. For those whose cases have been closed, the local authority must also contact them annually to remind them of the support available.

·                Requirement to publicise Local Offer – this requires every local authority to make available to care leavers a clear statement of any support to which they are entitled, as well as discretionary support available locally. It will need to be available in a range of formats and is intended to help them achieve a successful transition to independence. This is similar in nature to the Local Offer requirement for children and young people with Special Educational Needs.

·                Also relevant to the experience of Looked After Children (including those looked-after on remand) and Care Leavers in the Children and Social Work Act 2017 are changes to multi-agency arrangements for safeguarding children. These emphasise the joint primary responsibility of the three “safeguarding partners” (the local authority, the clinical commissioning group (CCG), and the police) working with other “relevant agencies” locally to ensure children are safeguarded, including co-commissioning of services and promoting cooperation and integration across the wider system, including early years and education institutions, GP practices, adult services and the voluntary and community sector. These arrangements concern the support for children under the age of 18 and their families, but the impact on local arrangements for working together will need to have regard for looked after children and therefore care leavers beyond the age of 18. This new set of working arrangements is likely to influence and inform the development of a Care Leavers Strategy as outlined in Appendix B.

Consulting on and publishing a Local Offer

As a result of the Children and Social Work Act 2017, the local authority will need to publish a Local Offer for Care Leavers, similar to the existing requirement to produce an SEND Local Offer for children and families. This duty is likely to come into force in April 2018, but draft statutory guidance acknowledged that local authorities would require up to six months to fully implement the requirement.

The legislation requires that: “Before publishing its local offer for care leavers (or any updated version) a local authority must consult relevant persons about which of the services offered by the local authority may assist care leavers in, or in preparing for, adulthood and independent living”. The draft statutory guidance sets out a proposed framework for the Local Offer, which is included in Appendix A, and this will guide the consultation.

Informal engagement with a range of stakeholders, including care leavers, statutory and non-statutory partner agencies and other council departments has already taken place to increase awareness of the needs of care leavers and will inform the formal consultation on a Local Offer.

The consultation will also cover the views and preferences of children in care, care leavers and professionals about the presentation of the local offer and the options available to the service to ensure this is accessible, engaging and user-friendly. Responses of those with care experience will be weighted more highly in analysis and response to the consultation.

Providing a wider strategic response

The Local Offer to be published by autumn 2018 will need to reflect the entitlements and agreed discretionary support that care leavers can access in the borough. However, the Local Offer is not expected to be static and it is recognised that the local authority will need to update it from time to time.

Haringey has taken significant measures to assist Care Leavers, including most recently the introduction of a Council Tax Exemption up to 25. Nonetheless, the recent user engagement we have undertaken and evaluation of our current response to meeting the needs of care leavers has indicated that there are further opportunities to improve the availability of and access to a range of support that extends beyond our statutory duties and often that is provided by stakeholders outside the council. It may not be possible to act upon all of these opportunities in time for the initial publication of the Local Offer and some relate to wider challenges of awareness, identification and practice relating to supporting care leavers. As a result, alongside the Local Offer and informed by the same consultation, there is an intention to set out a Care Leavers Strategy, which represents a borough-wide response to the needs and experiences of care leavers and describe how this needs to develop over time.

Part of the Care Leavers Strategy will be setting out how the awareness of Corporate Parenting and the commitment of council departments beyond Children’s Services is being increased in line with the new Corporate Parenting Principles and embedding the Corporate Parenting Pledge adopted by Full Council.

This strategic response will also reflect the development of new models of care for children and families in Haringey, which will have direct and indirect impacts on the design of ‘leaving care’ services. These will be the subject of other processes for consultation and decision, and the outcomes and strategic priorities set out in the outline Strategy at Appendix B will help to guide the development of these wider changes.

The full Care Leavers Strategy, including a delivery plan for implementing new commitments, will be developed by officers and submitted to Cabinet for approval following the consultation

Alternative options considered

Other options:

Do nothing – in this instance, the ‘do nothing’ option would result in non-compliance with our statutory duties as a local authority when the Children & Social Work Act 2017 comes into force in April 2018; this would mean that care leavers in the London Borough of Haringey do not receive services and assistance to which they are entitled and which other care leavers would receive from other boroughs and would be a major risk to the local authority at any future Ofsted Single Inspection.

Minimal compliance with statutory duties – it would be possible for the Council to pursue minimal compliance with new duties around provision of Personal Advisers and publication of a Local Offer. This would emphasise actions that are within the control of the local authority and reduce the dependencies with other agencies and stakeholders. However, self-evaluation and service user engagement suggest that there are opportunities and gaps that extend beyond the new duties and would enable us to discharge them more successfully. The role of the wider Council and our partners in preparing young people who have been in care and are leaving care has not yet been maximised and by setting out the Care Leavers Strategy, we expect to be able to manage future demand pressures more effectively.

Delay consultation on a draft Strategy and Local Offer – postponing the decision to consult on the Local Offer and Care Leavers Strategy until full draft versions can be produced is likely to significantly delay the publication date for the Local Offer and would run counter to the statutory guidance that indicates local authorities will need a published offer in place within six months of the Act coming into force on 1^st April. It makes sense to combine the consultations for the Local Offer and any wider Care Leaver Strategy to maximise the responses from stakeholders and clearly distinguish existing commitments from future plans or aspirations.