The Children and Young People's Scrutiny Board met on 3 September 2025, and agreed to recommend to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee that a Member Led Working Party be established to scrutinise Short Breaks, supported by the Children and Young People's and Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Boards. The board also endorsed a report and its recommendations to the Cabinet regarding children and young people not in formal education, and requested a briefing note and a report on homelessness services for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Elective Home Education Support

The board endorsed a report and its recommendations to the Cabinet regarding a detailed review into how children and young people who are not in formal education access support. Councillors Leah Webster, Chair of CYP Scrutiny Board, and Abigail White, Chair of Place Scrutiny Board, co-led the review, which followed a recommendation from a 2024 review into emotional wellbeing and mental health. The recommendation stated that the CYP Scrutiny Board should:

investigate how children and young people who are not in formal education access support and if they are aware of how to access that support. The investigation should also consider whether the available support meets the needs of a child or young person who cannot access intervention through school.

The review addressed how children not attending formal education can access support networks and how that access could be improved. The report noted that the number of electively home educated children and young people has risen in Calderdale, with 691 recorded as of January 2025, a 40% increase since 2022/23.

The review group made 15 recommendations, including that children who are electively home educated and would be eligible for free school meals if at school should be able to access Healthy Holidays for free, and that information on how electively home educated children can access the scheme should be better communicated.

The review also recommended that a report detailing how new legislation around home education will work in practice and benefit children and young people in Calderdale should be brought to the CYP Scrutiny Board.

Other recommendations included extending a pilot programme relating to emotional based school avoidance (EBSA) to other schools, and that the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the Open Minds Partnership should complete a leaflet detailing support and how to refer by the end of 2025, making it available to children not attending formal education.

The review also highlighted the need for an urgent investigation into GP practices charging for letters in support of applications for support from the Medical Needs Team, as well as the need for the Special Educational Needs (SEN) team and other relevant agencies to attend reviews as early intervention is key to cease prolonged periods of EBSA and placement breakdown.

The review recommended that Cabinet give priority to funding extra staff in the Education Welfare Team when setting the budget for 2025-26, and that an investigation is undertaken into current challenges and trends regarding the numbers of excluded young people and those who are home educated.

The review also recommended that a guide is co-produced for parents detailing what constitutes reasonable adjustments¹, when they can be put in place and how parents can be assured that they are put in place, and that the council's webpage relating to Home Education is highlighted in any formal correspondence with parents who have chosen to educate at home.

Homelessness Among 16 and 17-Year-Olds

The board requested that the Homelessness service, in collaboration with Children and Young People's services, provide a briefing note to update members following the protocol update scheduled for September/October 2025. They also requested that the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children and Young People's Services submit a report to the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Board in the 2026/27 municipal year, jointly written by the Homelessness service and Children and Young People's services.

This followed a report that advised that Calderdale's Children and Young People's (CYP) services were inspected by Ofsted² in February 2024, with the final report published in May. The inspection outcome was positive, with services rated Good across all domains. However, inspectors highlighted an area for strengthening, specifically, the local authority's response to 16 and 17-year-olds presenting as homeless.

The report described the legal responsibilities of the Housing service and CYP services to assess and support 16 and 17-year-olds presenting as homeless and provided an overview of the provision of services to 16 and 17-year-old children at risk of homelessness in Calderdale, incorporating how services and support had been strengthened.

Children's Social Care Staffing and Workloads

The board noted a report from the Principal Child and Family Social Worker, Early Intervention and Safeguarding, which provided a summary and update of staffing and caseloads within Calderdale's Children's Social Work services. The report advised that through proactive workforce planning, effective vacancy management, and strengthened pathways into the profession, the service contributed to a sustainable and effective council, ensuring that capacity met demand, and that children and families received timely, high-quality support.

During discussions, members discussed the strengths of the recruitment strategy and working environment in Calderdale, stressing that it was essential to preserve what was working well. Members discussed the caseloads in Calderdale in comparison with what was reported nationally and sought confirmation that the thresholds were not exceeded and that they were manageable with quality of service being provided to a good standard. Members sought assurance that the service had the capacity to respond to changes in demand swiftly.

A Youth Council representative advised members of a portfolio which had been created by a member of the Children in Care Council, and which detailed the background and story for each young person, eliminating the need for the young person to provide this information verbally when there was a change of social worker. The Children in Care Council had requested similar portfolios be created for each social worker, in order to provide the young person with more information about their new social worker.

Work Programme 2025/26

The board discussed potential items to be included in the work programme for 2025/26. Councillor Christine June Prashad updated members on the work she was doing to scrutinise the Mainstream Inclusion Calderdale (MIC) project. She advised that MIC was due to be launched in October 2025, and that she was speaking with parents, teachers, headteachers and officers from other local authorities to get a full picture of what was expected from MIC and how effectively similar projects were working in neighbouring authorities.

Councillor Dot Foster advised members that Cabinet had received the Member Report into Provision of SEND services within Calderdale which had been presented to the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Board on 2 July 2025 and had accepted the recommendations.

Councillor Ann Kingstone advised members that a briefing note which had been circulated to members regarding Short Breaks had advised of a £400,000 overspend on this provision and the establishment of a new team. Councillor Kingstone recommended that a Member Led Working Party be established by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and supported by the Children and Young People's and Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Boards to scrutinise Short Breaks. The board agreed to recommend this to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.