This meeting of the Children and Young People Select Committee was scheduled to receive annual updates on the status of Children's Social Care services, the performance of Lewisham's young people aged 16-18, and safeguarding arrangements within the borough. The committee was also scheduled to receive a presentation on the performance of the Lewisham Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP), including how the partnership had implemented the requirements of the Department for Education’s (DfE) Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance. Additionally, the committee was to be updated on progress made on the refresh of Lewisham’s SEND strategy and post-inspection action plan.

Children’s social care

This item was scheduled to provide the committee with an overview of safeguarding and corporate parenting social work practice across the Children and Young People’s Directorate.

The Children & Young People’s Directorate has three divisions:

• Children’s Social Care (CSC)
• Families Quality and Commissioning (FQC)
• Education, Early Years and Special Educational Needs

The report notes that the provision of social work and social care spans across a range of teams and services across the Children’s Social Care and Families Quality & Commissioning divisions, summarising their responsibilities. It states that as of December 2024, 2,800 children and young people (CYP) were receiving social care services in Lewisham, and that this figure is similar to the figure reported in November 2023. The report breaks down how many CYP are:

• being assessed by Children's Services,
• receiving 'Children in Need' (CIN) services (including 310 'Children with Complex Needs' (CWCN) receiving specialist services),
• subject to protection plans,
• in care ('Looked After'), and
• young people who have left care (aged 18-25).

The report pack also provides a breakdown of data on children's services activity, showing the number of contacts, referrals, and Section 47 enquiries started, as well as the number of CYP placed on child protection plans, the number of CYP subject to family court applications, the number of CYP entering care, the net number of CYP in care and the net number of care leavers (aged 18-25) for each financial year from 2019/20 to 2023/24, as well as forecasts for 2024/25.

The report was scheduled to update the committee on the findings of the Ofsted ILACS inspection that took place in December 2023. It notes that the inspection found that the quality of practice provided by Lewisham Children’s Services was “good” across all services.

The report was also scheduled to update the committee on two factors that had put Children's Services under stress: a national care placement crisis, and Lewisham’s selection as one of ten local authorities chosen by the DfE to be part of the Families First for Children Pathfinder programme.

It notes that in these circumstances it has been a challenge to maintain good performance and practice quality consistently across the service, but highlights that the service remains resilient.

The report pack also details the challenges associated with recruitment and retention of qualified social workers, and explains how the Families First for Children Pathfinder programme will aim to diversify the workforce and reduce reliance on qualified social workers. It states that Lewisham received a £3.3 million grant from the DfE to participate in the pathfinder programme.

The report also provides an update on the Families First for Children Pathfinder programme, and details progress made on each of the four areas covered by the programme:

1. Multi-agency safeguarding arrangements with a stronger role for education as a strategic safeguarding partner
2. Family Help which will integrate targeted early help and 'Children in Need' into one single offer
3. Child protection with a multi-agency response led by an experienced lead child protection practitioner (LCPP)
4. A Family Group Decision Making approach throughout the whole continuum of help

The report states that the Families First for Children Pathfinder testing phase is due to end in March 2025, and that planning is underway for a full-scale roll-out of the reforms. It notes that a consultation with the workforce on the reforms is due to take place in early spring 2025. The report also states that a formal restructuring of services is scheduled to be completed by April or May 2025.

The report goes on to describe the work the council is doing with CYP in need and those who require safeguarding, and provides a snapshot of data on the types of abuse experienced by CYP on Child Protection Plans in Lewisham, the statistical neighbour authorities and inner London, as well as England as a whole.

The report also describes the work the council is doing with CYP who are at risk of exploitation and extra-familial harm. This section details the work being done by the Integrated Adolescent Service (IAS) – a service within the Families Quality and Commissioning division that was launched in early 2024. The IAS brought together the Safe Space and Youth Justice services. The report notes that the service delivers statutory adolescent family help, protection and youth justice services as core business, as well as prevention and diversionary interventions aimed at reducing entrants into the criminal justice and care systems. It also notes that the service works with CYP who go missing from home and care. The report includes a table of data showing the number of active Youth Justice Service interventions and the number of CYP with active Youth Justice Service interventions in Lewisham for each week from the 14th August to the 18th December 2024. The report also provides a breakdown of this data by age and gender.

