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Looked After Children Placements and Resource Sufficiency Strategy

2015 to 2018

Martin Trim, Lynne Adams and Vince ClarkChildren and Young People's Services London Borough of HillingdonTable of Content

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Section1. Introduction and Background Information

1.1. Introduction 1.2. London Borough of Hillingdon Profile1.3. Mechanisms for commissioning placements in Hillingdon 1.4. The West London Alliance

2. Looked After Children in Hillingdon

2.1. Looked After Children Profile 3. Principles and Vision of the Strategy

3.1. Vision for Placements in Hillingdon3.2. Objectives3.3. Consultation and Service User Feedback

4. Fostering

4.1. Fostering Placement Profile

4.2. Hillingdon’s Fostering Service

4.3. Historic External Spend/Placements4.4. Location of External Placements4.5. West London IFA Framework4.6. West London Care Place4.7. Staying Put Placements

5. Residential Children's Homes

5.1. Residential Children’s Homes Placement Profile

5.2. Hillingdon's Residential Children's Homes5.3. Historic External Spend/Placements5.4. Location of External Placements5.5. Independent Residential Home Providers

6. Semi-Independent Provision For Care Leavers6.1. Semi Independent Placement Profile 6.2. Hillingdon’s Semi Independent Provision6.3. Hillingdon’s Shared Housing Provision6.4. Historic External Spend/Placements6.5. Location of External Placements

6.6. Alternative Semi Independent Provision7. Placements and Resource Sufficiency Strategy Priorities and Improvement Plan

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1. Introduction and Background Information

1.1 Introduction

This Sufficiency Strategy document sets out how the London Borough of Hillingdon (LBH) intends to meet its Sufficiency Duty as laid down in Section 22G of the Children Act 1989. In preparing this document consideration has been given to the Statutory Guidance Securing Sufficient Accommodation for Looked After Children (2009).

The document outlines steps to secure, sufficient accommodation within the London Borough of Hillingdon which meets the needs of children that the local authority are looking after, and whose circumstances are such that it would be consistent with their welfare for them to be provided with accommodation that is in the local authority’s area (‘the sufficiency duty’).

To achieve this, the Strategy will be supported by a range of action plans that will be refreshed annually. The Strategy should be read in conjunction with the following council plans and policies;

Children's Social Care Services Improvement Plan 2014-16 Council’s Permanency Policy Fostering Allowance Policy

This strategy enhances the work already completed as part of the 2011- 2014 Placement Strategy, which ensures that recent improvements are sustained and built upon.

1.2 London Borough of Hillingdon Profile

Hillingdon is a borough of contrasts. The north of the borough is semi-rural with a large proportion protected by green belt regulation, and Ruislip is the major centre of population. The south of Hillingdon is more densely populated, urban in character and contains the administrative centre of Uxbridge and towns of Hayes and West Drayton.

Heathrow airport is situated in the south of the borough, and is the largest employer offering a range of relatively well-paid skilled and unskilled manual positions. As well as these many positives, Heathrow provides many challenges as a major port of entry and the council in the responsible antidotes to deal with unaccompanied asylum seeking children and families.

The Council shares an almost co-terminus boundary with Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (known as NHS Hillingdon) which is responsible for the commissioning of healthcare services.

Population and Ethnicity

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Hillingdon's Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) shows that the population of the borough in 2015 is estimated to be 296,000. Projections indicate that Hillingdon's population will grow by approximately 4,500 people each year up to 2021. The 2015 population estimates show that 6.3% of the Hillingdon population is aged between 15 to 19 years old (projected from the 2012 mid-year estimate).

Age 2015 estimate % 0-4 22,500 7.6% 5-9 20,100 6.8% 10-14 16,700 5.7% 15-19 18,700 6.3% 20-24 23,400 7.9%

Hillingdon like many other London Boroughs has a young population, with 34.3% of the population under 25, compared to the national figure of 30.6%.

The population is increasingly diverse, currently 40% from BAME groups (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic), with a key feature of Hillingdon's demography is the ethnic diversity is concentrated in the young age groups. As such the proportion of people from BAME communities is projected to increase to 50% by 2021.

Looked After Children (LAC)

At 31st March 2015 there were 336 Looked After Children in Hillingdon a decrease of 12% from 31st March 2014. The 336 children looked after by the Authority equates to 50 children per 10,000 children under 18 years of age in Hillingdon. At 31st March 2015 the number of LAC who were Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) was 93.

National comparison

At 31st March 2014 there were 370 Looked After Children in Hillingdon. This has decreased from 420 children at 31st March 2010. The 370 children looked after by the Authority equates to 55 children per 10,000 children under 18 year of age in Hillingdon. For the same time period this is lower than the national rate which is 60 children per 10,000 but slightly higher than the rate for London which is 54 per 10,000. Nationally the trend since 2010 has increased from 57 to 60 children per 10,000 whereas in Hillingdon the trend shows a decrease from 67 in 2010 to 55 in 2014.

The number of UASC looked after by the Authority decreased to 95 at 31st March 2014 compared to 145 at 31st March 2010. This is a decrease of 34% compared to a decrease of 31% for London and a decrease of 43% nationally for the same time period.

The impact of accommodations for UASC is reflected in the age profile of Looked After Children in Hillingdon; causing a significant deviation to the national profile. At 31st March 2014 in

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Hillingdon 42% of Looked After Children were over 16 years of age compared to 21% nationally and 30% in London.

The Children's Social Care map below illustrates a snap shot of the work flow volumes in Children's Social Care.

Safeguarding children (including Child Protection)

In 2013/14 there were 2,947 referrals to Children's Services in Hillingdon which equates to 438 per 10,000 population of children under 18 years of age. This is significantly lower than the national rate of 573 and the London rate of 470. Of the 2,947 referrals in Hillingdon 543 (18.4%) were made within 12 months of a previous referral for that child. This compares to 23.4% nationally and 16.25% for London. In Hillingdon 3% of these referrals resulted in 'no further action' this is considerably lower than the national rate of 14% and the London rate of 8%.

