The Children, Young People and Education Scrutiny Commission was scheduled to consider a range of reports concerning safeguarding, family support, corporate parenting, workforce recruitment and retention, and the welfare of children and young people arriving from abroad seeking safety. The meeting was also scheduled to review the commission's work programme.

Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Yearly Report 2025-2026

The commission was scheduled to consider the Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership's yearly report for 2025-2026. This report, published on 29 September 2026, was scheduled to detail the activities undertaken by safeguarding partners – the police, health services, and the local authority – over the previous financial year. The report was scheduled to highlight progress made in areas such as child sexual abuse, governance, quality assurance, multi-agency working, and child participation, despite rising demand and workforce pressures. Key challenges were scheduled to be discussed, including a notable increase in demand at the front door of services, leading to more multi-agency meetings, strategy discussions, Section 47 enquiries, and child protection conferences. The report was also scheduled to outline workforce development initiatives, with 61 multi-agency courses delivered to 1,723 attendees, and to set out priorities for 2026-27, including implementing a Child Sexual Abuse strategy, responding to rising demand, embedding reforms, strengthening transitional safeguarding, and continuing to improve child participation. The report was scheduled to be presented by Laurence Jones.

Family Therapies Annual Report

A report on the delivery of Family Therapies was scheduled to be presented, covering the period of January to March 2026 (Quarter 4). This report was scheduled to provide an update on the progress of Multisystemic Therapy (MST), MST for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST CAN), Functional Family Therapy for Child Welfare (FFT-CW), Safe Steps Home, and Family Group Decision Making (FGDM). The report was scheduled to highlight the invest to save model, noting that in the previous financial year, the teams successfully diverted 171 children from entering the care system, resulting in estimated gross savings of £5.5 million. The report was scheduled to detail the number of families and children commencing and closing treatment, with an overall success rate of 95% for families remaining together throughout the year. It was also scheduled to discuss the average time between referral and treatment start, adherence scores for therapists, and the outcomes of file audits and Ofsted framework audits. Recommendations were scheduled to include strengthening targeted support pre and post-closure to improve long-term sustainability, refining evaluation measures for Safe Steps Home outcomes, expanding capacity following recruitment to vacant posts, and continuing to focus on reducing high-cost placements by targeting highest-risk cases. The report was scheduled to be presented by Damian Elcock, Karen Manville, and Tiernan Welch.

Corporate Parenting Annual Report 2025/26

The commission was scheduled to receive an overview of corporate parenting activity and performance from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026. The report was scheduled to identify local performance against the five priority areas of the corporate parenting strategy: Active Participation, Education Training and Employment, Mental Health & Wellbeing, Preparing for Successful Living, and A Place To Live. It was scheduled to highlight activities undertaken to support active participation, including podcast recordings, developing a language guide, and participation in a Public Health Vaping campaign. In education, training, and employment, the report was scheduled to detail support provided by the Virtual School Team, including trauma-informed training for schools and an NHS Care Leavers Employability Programme. Health and wellbeing priorities were scheduled to include reducing health inequalities and implementing a care leaver icon on the System One health electronic patient record. The report was scheduled to outline work on preparing for successful living, including residential programmes and transition workshops, and efforts to ensure children looked after and care leavers have suitable accommodation, with a focus on expanding local internal children's residential homes. The report was scheduled to be presented by Laurence Mackie-Jones and David Thrussell.

Impact of Recruitment and Retention Activity

A report on the recruitment and retention challenges affecting the Council's Children's and Education workforce was scheduled to be presented. The report was scheduled to outline the national context of skills shortages in specialist and statutory roles, alongside increasing complexity of need and national reform. Actions being taken to address these pressures were scheduled to include targeted recruitment activity, apprenticeship and development pathways, international recruitment, dedicated resourcing support for Children's Social Care, and initiatives to improve retention and progression. Early indications of success were scheduled to be discussed, such as the positive outcomes from the dedicated Children's Social Care resourcing pilot, increased reach of hard-to-fill vacancies through LinkedIn Recruiter, and the retention of all internationally recruited social workers. The report was scheduled to also detail the development of a Children's Workforce Strategy and the establishment of a Social Care Academy to provide an integrated approach to learning, professional development, and career progression. The report was scheduled to be presented by Laurence Mackie-Jones and Rachel Heggs.

Children and Young People from Abroad Seeking Safety

The commission was scheduled to receive an update on children and young people who come to Leicester having arrived from abroad seeking safety, often referred to as Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). The report was scheduled to detail the pathways for these children, primarily through the National Transfer Scheme overseen by the Home Office. It was scheduled to state that Leicester City currently supports 49 UASC who are looked after by the council, representing a small proportion of the total looked-after children. The report was scheduled to outline the council's corporate parenting duties to ensure their social care, health, and education needs are met. It was also scheduled to provide information on the support provided to young adults aged 18-23 who arrived unaccompanied from abroad as children and are eligible for support as adult care leavers. The report was scheduled to discuss the impact of seasonal factors and age assessments on numbers, and the support provided for integration into local communities, including educational provision and health assessments. The report was scheduled to be presented by Laurence Jones and David Thrussell.

Work Programme

The commission was scheduled to consider its work programme for 2026-2027. This was scheduled to include a review of upcoming agenda items and to allow members to make suggestions for additional items they considered necessary. The work programme was scheduled to include items such as the Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report, Family Therapies Annual Report, Corporate Parenting Annual Report, Impact of Recruitment Work, and Children from Abroad Seeking Safety for the current meeting. Future items were scheduled to include the Revenue and Capital Budget, School Holiday Activity and Food Provision, Early Years Childcare Sufficiency Report, Family Hubs and Best Start in Life, and Placement Strategy, Kinship Strategy and Leaving Care Strategy. The work programme was scheduled to be presented by Councillor Misbah Batool (Chair).