The report also discusses the work the council is doing with children in care, including how the council is striving to deliver against the commitments made in its Corporate Parenting Strategy. It details the work being done in relation to Personal Education Plans (PEPs) for CYP in care. It also explains that the council is reviewing and refreshing its Corporate Parenting Strategy Action Plan, and notes that it plans to publish the refreshed plan in 2025.

The report describes the challenges faced by the council in relation to the placement of children in care, noting that:

Despite the challenges we are facing on placements for CYP in care and over reliance on externally commissioned placements, when benchmarked our placement arrangements and stability has been strong for a number of years and our aim is to maintain that performance.

The report pack includes charts that benchmark Lewisham’s performance on the placement of children in care against other London boroughs and England as a whole.

The report also describes the work the council is doing in relation to placement sufficiency. It explains that the council is subject to a legal duty to ensure that there are enough care placements for the CYP it looks after, and that these placements are within the borough’s boundaries. It states that the council published its Placement Sufficiency Strategy 2022-2026 in 2022. The report also discusses the council’s work in relation to kinship care and fostering, and notes that the council operates a Fostering Hub, which is staffed by foster carers employed to recruit new carers. It states that the hub has been operational since the 1st July 2024.

The report was scheduled to update the committee on progress being made on projects aimed at addressing the council’s reliance on external providers. It states that Mayor and Cabinet approved a proposal to repurpose three council buildings in September 2024 to create up to five in-house residential care beds for complex CYP. It also describes the progress of two projects:

• The Amersham project - a project to create five Ofsted-registered semi-independent accommodation places for CYP aged 16/17 who have moderate to high support needs.
• The Northover project - a project to create eight units that will provide an extension to the council's housing pathway.

The report notes that both the Amersham and Northover projects were scheduled to launch in October 2024 but that health and safety issues with building design had delayed their opening. The report states that they are now scheduled to open in January 2025. The report also mentions that the council is recruiting for a Head of Service for Care Resources to manage the repurposing project.

Finally, the report details the work being done by the council with care leavers, noting that:

For our existing 640 care leavers, of which around 260 are aged 18-20 and 380 are aged between 21-24…Lewisham remains ‘in touch’ with 83% of all our care leavers, which has fallen below our target of 90% and is an area of focus for 2025.

The report also provides an update on the council’s efforts to ensure that care leavers are treated as though they have Protected Characteristic status under the Equality Act 2010. It explains that the council carried a motion to treat care leavers as though they had Protected Characteristic status at a full council meeting on the 15th May 2024, and that the motion was supported by the Lewisham Child in Care Council.

SEND strategy and post-inspection action plan

This item was scheduled to provide the committee with an update on the recent local area SEND¹ inspection carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The overall judgment is: the local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This is the middle judgment on the inspection framework, available out of three criteria.

The report notes that the inspection identified several areas of strength, including:

• The way children and young people are considered in the decisions made by the local area partnership
• How children and young people’s opinions are listened to by leaders
• The effectiveness of work being done to support vulnerable children and young people, including looked after children and accompanied and unaccompanied asylum seekers
• Improvements to the timeliness of completion of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

The report also acknowledges that Ofsted and the CQC identified three key areas for improvement:

1. Leaders across the partnership need to strengthen the support for young people in preparing for adulthood.
2. Leaders across education, health and social care should ensure that a multi-agency quality assurance framework is in place for existing and amended EHC plans.
3. Health leaders should ensure that waiting times for specialist mental health pathways and neurodevelopmental assessments are reduced and that children and young people, and their families, consistently receive effective communication and support while waiting.

The report explains that the inspection took place ten years after the implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014, and that the act introduced significant SEND reforms, including the creation of EHCPs to replace statements of special educational needs. It also acknowledges that the reforms have not improved outcomes for CYP with SEND, and that the system is not financially sustainable for councils.