During 2014/15 the service delivery model and management of Children in Need and Safeguarding has been significantly changed to make it more effective. This has included the introduction of a fully functioning MASH team and a Referral and Assessment Service to strengthen the 'front door'. This resulted in more consistent thresholds being used to determine access to Social Care Service.

Initial results for 2014/15 show that there have been 3,668 referrals in Hillingdon which equates to 543 per 10,000 an increase of 24% since 2013/14.

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The rate of children who became the subject of a Child Protection Plan during 2013/14 per 10,000 population under 18 years of age in Hillingdon was 30.8 this compares to 52.1 for England and 43.2 for London. In 2014/15 the number of children who became the subject of a Child Protection Plan increased sharply to 56.2 per 10,000.

1.3 Mechanisms for commissioning placements in Hillingdon

A Category Management approach is being used to commission services and ensure legally binding contracts are in place for all external service providers, that these external services are continually monitored to ensure they are providing a quality service, value for money, and the team are also responsible for ensuring a robust and efficient contract management system is in place.

The Category Management Team will ensure all services are procured in accordance with Hillingdon's Procurement & Contract Standing Orders. In addition, if the estimated contract value is greater than the limit specified by OJEU, the formal provisions of The Public Contract Regulations 2015 will be applied.

The Access to Resources Team use these contracts to broker a range of placements for Looked After Children including; Foster Care, Children's Residential Homes and Semi Independent Living Accommodation. The team ensure that all individual child agreements are in place for each Looked after Child to ensure that the placements are meeting the desired outcomes.

The Assistant Director, Children's Social Care chairs a weekly Access to Resources Panel to ensure that any expensive package of care are appropriately gate kept and also to track and monitor placements being made outside of 20 miles from home.

As part of the Sufficiency Strategy, a Category Portfolio will be continually developed to deliver the requirements of Children's service and structured to:

Ensure assurance of supply (provider failure and service interruptions) Deliver appropriate quality of service Deliver flexible service solutions Deliver value for money Facilitate new and innovative solutions Develop solutions with new local suppliers Comply with relevant legislation

1.4 The West London Alliance (WLA)

The London Borough of Hillingdon is 1 of 6 boroughs including Ealing, Harrow, Brent, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow who form the West London Alliance (WLA). As part of the Children’s Services Efficiencies Programme the WLA boroughs are also working in partnership with RB Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of Westminster.

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The West London Children’s Services Efficiencies Programme was launched in Spring 2011, and includes a commitment to develop a specific programme to deliver savings and efficiencies from spend on externally commissioned social care provision for children in care and care leavers.

Collectively, the West London boroughs spend in excess of £60m per year on Looked After Children, making them the largest collective purchasers of external Children’s Social Care placements in the country. All of the Local Authorities within the WLA are working collectively to develop this joint purchasing power to ensure the quality, value and local sufficiency of provision. The three main WLA work streams for the LAC category are Fostering (Section 4), Residential Children's Homes (Section 5) and Semi-independent (Section 6); please see relevant sections for more information.

2. Looked After Children in Hillingdon

As part of a Improvement Plan the Children's Social Care Service has developed an improvement programme; with a greater focus on prevention and getting it right through early support, Children's Social Care Services will focus on offering accessible good quality support for those families that require specialist interventions.

Children and Young People can become 'Looked After' in two main ways;

1. Voluntary arrangement with their parents or carer (if they have parental responsibility),2. Following an application to court for an Interim Care Order as part of legal proceedings.

The Council has a duty as Corporate Parent to all children that come into the care of the Council. This duty is discharged through service provision, delegated participation services and through the oversight of the Corporate Parenting Board.

The Council also has a set of duties to provide appropriate care and support to young people leaving care up to the age of 24 to 25 if in further education.

LBH is working in partnership with families and other key stakeholders to prevent children from coming into care. LBH is committed to provide substantial support to facilitate rehabilitation to family and kinship Networks. One example is the recent award of contract for an expanded Family Group Conference Service which started in April 2015. The intention is for Family Group Conferences to support the families engaged with Children and Young People Services to find their own solutions to their problems in meeting the child's needs.

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2.1 Looked After Children Profile

As at31/03/201

3 31/03/201

4 31/03/201

5

Children in Care No's % No's % No's %

Number of Children in Care 358 358 336

Gender

Female 131 37% 137 38% 129 38%

Male 227 63% 220 61% 203 60%

Other 0 0% 1 0% 0 0%

Ethnicity

Asian 74 21% 55 15% 68 20%

Black 60 17% 69 19% 71 21%

Chinese/ Other Ethnic Group 15 4% 24 7% 19 6%

Mixed 39 11% 29 8% 28 8%

White 170 47% 181 51% 147 44%

Info not available 0 0% 0 0% 3 1%

Placement type Placed for Adoption 11 3% 7 2% 0 0%

Fostering 237 66% 223 62% 223 66%

Placed with Relative, Friends & Parents 6 2% 5 1% 4 1%

Independent Living 57 16% 73 20% 60 18%

Residential 38 11% 39 11% 45 13%

Other 9 3% 11 3% 4 1%

Placement Location

In Borough 188 53% 196 55% 191 57%

Out Borough 156 44% 154 43% 145 43%

Unknown placement locations 14 4% 8 2% 6 2%

Legal Status

Section 46 1 0% 4 1% 0 0%

Section 44 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 20 193 54% 197 55% 198 59%

Section 38 14 4% 32 9% 22 7%

Section 31 107 30% 93 26% 92 27%

Section 23 5 1% 7 2% 3 1%

Placement Order 36 10% 24 7% 21 6%

Without Legal Status 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Other Legal Status 2 1% 1 0% 0 0%

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In March 2015 there were 336 LAC from a predominately White, Black or Asian background with 59% under the legal status Section 20.

A large proportion of Hillingdon's LAC are place outside Hillingdon but are kept where possible within 20 miles of their home. The table below shows numbers LAC in Hillingdon placed over 20 miles from home. There has been a steady decline in the proportion of the LAC population placed outside 20 miles from 18% March 2011 to 14% March 2015. It should be noted that Heathrow airport is used as the home destination for UASC.

