The Lincolnshire Council's Corporate Parenting Panel was scheduled to meet on 17 July 2025 to discuss several reports and updates, including the performance of children in care, adoption services, and leaving care services. Councillors were also expected to review and approve the panel's work programme for the coming year.

Annual Report on the Leaving Care Service

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on the newly insourced Leaving Care Service, which transitioned into Lincolnshire County Council on 1 April 2025. The report, presented by Paul Fisher, Corporate Parenting Manager, Becky Harris, Manager – Leaving Care and Supported Accommodation, and Kerry Mitchell, Manager - Leaving Care and Supported Accommodation, was expected to summarise the achievements of the last year and the impact of the service, as well as its progress against the Improvement Plan.

The report noted that a local authority must have a strong ethos of corporate parenting, which means having a strong vision and sense of responsibility towards children in care and care leavers.

Good Corporate Parents recognise that looked after children have the same needs – to be loved, cared for and feel safe - as other children. However, we also note that there are unique challenges that looked after children and care leavers face.

CPP Leaving Care Report July 2025

The report also detailed the transformation of the Lincolnshire Leaving Care Service after the Ofsted inspection of 2023¹, including the development of a continuous rapid improvement plan. The panel was scheduled to discuss the impact of this transformation, including improvements to the offer of Information Advice and Guidance (IAG) to those over the age of 21. According to the report, every young person over 21 was connected to a named worker, and the service had made proactive efforts to reach out to every young person in this age group.

Other areas of focus included the core offer to care leavers², practice and the young people's journey, and the service improvement plan objectives. The report also provided performance data for 2024 to 2025, including accommodation and education, employment and training (EET). It noted that the council collaborated with housing providers to ensure that 96.8% of care leavers were living in suitable accommodation, exceeding the target of 90%. The report stated that the council's EET performance had improved, with 58% of care leavers in EET, compared to an average of 56% across England.

Adoption Service Annual Report 2024-25

The Corporate Parenting Panel was scheduled to receive the Adoption Service Annual Report 2024-25, presented by Nicola Brangam, Head of Regulated Services – Fostering and Adoption. The report was intended to inform the panel about the work of the Adoption Service, in accordance with the requirements of the Care Standards National Minimum Standards and the Adoption and Children Act 2002³. The annual report presents the performance of the service over the previous year to the Executive Councillor responsible for Children's Services and Elected Members. The panel was asked to consider and comment on the contents of the report and the work of the Adoption Service.

The report included information about:

• Lincolnshire's vision
• Family Adoption Links⁴
• The national adoption and special guardianship picture
• Ofsted information
• Service roles and team structure
• The work of the Adoption Service
• Adopter recruitment and sufficiency
• The child's journey
• Post order support
• Adoption Panel Summary
• Complaints and allegations
• Achievements
• Team development plan

The report also included the Adoption Service Statement of Purpose 2025-26, which outlines the service's aims and objectives, as well as a description of the services and facilities it provides.

Children in Care Performance Report Quarter 4

The panel was scheduled to receive a report from Tara Jones, Assistant Director – Children's Safeguarding, regarding the performance of Children in Care for Quarter 4 of 2024/25. The report covered measures relevant to Children in Care (CiC) and Care Leavers (CL) used by Children's Services.

Of the 18 measures relating to CiC, five did not meet their target, and six were ahead of target. The report provided a narrative on these measures to provide context, compare Lincolnshire to statistical neighbours, and articulate any activity taking place to improve performance.

Measures that did not meet their target included:

• Fostering/adoption of Children in Care aged 10 to <16 years old
• Stability of placements of Children in Care: Number of moves
• Percentage of Children in Care with an up to date health check
• CIC persistent absence rate
• Number of Children in care per 10,000 under 18s

Measures that were ahead of their target included:

• Average time between the Local Authority receiving court authority to place a child and the Local Authority deciding on a match to an adoptive family
• Average time between a child entering care and moving in with its adoptive family
• Children in Care cases which were reviewed within required timescales
• Participation of Children in Care in reviews
• The percentage of LAC with an up-to-date dental check
• The percentage of LAC with an up-to-date routine immunization

Corporate Parenting Panel Work Programme

The panel was scheduled to consider its work programme for the coming year. The report, presented by Emily Wilcox, Senior Democratic Services Officer, enabled the panel to ensure that scrutiny activity is focused where it can be of greatest benefit. The work programme is reviewed at each meeting to ensure that its contents are still relevant and will add value to the work of the council and partners.

Proposed themes for thematic meetings included:

• Cross Cutting theme for all meetings: Participation
• 'Keeping Well' (Health [Physical and Mental] and Wellbeing)
• 'Where We Live' (Sufficiency [Housing, fostering and supported living placements])
• 'Our Aspirations for the Future' (Education Training, Employment and careers)
• 'My Challenges and How I Keep Safe' (Criminal Justice ad Interventions)

The panel was also scheduled to discuss upcoming items, including the Voices 4 Choices Annual Report, the Sufficiency Strategy 2023-2027, and the Fostering Annual Report & SOP.