The report also details the findings of the 2023 SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. The report pack also includes graphs showing the growth in the number of learners with EHCPs in Lewisham, and growth in High Needs Block expenditure in Lewisham for each financial year from 2017/18 to 2022/23.

Lewisham’s picture regarding growth in EHCP’s and high needs spend over the last six years: the number of learners with EHCP has risen by 69%, the high needs spend has risen by 51% and is now on average an annual overspend of £3-4 million.

The report states that the strategic SEND improvement plan is in development and that it will be published alongside the refreshed SEND strategy by mid-February 2025.

Post-16 Destinations

This item was scheduled to update the committee on Lewisham’s performance on Post-16 destinations, options and the availability of information, advice and guidance.

Since September 2015, all young people have been under a duty to participate in education or training until the end of the academic year in which they turn 18.

The report sets out the council’s statutory duties for ‘Raising of the Participation Age’ (RPA) under the duty to participate. It explains that local authorities are required to:

• secure sufficient suitable education and training provision for all young people aged 16-18 (inclusive) in their areas,
• make available support that will encourage, enable or assist young people below the age of 19 to participate in education or training,
• work collaboratively with SEND staff to progress young people into suitable learning opportunities up to the age of 25; and
• work collaboratively with other internal agencies.

The report also states that councils are required to support young people and track their participation by:

• collecting information about all young people and identifying those in the area who are covered by the duty to participate.
• promoting the effective participation of young people in education, employment or training.
• using monthly leavers and joiners data from post-16 learning institutions to establish the identities of those not participating and those who are failing to fulfil the duty to participate in education or training.

The report also describes the national and London context for RPA, stating that London has the highest 16-17 year-old participation rate in the country at 96.1%. It also notes that London boroughs have consistently performed better than the national average on the rate of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The report pack then describes the activity undertaken by Lewisham Council to ensure that young people in the borough participate in education, employment or training. It explains that the council operates a ‘Baseline’ Team that supports young people and tracks their participation. It states that the Baseline Team is located in Unit 19 of the Lewisham Shopping Centre. It also notes that the service shares the premises with three other services for young people: the Lewisham Works (a service that supports young people aged 18 to 25), the Bank of Things (a service that provides free toiletries and stationery for young people aged 11 to 25) and an Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) centre. The report pack includes a table that shows a breakdown of the post-16 activity type of year 11 students from 2022 and 2023, as well as the number of students engaging in each activity type. Another table shows the number and percentage of students who went on to each destination in 2022 and 2023. The report pack also includes a chart showing destination establishment analysis for school leavers in 2022 and 2023. The report states that the Baseline Team also provides careers advice and that the team holds two annual careers events.

The report also discusses Lewisham’s NEET and ‘Unknown’ rates, stating that:

Lewisham local authority has the challenge to ensure regular contact with young people to prevent them from becoming NEET and thereby becoming ‘Unknown’ (not knowing the destination status of young people).

The report pack includes data tables showing a four-year trend of Lewisham NEETS, Unknowns and Participation (aged 16-18) and a breakdown of NEET rates for different vulnerable groups. The report explains that the council also runs a Post-Clearing Results event for students on GCSE results day.

The report pack includes data on travel to study patterns for 16-17 year-olds and 16-18 year-olds in Lewisham, noting that:

Many residents travel outside of Lewisham for study at post-16. In June 2024, Lewisham had around 6,099 16 – 17 year old residents in further education/sixth form. Of this group, 66 per cent (4,013 residents) commuted out of Lewisham to attend education.

The data is broken down by the top five destination boroughs: Bromley, Greenwich, Southwark, Bexley and Croydon.

Finally, the report describes the council’s efforts to help young people start apprenticeships, and states that the Baseline Team:

will continue to support those interested in starting an apprenticeship and to support the council’s plans to continued recruitment of apprentices for Lewisham residents.

