Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Isos Director, Natalie Parish, to the meeting. Natalie provided the Board with a summary on the findings of the high needs funding research which was commissioned by the Local Government Association in July 2018.

Natalie explained that the Isos Partnership was commissioned to undertake research to explore the enablers and barriers to developing and sustaining an effective local early help offer and was asked to look at three areas: reviewing the existing material and research in terms of what works in Early Help; understanding in practical terms the activities and actions that contribute to the development and sustainability of an effective and partnership-based early help offer; and supporting local areas through an action-research based approach to develop their own early help offers and to contribute to the wider system knowledge of effective early help. Natalie outlined a local ‘early help offer’ was defined as:

“Each local area had taken their own distinctive approach to developing their early help offer. However, there were some clear similarities between the eight areas in terms of organisation and principles.”

Natalie outlined that the findings showed that each of the local areas had taken their own distinctive approach to developing their early help offer in their own unique ways, but despite differences there were clear similarities in organisation and principles between the eight areas, with differences mainly being in the bulk of the activity taking place. These similarities were:

(organisation):

·         Community based support networks

·         Partners as lead professionals

·         Central key working service

(principles)

·         The earliness of early help

·         Working with families, rather than individuals

·         Building resilience

·         An integrated – joined up offer

Natalie outlined the lifecycle and evolution of early help, and that the findings showed that local authorities were at different phases in this cycle. A number of the authorities were at the third phase of development ‘consolidation and integration’ and therefore were looking at improving consistency through better integration across a wider range of partners, and realign skills and targets, in order to enter the fourth phase ‘achieving a ‘multiplier effect’.

Natalie concluded her presentation by explaining that there is a strong logical and principled case for continuing to invest in early help so that it does become ‘everyone’s business’. But to achieve this in the current climate local areas will need to strike the right balance between the following criteria:

1.    Investing to achieve long-term impact or shorter term gains?

2.    Predicting need set against responding to demand

3.    Universal, additional or intensive support?

4.    Wider or deeper integration?

The following discussion took place with members:

·         Members asked for further details of the local authorities which were identified as having best practice. Natalie identified the eight councils used in the research: Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Kent, Lincolnshire, Oldham, Southend, West Sussex and Wigan.. Natalie told members that the final report will include vignettes and descriptions of these council’s early help offers.

·         In response to another question, Natalie clarified that Ofsted was not a defining criteria for councils within this research study.

·         In response to a question raised on how children services engage with other partners, Natalie explained that these local authorities worked with partners to include them in their governing structure, identifying strategies to improve the services by integrating teams.

·         In response to a question raised on how councils can encourage residents to contact early help services, Natalie described the approach from Southend-on-Sea Borough Council who produced one minute referral guides for families to self-refer.

·         It was stated by the Board that it was important to acknowledge the loss of £500million funding from central government which has most likely impacted local authorities early help models and stalled council developments in this area.

The Chair thanked Natalie Parish for presenting ahead of the launch of the report on 19^th March 2019.