425

385 375 365 370

70 7060

5545

01020304050607080

320

340

360

380

400

420

440

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Number of Children Looked After in Hillingdon placed over 20 miles from home

All LAC Placed over 20 miles

In comparison with Boroughs in London and the rest of England; Hillingdon has a good track record of keeping LAC close to home. Hillingdon's percentage of placements outside 20 miles from home is predicted to decrease to 14% in 2015. The table below shows a comparison between Hillingdon, England and London from 2010 to 2014.

% of Children Looked After placed over 20 miles from home2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

England 16% 16% 16% 16% 17%London 18% 18% 18% 18% 18%Hillingdon 16% 18% 16% 15% 12%

3. Principles and Vision of the Strategy

3.1. Vision for Placements in Hillingdon

The vision of this strategy is to help children who are looked after, or at risk of becoming looked after, by the London Borough of Hillingdon (LBH), achieve the best possible life outcomes and to ensure that the services provided to these children are structured in a way that best meets their needs.

Need to develop clarity regarding the following;

Increased in house fostering provision,

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More timely premises of permanent outcomes, Manage the external provider market.

It is driven by the following key principles:

Partnerships will be developed with children, young people and families to provide a range of support and placement options to meet need. We will also listen to our service users and take feedback from them to ensure that our services are delivered in a way that is most helpful and effective and serves residents needs.

Every effort will be made to ensure local placements are provided that enable Looked After Children, (when it is in their best interests) - to remain in their local communities, maintain their networks, and minimise disruption in their lives, especially schooling.

Partnership and Community support that enables children to stay within their immediate family will be promoted.

Services to promote permanency for children and young people within their families or alternative substitute care will be promoted.

Meaningful support to facilitate rehabilitation to family and kinship networks when in the best interests of the child will be provided.

Where children cannot be supported within their immediate family, “Connected Person” arrangements will be explored as the preferred alternative arrangement.

Foster care arrangements will only be put in place where family and “Connected Person” arrangements are not possible.

Residential care arrangements will be put in place where foster care arrangements are not possible and will provide support to children and young people enabling rehabilitation to family and connected networks where possible.

Suitable accommodation will be provided to care leavers which will include 'staying put' where that is in their best interests.

3.2. Objectives

In support of these principles LBH aims to:

Ensure that only those children who need to be looked after are accommodated within the care system,

Reduce the amount of time children spend in care, by achieving timely outcomes. Increase placement stability, Promote and develop in-house fostering services, Comply with the Statutory Guidance – Securing Sufficient Accommodation for Looked

After Children across the range of needs identified in the Strategy, Ensure efficient and effective use of Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs) and

residential care, Provide Looked After Children with access to available positive activities such as arts,

sport and culture, in order to promote the child's sense of well-being, Ensure services demonstrate they provide “value for money” to all Hillingdon’s residents.

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3.3. Consultation and Service User Feedback

New Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children was issued on 17 March 2015.

Looked After Children should be able to participate in decisions about their care. Arrangements should be in place to promote a culture:

Where Looked After Children are listened to That takes account of their views according to their age and understanding, in identifying

and meeting their physical, emotional and mental health needs That helps others, including carers and schools, to understand the importance of listening

to and taking account of the child’s wishes and feelings about how to be healthy.

All Looked After Children are consulted about their placement and experiences of being in care, including their health and education, throughout their time in care, Social workers meet with them regularly to seek their views, carers (foster carers or residential staff) are required to discuss and involve children in decision making on a day to day basis; and there is a more formal consultation process that takes place in advance of their LAC Reviews, which includes the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) who chairs the Review meeting arranging a time to see the child on their own in preparation for their review.

There are currently three groups that make up the Children in Care Council (CICC) in Hillingdon, each of these groups meet a minimum of once a month with the Participation Worker and the Children’s Rights Officer facilitating the groups with the support of Care Leavers. These groups are an opportunity for young people to come together with other Looked After Children; be consulted about improving children services and getting involved in projects to effect change and improve services given to them.

Talkers: is for 7 to 11 year olds Step Up: aged 12-15 years Stepping Out: 16 plus and care leavers. This is a newly formed break away group as a

decision was made to split the Step Up Group into younger and older as it was difficult for the older Talkers to move up to Step Up with so many older young people and care leavers. This has enabled this group to focus more on issues relating to leaving care, training and service developments.

Children and young people from the older groups are trained to deliver training to other children and staff in Hillingdon and get involved in staff recruitment. They also have representation and take an active part in the Corporate Parenting Board meetings with Members and Senior Officers.

Permanency

Permanence is the framework of emotional permanence, physical permanence (stability) and legal permanence (the carer has parental responsibility for the child) which gives a child a sense

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of security, continuity, commitment and identity. The objective of planning for permanence is therefore to ensure that children have a secure, stable and loving family to support them through childhood and beyond. The Children Act 1989 Volume 2 Care Planning, Placement and Case Review.

A range of placement options for achieving permanence are available, including;

Adoption: Adoption provides a child with the opportunity to develop a secure and lifelong relationship with a family. Adoption is considered the most extreme permanency option as it legally separates a child from their birth family with the child becoming a full member of the new family taking the family name and having the same rights and privileges as if they were born to the parent. The adoptive parents have sole Parental Responsibility for the child.

Connected Person Fostering (formerly Kinship Care): an arrangement whereby the local authority has a legal responsibility for a child and place them with a family member or friend who is a foster carer for that child. Connected person foster carers are subject to the same assessment and support as main stream foster carers.

Special Guardianship: a formal court order that was introduced on 30 December 2005. This order awards parental responsibility to the carer until the child is 18 years of age or the order is revoked. Special Guardianship Carers can be a family member, friend or someone with an established relationship with the child. Special Guardianship means that the child lives with carers who have parental responsibility for them until they are grown up. The child is no longer the responsibility of the local authority however the local authority has an obligation to provide a financial support pack and other support as needed.