Lewisham Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) Annual Report 2023-2024

The final item on the agenda was scheduled to update the committee on the activities of the LSCP. The report pack includes the partnership’s annual report, which was agreed by the LSCP Executive Partnership on 20 September 2024 and submitted to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel on 30 September 2024. The report provides an overview of the LSCP’s six strategic priorities for 2023 to 2025:

1. Child Exploitation
2. Neglect
3. Think Family
4. Voice of the Child
5. Measuring Impact and Outcomes
6. Anti-Racist Partnership Approach

The report also provides a summary of the LSCP’s collaborative work with other partnerships: the Tri-borough partnership (Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley), the Lewisham Safeguarding Adults Board and the Safer Lewisham Partnership.

The report also summarises the LSCP’s vision and values, noting that:

We held a Sub-Group Chairs Development Session in June 2023 whereby we agreed our partnership vision and values which represents the LSCP.

The report sets out the LSCP’s work programme for 2023/24, listing its key achievements during the period, including the launch of the multi-agency Neglect Strategy and associated neglect screening tool, the development of the Think Family practice guidance, the progress of the Child Exploitation Strategy and Strategic Plan for 2024-2027 and the creation of an Anti-Racist Practice partnership meeting. The report also summarises progress made on the LSCP’s Section 11 audit.

Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships have a statutory duty to assess whether agencies in their area are fulfilling their statutory obligation to safeguard and promote the welfare of children as described in Section 11 of the Children’s Act 2004.

The report notes that in 2023/24 Lewisham conducted its section 11 audit by way of an online safeguarding children practice survey. It states that 1,358 responses were received. The report also notes that Lewisham joined with Greenwich and Bexley Safeguarding Children Partnerships to undertake a Tri-Borough Section 11 audit of agencies that operate across all three boroughs, including the Metropolitan Police and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.

The LSCP annual report also includes a local profile of safeguarding in Lewisham, and data on the number of contacts received by the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), and the number of assessments it completed, in each financial year from 2021/22 to 2023/24. The report notes that there was a 7% reduction in requests for support in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23, and states that the MASH continued to perform above target for the year, with 91% of decisions made within one day.

The report also includes data snapshots as of March 2023, showing:

• The percentage of CYP subject to a Child Protection Plan and the number of CYP subject to a Child Protection Plan
• The percentage of care leavers aged 18-24 years and the number of care leavers aged 18-24 years
• The percentage of children looked after and the number of children looked after.

The report also includes a range of safeguarding data from other sources, including:

• Data from the National Office of Statistics and the 2021 Census showing that there are 63,518 children aged 0-18 years in Lewisham, and providing a breakdown of Lewisham’s ethnic makeup.
• Data from the Redthread Youth Violence Intervention Service showing that there has been a steady decrease in the number of children presenting at University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich with self-harm as a factor.
• Data showing that the Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) team received 88 referrals (including two children referred twice), that 62 children were reviewed at a Pre-MACE meeting and closed under ‘emerging risk’, and that 326 children presented at the two hospitals where self-harm is the presenting factor.
• Data showing that 44 children were heard at the Lewisham National Referral Mechanism (NRM) panel, and that 40 children received a positive ‘reasonable ground decision’.

The report then goes on to detail the achievements of Lewisham’s partner agencies in safeguarding, summarising the work undertaken by:

• South East London Integrated Care Board
• Lewisham and Greenwich Hospital Trust
• Lewisham Early Years
• Lewisham Education Services
• Lewisham Children and Young Peoples Service (CYP), including Children Social Care (CSC) and Families Quality and Commissioning (FQC) Directorate
• South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation (SLaM)
• South East Basic Command Unit, Metropolitan Police
• Phoenix Community Housing

Finally, the report includes feedback from the LSCP’s Independent Scrutineer, David Goosey. The report also provides information about the LSCP’s training programme, noting that it delivered 47 training events to 638 people between April 2023 and March 2024. It also provides a breakdown of the training the LSCP delivered on each of its strategic priorities and for the Tri-Borough partnership. The report summarises the impact of the training and concludes with information on the partnership’s governance arrangements and the financial contributions made by each of its partner organisations.