This meeting will consider Islington Council’s performance in several areas of Children’s Services and will include a presentation of the council’s refreshed joint protocol for accommodating homeless families under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989.¹ The committee will also receive reports on Special Guardianship Orders and the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)² funded Parental Support Project, which worked in partnership with Camden Council.

Children’s Services Quarter 1 2024-25 Performance Report

The performance report covers a range of measures that fall under the Islington Together 2030 Plan.

One of the discussed measures was the percentage of children who became subject to a Child Protection Plan³ for a second or subsequent time. The target for this measure was 22%. However, the current figure is 20.7%, which is an improvement on the 26.7% for the same period last year.

The report also considered placement stability, with the short term target to be at or below 11% of looked-after children having 3 or more placements in a year. At present, 14.4% of looked-after children had three or more placements, which is an increase on the 12.1% for the same period last year.

The long term target is for 70% of children who have been looked after for more than 2.5 years to have been in the same placement for two years or have been placed for adoption. At the end of June 2024, this figure stood at 67.0%.

The report also considered rates of persistent absence. For primary schools, the target is for persistent absence to be below the inner London average of 15.9%. The current rate is 17.7%, which is an improvement on last year, when the rate was 21.0%.

Persistent absence at secondary schools was also discussed. The current rate is 24.5%, which is an improvement on the previous year's rate of 27.2%, but above the Inner London average of 20.2%.

The final discussed topic in the performance report considered referrals to the Islington Young People’s Drug and Alcohol Service (IYPDAS). There was a notable drop in referrals to Tier 3 and Tier 2 services compared to last year.

Joint protocol on Section 17 families between Children’s Social Care & Homes and Neighbourhoods

This report highlights the joint work of Children’s Social Care and the Housing Needs Service when assisting homeless families with children under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. This includes circumstances where the Housing Needs Service has decided that it does not have a duty to accommodate a homeless family under the Housing Act 1996.⁴

The report seeks to present a refreshed protocol that strengthens partnership working between departments. The protocol, which will be appended to the report, aims “to improve the quality and depth of service provision” by the two departments.

The protocol focuses on “families and young people towards whom Islington Council does not have a housing duty but does have a children’s services duty”. It aims to improve services to families and young people and deliver “trauma support interventions to build resilience and improve mental health outcomes”.

One of the approaches outlined in the report is to embed Children’s Social Care staff within the Housing Needs Service to “support the most complex families on their journey through homelessness”.

It also highlights the need to work with schools, health visitors, faith groups and GPs to “improve coordination of care, health improvement and improved education attainment for homeless families living in temporary accommodation”.

The report also reiterates the council’s commitment to corporate parenting principles, including ensuring that homeless children have similar rights to health and education as those who are looked after.

The protocol outlines how the council procures accommodation and the standards that properties should meet, including:

“Locating homeless families with children as close as possible to the schools attended by the children.”

The protocol also covers location and search parameters for sourcing accommodation. Although it aims to offer accommodation within the borough, it recognises that “Islington is one of the most expensive and highly sought-after places in the country to live and this means that there is not enough accommodation available here for everyone.”

Where it is not possible to accommodate families within Islington, it aims to place them “as close as reasonably practicable to where the family were living before they became homeless”.

In terms of quality standards for temporary and private rented accommodation, the protocol sets out the standard that should be met, including that the property is:

“clean & free from pests”

and that there is an up-to-date Gas Safety Certificate and Electrical Safety Condition Report.

The protocol also details the booking process, setting out the circumstances where Children’s Services would make a referral to the Housing Needs Service for temporary or private sector accommodation:

• Where Children’s services need to place a family in temporary accommodation whilst they carry out a Section 17 assessment under the Children Act • Where Children services, following a Section17 assessment, accepts a duty to accommodate the family. • Where a family has already been placed in (temporary) accommodation and Children’s services requests that the family be moved to an alternative private sector tenancy due to safety or risk concerns.

Once a referral has been made to the Housing Needs Service, the protocol details the process for finding suitable accommodation, the responsibilities of both Children’s Services and the Housing Needs Service for placement management and monitoring, and the support given to families in temporary accommodation.

Special Guardianship Orders

The Special Guardianship Orders report seeks to explain what a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) is, how to apply for one and the support that Islington Council offers to Special Guardians.

An SGO is defined as:

“an order appointing a person, or persons, to be a child’s special guardian whilst preserving the basic link between the child and their birth family.”

The report clarifies who can apply for an SGO:

“Any person who wishes to apply for an SGO must give three months’ written notice to the local authority of their intention to apply.”

It also outlines the assessment and reporting process and the support services offered by local authorities under the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005, including financial support, support groups, and training.

In Islington, the Permanency Team are responsible for working with kinship carers, including assessing Special Guardians and kinship foster carers.

All Special Guardians in Islington can access the same training package as foster carers, which is designed to support them in caring for children who have experienced trauma.

“These courses cover a wide variety of areas, from child sexual exploitation to working with children with disabilities and can be tailored to fit the needs of specific families.”

The training package also includes PACE⁵ training, which:

“offers a Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapeutic approach to parenting that helps the carer understand the meaning of the child’s behaviour and stay calm and emotionally regulated as they talk with the child, even at very difficult times.”

The report highlights that Islington’s Permanency Team leads the training on a rolling rota and that feedback from Special Guardians has been positive.

All Special Guardians in Islington also have access to a monthly support group that is run by social workers from the Permanency Team at the Elwood Street office.

Islington also has a contract with PAC-UK, which offers “advice, therapy, counselling, mediation, advice and training for all families affected by adoption or special guardianship”.

Finally, the report confirms that all Special Guardians are given contact details for Kinship, which is a national charity that offers peer support.

VRU Funded Parental Support Project

The report highlights the work of the VRU funded Parental Support Project, which worked in partnership with Camden Council and focused on equipping parents with the skills necessary to help them avoid the need to access further services.

Initially, the project had three strands:

• E-Learning
• Parental Support
• Transition support for children moving from Year 6 to Year 7

However, a Parent Champions element also developed.

One of the key successes of the project was its E-learning training programme, which exceeded its targets by 137%, with 67% of those surveyed stating that they better understood how to support, or access support for their child.

The programme covered topics such as online safety, county lines, and grooming but also responded to the needs of parents, including:

supporting those with SEND needs, understanding how to navigate the EHCP referral process, and engaging effectively with schools around children’s needs

The report highlights that the programme's responsiveness was a key factor in its success and that this model could be rolled out across London.

The Parent Champions group was established after several parents who had undertaken the Social Switch training wanted to disseminate their learning to other parents. To date, ten Parent Champions have:

• Disseminated the Social Switch training to their networks.
• Helped facilitate other training sessions.
• Provided crisis support within their communities.

The report highlights the success of the Parent Champions group and suggests that a similar model could be adopted across London.

The Family Support Programme, which provided support to families with a history of domestic violence, initially struggled with the complexity of the needs of those referred. However, the report notes that referrals became more appropriate once referrers better understood the programme's remit.

One of the programme's strengths was that staff were identified by service users as more caring and proactive than those from other support services. However, the report does raise concerns about maintaining professional boundaries with service users, particularly for more complex cases.

The Transitions Project provided support to children moving from primary to secondary school, particularly those with SEND or other needs. Staff on the project often acted as advocates for the children and helped ensure that schools put support plans in place.

Service users identified this support as vital in helping their children manage the transition to secondary school. Parents felt more supported, and children were better able to regulate their emotions and engage more fully with school. The report suggests that a similar model could be adopted across London to support families and schools during what is often a challenging transition.