Long Term Fostering: long term foster care provides a child with the secure and stable home whilst still being supported by the local authority as a looked after child. Parental Responsibility is normally shared between the parent and local authority with the child being placed under the auspices of Section 31 of the Children Act. This year the government officially recognise long term fostering as an important placement option in achieving good outcomes for Looked After Children. Long term fostering provides a child with a form of stability without legally separating the child from their parents.

In 2014/15 there were 15 adoptions in Hillingdon a decrease of 13% from 17 in 2013/14. At April 2015 Hillingdon had 50 Connected Person and 25 SGOs in place.

4. Fostering

Foster carers provide a range of placements to Looked After Children. Foster carers can provide care in emergencies, caring for a child for just a few days or over a weekend to give the parent / main carer a break, known as 'respite' foster care or it can be for longer periods, sometimes throughout a child's formative years up to the age of 21.

The aim of providing a foster placement is to facilitate assessment and care planning / organising, whilst a child is receiving quality nurturing care. The long term aim is to facilitate a child's move to permanence; this may include facilitating a child's return home or a move into a permanent placement, as set out above.

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Hillingdon's CIC and Care Leavers service make plans for children in care which are aimed at helping them to find a sense of permanence without delay, where possible leave care to live in stable, loving families. Where young people become eligible for leaving care services to offer Pathway plans aimed at supporting their transition to adulthood and living independently.

4.1 Fostering Placement Profile

As at 31/03/2013 31/03/2014 31/03/2015

Children in Care No's % No's No's

Number of Children in Foster Care 237*

66% 223 *

62% 223*

66%

Gender

Female 95 40% 95 43% 100 45%

Male 142 60% 128 57% 123 55%

Ethnicity

Asian 52 22% 38 17% 44 20%

Black 29 12% 31 14% 42 19%


Mixed 25 11% 18 8% 21 9%

White 125 53% 126 57% 104 47%


Age

Under 10 93 39% 87 39% 83 37%

10 – 12 years old 28 12% 34 15% 33 15%

13 – 14 years old 34 14% 28 13% 28 13%

15 – 16 years old 54 23% 49 22% 55 25%

over 16 years old 28 12% 25 11% 24 11%

Legal Status

Section 46 1 0% 4 2% 0 0%

Section 44 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 20 113 48% 102 46% 101 45%

Section 38 13 5% 30 13% 22 10%

Section 31 84 35% 70 31% 78 35%

Section 23 0 0% 0 0% 1 0%




Main category of need

Absent Parenting 55 23% 37 17% 50 22%

Abuse or Neglect 118 50% 109 49% 108 48%

Cases other than Children in Need 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Disability 1 0% 1 0% 1 0%

Family Dysfunction 26 11% 35 16% 27 12%

Family in Acute Stress 14 6% 13 6% 15 7%

Low Income 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

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Parental Illness or Disability 15 6% 13 6% 12 5%

Socially Unacceptable Behaviour 8 3% 15 7% 10 4%

(*% of LAC population)

4.2. Hillingdon's Fostering Services

The use of In-house foster care is the priority choice for Hillingdon as;

More factors remain in the control of the council such as alteration to the care package as additional needs arise,

Tailoring provision to emergent need through training and mentoring support for carers that helps them to develop greater expertise,

Closer relationships between the commissioners, Focus on Increases local Capacity, Greater control of cost ensuring value for money, Children’s outcomes are improved through the closer working relationships foster carers

develop being part of Hillingdon’s service.

As with other local authorities and the private market the recruitment of foster carers remains a considerable challenge and more needs to be undertaken to achieve results in this area. In April 2015 Hillingdon’s in-house provision consisted of foster carers supporting 104 placements. This currently equates to approximately 50% of fostering placements made. The intention is that this % should increase to 57% by 2016.

This will be achieved through the on-going intensive foster carer recruitment programme, which aims to increase the number of in-house foster carers by a minimum of 20 per annum. The recruitment work will prioritise the profile and needs of the children coming into the local authority care with a particular emphasis of the young people who have more complex needs. This is central to LBH Placement and Sufficiency Strategy and is monitored rigorously through a project group chaired by the Deputy Director.

As part of this strategy a number of incentives are offered by LBH to foster carers including to increase local capacity in Hillingdon.

Training & Development of LBH Carers

Annual training programme, which consists of a five-week induction training course (one day per week over five weeks) as well as specialist training programmes, which are reviewed annually.

Foster carer allowances exceed the government's national minimum fostering allowance. Regular contact / visits from a supervising social work Out-of-hours service, with access to a 24-hour telephone support line Weekly allowances and fees above the government's recommended national minimum

amount Access to clinical psychologists and other professionals Full needs-based training and professional development Free membership to the Fostering Network

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Access to the Hillingdon Foster Carer Association (HFCA) - a support group of foster carers who host a wide variety of training sessions and social events for looked-after children and foster carers

Sons and Daughters group for the children of foster carers Buddying scheme - where new foster carers have access to a foster carer 'buddy' in their

area to further support them Annual foster carers' celebration evening Quarterly foster carers newsletter 'Fostering Update'

This offer will be continually reviewed as part of the ongoing development of the recruitment strategy to ensure fostering for Hillingdon is competitive with the market for all potential foster carers.

Further work is being undertaken with community groups and voluntary organisations to build links with cultural, faith and disability groups to assist in targeting recruitment. Particular attention is also being paid to targeting carers for young people aged 13+ needing foster care.

Service Improvement

Service development has been a high priority by Children Services and the Service Improvement Plan 2015/16 has set out the overarching vision and priorities for each service area. To achieve the vision the plan has been developed using the Transformation Children's Pathway work streams and sets out 7 work stream across each area of Children Services, work stream 5 focuses on improving the quality of Fostering and Adoption provision.

Outcomes of work stream 5

Deliver top quartile adoption and permanence outcomes for LAC in Hillingdon High quality and timely assessments Increase the number of good quality Hillingdon foster placements available to LAC Reduce the number of independent Foster Agency (IFA) placements used by LAC in

Hillingdon Sufficient good quality permanent placement options for LAC in Hillingdon Improve the numbers of LAC placed within their own community (inside 20 mile radius) Timely administration and management of the Panel process

A fostering recruitment activity plan has been developed between the Fostering and Communication Teams. This plan focuses on the recruitment of in house carers but has also targets recruitment of carers for teenagers and long term foster carers as being a priority area.

