The agenda for the meeting includes reports on children missing education, developments relating to IMPOWER and the renumeration of foster carers, and the panel’s work programme.

Children Missing Education

This report contains the agenda for a meeting to discuss Children Missing Education (CME) in Worcestershire. The meeting will consider a report on the number of children in Worcestershire who are not attending school, or not attending full time. The report breaks down the numbers of children in different categories of need who are missing education: children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)¹, children classed as 'looked after' (in and out of county), children on a Child Protection Plan and children in need. The report details the statutory guidance that defines CME, and explains the local authority's (LA) duties in relation to it:

‘Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.’

The report also asks:

How does your council identify children who are not attending school, or not attending full time?

And answers:

The LA’s Children’s Services Portal allows all Worcestershire schools (including independent schools) to notify the LA of starters, leavers, irregular attendance, absences and part-time timetables (including a tick box for schools to flag a case as a Child who Cannot Attend School – CCAS).

Valuing Care and Foster Carer Renumeration

This report is for a meeting to update the panel on the progress of the Valuing Care approach, the recruitment of new foster carers in Worcestershire and foster carer renumeration. The report will discuss the work that Worcestershire County Council has been doing with IMPOWER to improve the recruitment and retention of foster carers in the county. The report notes that:

Like many other local authorities across the country, Worcestershire has been facing significant challenges in relation to placement sufficiency within our fostering service.

It goes on to say that:

Arresting and reversing this decline is possible through targeted and focused service development, however it will require investment within the Worcestershire Fostering in order that we can focus on enhancing the number and quality of enquiries, the conversion rate of applicants to approved carers, and retention.

The report states that IMPOWER:

identified 26 opportunities for step-down from residential to family-based homes, reunification and semi-supported living across a cohort of 67 children and young people.

Work Programme

This report contains an update on the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel Work Programme for 2024/25. The report lists the dates and times of future meetings scheduled for the remainder of the year. It also lists items for possible inclusion in future meetings, including: Home to School Transport, SEND Sufficiency of School Places, The impact of screen time on mental health, How to ensure that the parental and student voice is heard, ‘Deep dive’ into GETSAFE and the Multi Agency Approach, analysis of complaints (pre-stage 2) re SEND services, The Worcestershire Parent Carer Annual Report, private and NHS diagnosis of SEND and the impact of EHCP tribunals (including impact on families and the financial and staffing impacts for WCC).