TAC Benefits and outcomes
In 2006, the CYPSP allocated over £300 million in universal services, meeting the needs of approximately 62% of Lambeth's children and young people (CYP), while over £100 million were allocated to specialist services, meeting the needs of approximately 2% of CYP.
It is evident from the above that there is a lack of resources at the centre, as approximately £25 million were allocated to preventative and targeted services to meet the needs of 32% of children and young people with additional needs. The affect of such distribution of resources is evident, as there is significant need in the centre that remains unmet. This includes:
- returned referrals from social care (not meeting eligibility criteria)
- high number of SEN statement requests
- waiting list for CAHMS assessments
- waiting list for autism diagnosis
- high demand for family support.
The strategic benefit of the proposed cultural, service and professional change programme will be the move from reactive to preventative working and the corresponding shift of resources from universal and specialist services to services that meet the needs of children and young people with additional needs. As a result, resources will be distributed more efficiently across the continuum of need, with preventative and targeted support meeting additional need earlier and significantly reducing the chances of specialist service referrals.
At the same time, expected benefits of the Team around the Child Programme are:
- measurable improvement of services, especially preventative services and develop the “Team around the Child”
- provision of swift and easy referral for families through the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), supported by Framework-i and Information Sharing
- greater efficiency and effectiveness by consolidating systems and processes and enabling joint commissioning of services
- increase in preventative working and achieve closer engagement with users and the community as a whole by providing local access to services through children's centres, extended schools and, possibly, Joint Service Centres and GP's surgeries
- schools will be able to work more effectively with preventative services, under an agreed framework that ensures additional needs are identified and addressed earlier, thus helping achieve improvements in increasing attainment and achieving high standards.
Extensive research and benchmarking has been undertaken to ascertain the most appropriate approach for accelerating CYPSP improvements. Evaluations and case studies in beacon and pathfinder authorities have been matched to CYPSP strategic priorities in order to develop a partnership-wide performance management framework.
The framework will be focused on outcomes for children and young people, quantifying the positive impact from moving to a TAC approach and area-based working, and will include:
- increased take-up levels for pre-school education
- significant reduction in under-18 conception rates
- reduction in numbers of ASBOs as well as substantial reduction in re-offending rates by young offenders
- higher than national average primary and secondary school attendance
- exceeded truancy targets
- substantial reduction in permanent exclusions
- significant improvement in KS2, GCSE and A level results
- positive outcomes for looked after children in economic well-being
- higher proportion of Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) community entering post-16 education
- significant improvement in preparation of statements of SEN
- improvement on all key measures for Child Protection Referral cases
- add benefit to schools .
Finally, the implementation of TAC will contribute to the achievement of Lambeth's Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets, which can be referenced in Appendix A. At the same time, TAC will support universal and specialist services in meeting the LAA's stretch targets, which relate to:
- reduction of (BME) entrants to the criminal justice system
- increase of participation in cultural and art events
- reduction of CYP not in education, employment or training (NEET).