The recruitment plan has set out activities that will take place throughout the year, the activities and advertising will take place in most areas of Hillingdon and will use the local resources such as children centres and libraries to advertise and provide information. The recruitment plan started with the fostering fortnight, this was a successful campaign where events took place in religious establishments, the Chimes Shopping Centre and other local venues. This campaign had 56 expressions of interest all of which will be followed up.Independent Fostering Agencies

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It is recognised that the In House Fostering Service will never be able to match all of the foster care placements required due to the level of diversity and individual needs of the children we place. Excess demand for foster placements is sourced by the Access to Resources Team from Independent Foster Agencies (IFA). These services are procured via two Frameworks:

West London IFA Framework (Primary contract) London Care placements (Secondary contract)

The primary borough Framework is the West London IFA Framework to purchase foster care. London Care placements are a secondary option predominantly used for out of borough placements and residential care.

LBH is the lead Borough for the West London IFA Framework procurement activities on behalf of the WLA. The framework focuses on three types of foster placements;

Core Fostering Mother and Baby Fostering Specialist Fostering placements.

Across the WLA in 2013/14 65.7% of all WLA, IFA placements spend was made with West London framework providers. This was a total of £20.6 million between all the boroughs. Hillingdon spend via the Framework in 2013/14 was £2,250,654.

The IFA Framework has been active since July 2013 and produced savings of £2.5m across all boroughs. The fundamental aims of the framework include promoting sufficiency, improving quality and providing value for money.

Recruitment and availability of IFA local carers remains an issue for West London. Only a few providers have shown commitment to this area and recruitment performance continues to be disappointing.

Hillingdon will continue to work with the Children’s Efficiency Programme (WLA) to identify priority areas of need in the medium and long term working with providers on the West London Fostering Framework to ensure local capacity meets demand and as a sub-region we place the majority of children locally. This will include: better utilisation of existing West London carers and targeted recruitment of new carers.

To actively stimulate recruitment of local carers households in March 2015 a Re-tiering exercise of the WLA IFA Framework was completed; focusing on recruitment, availability and quality of local carers. The intention was to increase provider commitment and improve recruitment performance.

Moving forward the WLA will be taking a Performance Management approach reviewing those providers where there is a persistent lack of growth. A further Re-tiering exercise will also completed in March 2016.

Half-yearly provider forums have been agreed to maintain and develop the framework, addressing any issues that arise over time and most importantly continue to build strong and enduring relationships with framework providers.

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The management of the independent fostering market remains a key responsibility of the Category Management Team working in partnership with WLA Officers.

4.3. Historic External Spend/Placements

In 2014/15 £3,511,105 was spent on In-house foster households and £3,777,976on Independent Foster agency households.

The percentage of spend on IFA placements via the WLA framework has increased from 65% in 2013/14 to 67% in 2014/15.

% of IFA spend on IFA Framework (WLA) and Off Framework2013/14 2014/15

IFA Framework (WLA) 65% 67%Off Framework 35% 33%

4.4. Location of External Placements

There were 184 new foster placements between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015.

68 of these placements were Out of Borough located in the areas below

Postal area Number of placements.Harrow 21Hemel Hempstead 2Rochester 1Islington 1Northwest London 6Slough 16Twickenham 10Northolt 9London 2

In 2014/15, 23% of all placements were situated 20 miles from home or outside LBH; the majority of new placements in this period were made in Harrow, Slough, Twickenham and Northolt.

4.5. Staying Put Placements

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The strategic aim is to ensure Hillingdon is able to respond to the staying put duty whilst not compromising the fostering market.

The average age of leaving home is rising and the transition to adulthood is increasingly becoming more complex and elongated. In response the government introduced a new duty on Local Authorities in England regarding Staying Put which came into force on 13 May 2014, in part 5 Welfare of Children (98) of the Children and Families Act 2014.

The council is required to facilitate, monitor and support staying put arrangements for fostered young people until they reach the age of 21, where this is what they and their foster carers want, unless the local authority consider that the staying put arrangement is not consistent with the welfare of the young person.

There were 26 Hillingdon Staying Put arrangements in June 2015 with 1 to 2 new arrangement anticipated every month. It is predicted there will be 36 Staying Put arrangements in place by April 2016 due to a small proportion of agreements due to end after 6 months. The new duty and subsequent projected increase of staying put arrangements will result in Foster Carers being taken away from an already under supplied market place and provide a significant challenge.

In response, Hillingdon has adopted the West London Staying Put Arrangements Policy which is intended to ensure that young people can remain with their former foster carers until they are prepared for adulthood, experience a transition akin to their peers and avoid social exclusion and subsequent housing and tenancy breakdown. This policy includes an agreement to a formula outlining how the placement will be supported financially going forward to ensure there is no misunderstanding between commissioner and provider. All WLA Framework providers have agreed this policy.

5. Residential Children’s Homes

Children’s homes provide support and care for some of our most vulnerable children and young people. We want each child in care to be provided with the right placement at the right time, and for residential child care to be a positive and beneficial choice for the children and young people living in children’s homes.

Residential care arrangements will be put in place where alternative arrangements such as fostering are not possible or appropriate. As such many children placed in residential child care will have highly complex and challenging needs. Their abilities and individual stage of development will determine their starting point when they arrive at the children’s home and the home may need to support them through a complex and extended period of transition before they are able to positively engage and develop.

