The Joint Area Review

The Joint Area Review (JAR) is a major inspection of all services for children and young people within Lambeth and in January 2009 it was announced that Lambeth scored three in all areas.

This is fantastic news for everyone in Lambeth and we should all be extremely proud of what we have achieved.

The JAR reports on outcomes for children and assesses and judges the contributions made by services delivered by the entire council (not just the Children and Young People's Service) and our partners to sustaining and improving them.

The JAR was an in depth inspection and looked more closely at the views of service users, parents and carers than previous inspections. This included case tracking which looks at the level and effectiveness of multi agency working in detail.

Download a copy of Lambeth's JAR report.

Frequently asked questions

How did Lambeth score?

Inspectors make judgements based on the following scale: 4 -Outstanding; 3 - good; 2 – adequate and 1- inadequate. The results for our JAR are:

Core investigation areas

• Safeguarding - Good (3)
• Looked after children- Good (3)
• Learning difficulties and/or disabilities- Good (3)
• Service management- Good (3)
• Capacity to improve- Good (3)

Additional investigation areas

• Effectiveness of inter-agency co-operation in tackling youth crime and behaviour - Good (3)
• The impact of the partner's strategy on improving provision of CAMHS - Good (3)

Why is the JAR so important?

The aim of the JAR was to assess how well services are working together in order to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable children and young people within the borough. The aim of the inspection was to find out what it is really like to be child or young person growing up in Lambeth and how well the services for them being delivered.

The JAR provided us with an opportunity to demonstrate all the great work that is ongoing in Lambeth and the final result provides us with an objective assessment of where further improvements can be made.

The results are published nationally, and our good result provides us with local and national recognition and has a beneficial impact upon Lambeth's reputation and ability to recruit (and retain) staff.

The JAR also impacts directly upon the grade that we receive for the Corporate Assessment and this affects the council's overall star rating.

What does Lambeth do well?

The JAR report highlights a number of areas of major strength for each investigation area outcome as follows:

Safeguarding - Major strengths

• Excellent early intervention and preventative provision supported by good use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and TAC.
• Good multi-agency action to support families affected by domestic violence.
• Effective action to tackle bullying and racial harassment in schools.
• Strong leadership of and focus on the safeguarding agenda and an effective Local Safeguarding Children's Board (LSCB).
• Effective oversight of the quality of child protection practice.
• Strong and effective multi-agency arrangements to track and monitor missing children.
• Secure arrangements for the safe recruitment and vetting of staff in local authority services and schools.

Looked after Children - Major strengths

• Effective partnership and targeted prevention contributing to a reduction in the numbers of children in the care system.
• High quality foster placements.
• Effective services, including provision from CAMHS, that also reach children placed outside of the borough.
• Good quality provision and improved attendance have contributed to good educational progress, a significant rise in standards at Key Stage 4 and a closing of the attainment gap.
• Outstanding corporate parenting arrangements.
• Very good involvement of young people in service design and delivery.
• Support for care leavers is good and they are helped to achieve well

Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities - Major strengths

• A comprehensive inclusion strategy, coherent policies and procedures and a strong commitment to inclusion are having a positive impact.
• Good arrangements for securing the views of young people, parents and carers.
• Effective multi-agency working and good information sharing secures good provision and continuity of care.
• Very effective use of the CAF and TAC has improved outcomes for children and young people.
• Children and young people make good educational progress.
• Excellent analysis and use of educational data.
• Outstanding contribution from Connexions to good transition arrangements

The impact of the partner's strategy on improving provision of CAMHS - Major strengths

• Effective service redesign based on sound needs assessment leading to strong focus on early intervention.
• Successful action taken to reduce waiting lists.
• Good multi-agency working including the use of CAF and the TAC.
• Effective targeted services for vulnerable groups.
• Good use of learning from serious case reviews and untoward incidents in service development.

Effectiveness of inter-agency co-operation in tackling youth crime and behaviour - Major strengths

• Outstanding partnership work, strong leadership and comprehensive, inter-related strategies to reduce crime and improve behaviour.
• Good reduction in numbers of first time entrants to the criminal justice system.
• Improved and effective YOS.
• Broad range of effective innovative projects.
• Large numbers of young people benefiting from successful and well established preventative work providing stimulating activities.
• Well established alliances with neighbouring boroughs to reduce gang activity and serious violent crime.

Capacity to improve, including the management of
children's services - Major strengths

• Excellent partnerships based on widely shared ambitions which are aligned with wider corporate aspirations.
• Prioritising the needs of the area's many diverse communities in service planning and delivery.
• The coherently planned move to preventive services supported by redirected resources.
• Extensive engagement with children and young people that influences strategic planning and service delivery well.
• Well developed joint commissioning.

What does Lambeth need to improve?

The JAR report highlights a number of important weaknesses and areas for improvement for each investigation area outcome as follows:

Safeguarding - areas for improvement

• High numbers of children subject to a child protection plan.
• Negative impact of high turnover of social workers and use of agency staff upon.
• The timeliness and continuity of support to some children and their families.

Looked after Children - areas for improvement

• Insufficient numbers of children adopted or made subject of special guardianship orders.
• Too many changes of social workers have contributed to some care plans not being effectively progressed.

Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities - areas for improvement

• Delays in completing initial and core assessments leading to delays in accessing support services including direct payments for some families.
• Relatively higher rates of exclusion for pupils at school action plus and with statements.

The impact of the partner's strategy on improving provision of CAMHS - areas for improvement

• No explicit plan to evaluate the impact of new provision for children from refugee and asylum seeker families and unaccompanied minors.

Effectiveness of inter-agency co-operation in tackling youth crime and behaviour - areas for improvement

• The fear of crime among the local community.
• The disproportionate number of Black young men involved in crime as perpetrators and victims.

Capacity to improve, including the management of
children's services - areas for improvement

• Some gaps in the setting of specified targets, milestones and responsibilities in strategies and plans.
• Staffing shortages in some key posts.