This meeting considered a range of updates on the council’s services for children and young people. It also considered the annual report on complaints made against the Children’s Social Care department, the council’s three year plan for youth justice and the provision of childcare in the Borough.

Complaints about Children's Social Care

The committee was scheduled to receive the annual report on complaints made about the Children’s Social Care service in 2023/24.

The report shows that there were 40 complaints made to the department in 2023/24, down from 61 in 2022/23. The report identifies six categories of complaints. In order of the number of complaints received these are: Poor quality of service (36%), not providing a service (26%), staff attitude (14%), disagreement with policy and decisions (12%), communication (10%) and delay in providing a service (2%).

The committee also heard that 62% of complaints were made about services for children in need, compared to 51% in 2022/23. The remaining 38% of complaints were made about services for looked after children, care leavers, children on child protection plans or children with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

The Youth Justice Plan

The committee was scheduled to receive the Waltham Forest Youth Justice Plan 2024-2027. The report pack contains a summary of the plan, the full plan, and an update on the progress made towards the priorities identified in the previous version of the plan.

Councillor Kizzy Gardiner, the Portfolio Lead Member for Children and Young People, and Anne-Marie Koroma, the Assistant Director for Youth and Family Resilience Services presented the plan. The plan identifies four strategic priorities for the youth justice service in 2024-2027:

1. Reducing the rate at which young people enter the criminal justice system for the first time.
2. Reducing serious youth violence.
3. Tackling racism and racial disparities in the youth justice system.
4. Improving outcomes for all children in the youth justice system through consistently good practice.

The meeting heard that in 2023/24, 61 children entered the youth justice system for the first time. This equates to a rate of 233 first time entrants per 100,000 children. This is higher than the London and national average for first time entrants to the youth justice system, but is lower than the number of children who entered the youth justice system for the first time in 2022/23.

The report pack also contains a summary of the findings of a recent inspection of the service by HM Inspectorate of Probation. In its report, HMIP said that the Waltham Forest Youth Justice Service ‘requires improvement’.

Early Years Childcare Places

The committee heard a presentation from Councillor Gardiner and Eve McLoughlin, the Assistant Director of Early Years and Childcare, on the provision of childcare places in the borough. The presentation covered:

• the expansion of the free childcare offer for 2 year olds from working families, that was introduced in April 2024;
• the introduction of the free childcare offer for children from 9 months old from working families, that commenced in September 2024;
• the gap between the hourly rate that the government pays for funded childcare places in Waltham Forest and other London Boroughs; and
• the work that the council has done to ensure that there are enough childcare places available for children in the borough.

The report pack includes a number of appendices that set out the council’s statutory duties in relation to childcare, the council’s priorities for improving early years provision, and some data on the take up of childcare places and the quality of childcare in the Borough.

The report pack explains that:

From September 2025, up to 30 hours of free childcare will be available for eligible working parents with a child from nine months old up to school age.

The report pack also explains that:

Waltham Forest receives the 3rd lowest funding rates when compared to other London LA’s. Our statistical neighbours of Brent, Hounslow, Enfield and Haringey are funded at an average of 50 pence more per hour for 3&4 yr olds, 78 pence more per hour for 2 yr olds and £1.14 per hour more for under 2’s.

The committee also heard about the council’s efforts to identify new sites for nurseries, and to work with developers to include nurseries in new developments. This includes making early years provision a greater priority when negotiating the provision of facilities as part of Section 106 agreements¹.

Section 106 agreements are legal agreements between local authorities and developers that are used to mitigate the impact of new developments. They can be used to secure financial contributions from developers that can be used to fund infrastructure projects, like the provision of new schools or roads. They can also be used to secure the provision of affordable housing and other types of community facilities.