5.1. Residential Children’s Homes Placement Profile

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As at31/03/201

3 31/03/201

4 31/03/201

5


Number of Children in Residential Care 38*

11% 39*

11% 43*

13%

Gender

Female 8 21% 13 33% 21 49%

Male 30 79% 25 64% 22 51%

Ethnicity

Asian 7 18% 5 13% 6 14%

Black 7 18% 9 23% 11 25%


Mixed 4 11% 3 8% 2 5%

White 17 45% 20 51% 21 49%


Age

Under 10 1 3% 1 3% 1 2%

10 – 12 years old 4 11% 5 13% 1 2%

13 – 14 years old 4 11% 4 10% 8 19%

15 – 16 years old 27 71% 19 49% 17 40%

over 16 years old 2 5% 10 26% 16 37%

Placement Location

In Borough 21 55% 19 49% 21 49%

Out Borough 17 45% 20 51% 22 51%

Legal Status

Section 46 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 44 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 20 25 66% 28 72% 37 86%

Section 38 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 31 11 29% 9 23% 6 14%

Section 23 2 5% 1 3% 0 0%





Absent Parenting 9 24% 10 26% 16 37%

Abuse or Neglect 8 21% 12 31% 7 16%


Disability 8 21% 7 18% 4 9%



Low Income 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%



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5.2. Hillingdon’s Residential Children’s Homes

Hillingdon has three in house residential children's homes, Hillingdon Resource Centre, Charville Lane and Merrifield's. All are subject to Ofsted regulatory inspections and independent Regulation 44 and 45 inspections as required by The Children's Homes Regulations 2015. Hillingdon Resource Centre and Charville Lane have both been found in the recent Ofsted inspection to be providing a good level of care to children.

Charville Lane Children’s Centre is a 13 bedded Local Authority Home for young people, aged 12 to 17 years of either gender. Charville Lane’s primary focus is working with unaccompanied asylum seeking children who for different reasons may not be able to return home. They also work with a small group of local young people who are admitted on a short to medium term basis usually as a result of placement breakdown.

Charville Lane was found in the recent Ofsted inspection to be a good provision. Key findings included, exceptionally good relationships between young people and staff members and high quality effective support that underpins the progress of young people.

Hillingdon Children’s Resource Centre is a 6-bedded local authority home the home looks after young people between the ages of 11 and 17, both boys and girls. The main focus is young people in crisis, who cannot live with their families. The unit’s role is to assess the young person and their family and support them to either return to their family or achieve permanency through an alternate route.

Hillingdon Children Resource Centre was found in the recent Ofsted inspection to be a good provision. Key findings included the unit being a caring and well managed home, skilled staff and positive relationship between staff and young people

Merrifelds is a purpose built Resource Centre with 8 single en-suite bedrooms provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon, providing respite and Short Breaks service to young people aged between 10 and 18 years of age, who have a primary need of Learning Disability and complex needs.

Ofsted rated the service as adequate in January 2015 and then increased in effectiveness in April 2015 at an interim inspection. Key findings included that the Outcomes for children were 'good' and the quality of care was ' good', commenting that children who use the centre are well looked after and that staff and managers are effective in providing personalised and well planned care.


In 2014/15 the LBH spent £1,246,778 on In-house Residential services and £1,709,988

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via private and voluntary Residential Services for LAC.


There were 74 new Residential placements between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015; 10 of these placements were out of Borough located in the areas below:

Postal area Number of placementsOxford 1Brighton 1Chelmsford 1Canterbury 1Exeter 2Harrow 3Telford 1

In 2014/15, 43% of all Residential Home placements were situated 20 miles from home or outside LBH.

5.5. Independent Residential Home Providers

It is recognised that the In-house Residential Services will never be able to match all of the placements required. Excess demand for residential placements is sourced by the Access to Resources Team from Independent providers.

These services are procured through the London Care Placements framework on an individual child basis. The market within Hillingdon and the rest of West London remains vastly underdeveloped and largely unable to meet our needs as 43% of all LAC placements are 20 miles from home or outside the LBH.

The WLA Children’s Efficiency Programme is working to identify options for and implement a preferred option for a procurement approach to deliver the shift in the market required, reducing the provider base and ensure that we are able to better control cost, quality and continue to develop local sufficiency of placements.

Working with the WLA we have been working with providers to develop organically in partnership with the West London Boroughs.

The Children’s Efficiency Programme will explore the viability of moving towards using the National Children’s Homes Contract presenting a proposal with a recommendation to the programme governance structure by September 2015.

The Children’s Efficiency Programme also co-ordinate's an annual residential provider forum and other task and finish groups relating to specific topics as required.

The Children’s Efficiency Programme, working alongside Health and Education will continue to identify and work with organisations that wish to develop services locally ensuring that opportunities exist for all providers of residential children’s homes to access information about need/demand in West London.

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Access to all independent residential provision is managed by the access to resources panel which is chaired by the Assistant Director. The panel ensures that the placement is needs led but also ensures value for money and each case has an appropriate Care Plan.

6. Semi-Independent Provision For Care Leavers and LAC

Children Leaving Care Act 2000 places a statuary duty on the Council to support certain categories of Looked After Children (''LAC'') and care leavers.

16 or 17 years olds who have been looked after by the local authority, for a period of 13 weeks or above, since turning 14, at least one day of which is after their 16th birthday, are entitled to leaving care provisions. There is a duty placed on the council to conduct an assessment of the young person's needs, looking into what support the young person needs while they remain looked after and after they cease to be Looked After. On completion of the assessment the Council must prepare a Pathway Plan. The Pathway Plan must, among other considerations, provide details of the accommodation the young person is to occupy.

The statute does not stipulate the type of accommodation to be provided. The key issue is that the accommodation is appropriate and suitable.

However, Statutory Guidance states that it would be inappropriate for 16-17 year olds to live completely independently and that B&B accommodation should only be used as an exception for limited period.

Semi-Independent services are used to enable vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to move from dependence to independence by providing access to accommodation, employment and personal development with appropriate advice and support. These services also have Learning & Development activities.

Semi-Independent Provision can be in the form of hostel or home in multiple occupation with or without support.

The aim of the service is to provide a positive transition from care to semi-independent and subsequently independent living. Support Service for young residents who may have had a history of tenancy breakdown/relationship breakdown with family or friends / evictions / homelessness and or may have an offending history or have drug or alcohol issues.

6.1. Semi Independent Placement Profile

As at 31/03/2013 31/03/2014 31/03/2015

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Number of Children in Semi Independent Placement 57

* 16% 73

* 20% 60

* 18%

Gender

Female 1933% 23

32% 11 18%

Male 3867% 50

68% 49 82%

Ethnicity

Asian 1018% 11

15% 16 27%

Black 2035% 24

33% 17 28%

Chinese/ Other Ethnic Group 611% 12

16% 7 12%

Mixed 4 7% 3 4% 3 5%

White 1730% 23

32% 17 28%


Age

Under 16 years old 1 2% 0 0% 0 0%

16 years old 2544% 16

22% 23 38%

17 years old 3154% 55

75% 37 62%

18+ years old 0 0% 2 3% 0 0%

Legal Status

Section 46 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 44 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 20 4884% 63

86% 57 95%

Section 38 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Section 31 712% 9

12% 3 5%

Section 23 0 0% 1 1% 0 0%




Absent Parenting 3968% 48

66% 40 67%

Abuse or Neglect 1221% 13

18% 10 16%


Disability 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%



Low Income 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%


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The West London Semi Independent market is competitive with 20 providers holding 1.5% to 7.8% of spend by the WLA boroughs (£10.8m over 2013/14). These providers have increased their percentage of total spend from 44.2% in 2010/11 to 65.4% in 2013/14. The average price of accommodation and support placement across the WLA was £573 and varied from £530 to £635 across the different boroughs (2013/14).

In 2013/14 the YMCA had the highest spend across the WLA with 7.8% of the total spend (increasing 3.1% since 2010/11).

6.2. Hillingdon’s Semi Independent Provision

Hillingdon has a range of Semi Independent services with three contracted providers People Potential Possibilities (P3), West London YMCA, Look Ahead and one In-house service to meet the housing-related support needs of vulnerable young people and care leavers aged 16-25.

Semi Independent services are also brokered where required via London Care Placements by the Access to Resources Team.

Home in multiple occupation setting

Housing support

P3 supplies the provision of 3 High needs units (23 residents) staffed 24 hours for residents aged 16 to 17 and 1 Low needs Housing support (9 residents) for residents aged 18 to 24.

The primary aim of the service is to enable clients’ time to engage with the service, and other appropriate agencies so that, wherever possible and safe, clients will return home and failing this, find alternative move on accommodation within the local provision.

These services are contracted with P3 from 1 October 2014 to 31 September 2017 (with options to extend 2 years).

Teenage Parent services

Look Ahead Care and Support has one contract for the provision of a Teenage Parent services for residents aged 16-25.

This service has an integrated approach to meeting the needs of vulnerable homeless pregnant women, or young mothers, to help them move onto and successfully establish themselves in independent accommodation within two years.

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The contract for the Teenage Parents service is in two parts Floating support and Building-based services as follows:

Queens Walk - 6 bed shared accommodation with 36 support hour per week (36) inclusive of 1st line manager, residents are issued with licence agreements,

Maygoods Lane - 6 self contained flats with 25 contracted support hours per week, residents are issued with assured short hold tenancies.

Floating Support service operated from Maygoods Lane with 21 support hours per week.

This service is contracted from 15 November 2010 to 14 November 2015 on a rolling contract.

In-House Services

One significant client group for Hillingdon is 16 -17 year old unaccompanied asylum seeking Children / Heathrow arrivals. Following the Hillingdon Judgment in 2004 this client group must be treated by a local authority as Looked After Children and ensuring the continued provision of appropriate support and accommodation for them is a statutory responsibility.

Asylum children have unique needs and requirements from the local LAC population. To meet this requirement Hillingdon commissioned a specialist 30 bed unit (including 2 Emergency beds) called Olympic House. This Semi Independent unit specifically looks after unaccompanied asylum and asylum seeking children aged 16 to 17.

The building is owned and maintained by Centremark Properties Ltd which is rented by Hillingdon, staffed with an In-house support service provided by Hillingdon. This service is well utilised and was fully occupied with all male residents as of April 2015.

Hostels

West London YMCA supplies the provision of 2 Hostels to support people with low to medium support-needs (130 homeless young people and care leaver, 12 move on flats for young people and 20 units for Homeless families ages 18 +) and 1 low to high support-need Hostel (13 bed sits and 10 studio flats) for residents aged 16-25.

These services are contracted from 1 October 2010 to 31 March 2016.

The YMCA contract was extended in 2014 after a review showing the services are well utilised and that most of their referrals are from the Council's Residents Services (Housing Options Team) and the Children’s and Young People’s Directorate (16+ Team) as well as other local sources (e.g. the Navigator Advice service). Both departments regard the provision of these services positively and the Ofsted Inspection of Child Protection and Looked After Children feedback specifically noted the availability of this type of housing support for care leavers and 16-17 year old Looked After Children and Children In Need as a positive feature for the Local Authority.

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Semi Independent Tender

The YMCA and Look Ahead contracts are naturally coming to fruition and will be reviewed in 2015 with the view to tender. The aim is to ensure that contracts are in place which deliver the best outcomes and value for money in line with the council’s priorities, the Children’s Pathway Programme and transformation reviews of Housing services.

There remains an ongoing challenge to reduce the Semi Independent Living placements budget by £9K (MTFF allocation). In addition to fresh challenges for Asylum funding and at the same time Hillingdon's key objective in meeting the needs of our young people.

Hillingdon has the opportunity to take into consideration all elements and potentially agree a combined way forward. The review process will be considered to further expand this tender to encompass a number of Children and Adult Support Services; and the opportunity of calling off from the WLA Semi Independence Living Services List (see below).

WLA

The London Borough of Hounslow is tendering The Provision of Semi Independence Living Services in Partnership with the WLA in 2015. As a participating authority in this procurement Hillingdon will have access to a list of providers via an access agreement. Providers on the contract will be required to provide a range of Key Work support services and high quality, safe accommodation which supports and guides 16+ Young People and Care Leavers towards achieving independence. Access to these services will be on the following basis:

Direct Access - Individual Participating Authorities will determine which Provider is best suited to meet the needs of the child / young person.

Mini-Competition - Individual Participating Authorities can choose to run a mini competition with two or more providers as determined by them and set additional criteria

The aim of this new agreement is to improve the quality and choice of accommodation for care leavers, ensure that placements purchased will conform to specification and that all providers used, will meet appropriate standards set out in the specification.

Capital development

Centrepoint and the West London Alliance are working together to improve and develop the provision of accommodation across the region for looked after young people and young people leaving care. Centrepoint are in a position to invest in the region through capital development during the 2015-18 period. Site identification is currently the focus of the project. Hillingdon has been listed as one of six potential areas for the development schemes.

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6.3. Hillingdon’s Shared Housing Provision

LAC residents moving into shared housing can come from a range of different circumstances including their own home or care leavers.

Hillingdon has 6 providers for shared accommodation:

Centremark Properties Ltd Oakwood Housing Ltd Care Accommodation Pangea Support Services Link Estates Occom Services

The Council funds housing advice and Support Services to sustain tenancies and enable people to live independently.

These services are provided via the Young People’s Housing Advice (Navigator) and Support Service;

Floating Support Service - Supports people aged 16 to 24 living in the borough to ensure that once people have either moved on from the refuge / hostel or secured a temporary / permanent accommodation, that they are supported to maintain their independence. This service supports up to 40 clients with housing / homeless issues.

Housing Advice and Support Service - Located in Yiewsley to provide intensive housing advice and support up to 20 clients aged 16 to 24. The service is called Navigator and provides drop in facilities, one to one space, advice space for workshops and offers access to IT / Phones etc.

These services are contracted with P3 from 1 October 2014 to 31 September 2017 (with options to extend 2 years).


In 2014/15 the LBH spent £297,207 on In-house services, £1,268,098 on block contracts and £2,259,920 on spot contracted Semi Independent support service (Spot contracted monies includes rents for all contracts).

Rents for UASC aged over 18 were £1,223,300 and £300,924 for UASC aged under 18 in 2014/15 which accounted for 67% of the Semi Independent support service spot spend.

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There were 90 new Semi Independent placements between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015; 15 of these placements were Out of Borough located in the areas below:

Postal area Number of placements.Harrow 1Hemel Hempstead 1North West London 2Twickenham 4South Bucks 4West London 3

In 2014/15, 8% of all placements were situated 20 miles from home or outside LBH. Due to an increase in the number of young people aged 16 and 17 who are identified as being at risk of child sexual exploitation and also of involvement in serious youth violence/gang involved young people, there is likely to be an increase in the number of young people requiring out of borough placements for safeguarding and legal reasons.

6.6. Alternative Semi Independent Provision

Supported Lodgings

The YMCA supplies a Supported Lodging service to LBH, called "Host Families". Referrals are for 18 plus residents and placements are made by assessing the suitability of the young person for a host family. The process has to be agreed by the Access to Resources Panel.

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7. Placements and Resource Sufficiency Strategy Priorities and Improvement Plan

Delivering against priorities – The Action Plan

To be development, but needs to be aligned with the following, and expanded appropriately.

In alignment with the Children's Social care improvement Plan 2014/15 the aim (in order of priority) is to;

1. Implement new service structure to deliver and maintain the improvements expected to plan for demand at key points within the Fostering and Adoption service and implement a ‘best value’ placement service for the LAC model,

2. Increase the range of in-house provision to include short breaks (including those for children with disabilities and additional needs), remand and mother and baby foster care placements,

3. Development of LBH foster carers to meet the diverse needs and challenges of LAC by improving the support and training for in-house carers to improve retention,

4. Improve the function and process of family finding within the service to increase in the number of good quality Hillingdon foster placements available to LAC,

5. Reduce the number of Independent Foster Agency (IFA) placements used by LAC in Hillingdon,6. Sufficient good quality permanent placement options (return home, long-term fostering, adoption, SGO, connected persons) for LAC

children in Hillingdon,7. Improve the number of LAC placed within their own community (inside a 20 mile radius).

Procurement Plans;

Fostering services plan in order of priority:

1. Ensure local excess demand for foster placements is met by the Private and Voluntary Sector.2. Category Management to lead IFA Framework (WLA) Re-tiering exercise to improve recruitment, availability and quality of local carers

in March 2016.3. Category Management to develop plans for when the IFA framework contract ends in 2017.4. Work with London Care Service to develop the London Care Placements framework.

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Residential services plan in order of priority:

1. Ensure local excess demand for foster placements is met by the Private and Voluntary Sector.2. Category Management to work with the WLA to identify and work with organisations that wish to develop services locally ensuring that

opportunities exist for all providers of Residential Children’s Homes in West London. 3. Category Management to work with the WLA to identify options for and implement a preferred procurement approach for Residential

Children’s Homes in Hillingdon and West London.4. Work with London Care Service to develop the London Care Placements framework.

Semi-Independent services plan in order of priority:

1. Ensure local demand for Semi-Independent services is met by the Private and Voluntary Sector.2. Review Hostel services with a view to Tender. 3. Review Teenage Parent service with a view to Tender. 4. Category Management to work with The London Borough of Hounslow and the WLA to tender and implement the Semi-Independent

Living Services Framework in 2015 and 2016.

Measurement of progress

Improved permanent placement outcomes for LAC in Hillingdon - improvement in the performance as measured by the national adoption score card.

Reduction in the number of children moved further than 20 miles from their home address to minimum - less than 10% of LAC (36). QA framework provides evidence of good quality social work practice on all assessments undertaken by Coram (80% judged good or

better and no inadequate). Number of in-house foster placements to increase to 110 by April 2016. The proportion of IFA placements to be less than 40%. Looked After Children receive good outcomes within 12-18 months (return home, long- term fostering, adoption, SGO, Connected

Persons). As part of a value for money exercise with WLA; Benchmarking of in-house foster carers will be carried out across the West London

boroughs.

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Implementation of CarePlace as a Brokerage Tool, Implementation of CarePlace as a data tool - managing framework performance.

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