The Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel of Worcestershire Council met on Thursday, 27 November 2025, to discuss children and young people's emotional wellbeing and mental health services, as well as to review performance and budget monitoring for the 2025-26 financial year. The panel also considered its work programme for the upcoming year.

Children and Young People's Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Services

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on the emotional wellbeing and mental health services available to children and young people in Worcestershire. The report detailed how these services are structured around the iThrive model of care, which categorises needs into getting advice, getting help, getting risk support, and getting more help. The focus was on services within the getting advice and getting help domains, and their interaction with specialist Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Services discussed included:

• Kooth: An anonymous online platform offering text-based chat with counsellors, self-help tools, and community support for young people aged 11-17. In the past year, it had 2,260 active users, with anxiety/stress, suicidal ideation, and self-harm being the top presenting issues.
• Lumi Nova: A digital therapeutic mobile game designed for children aged 7-12 with mild to moderate fears, worries, and anxiety, based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) principles. It had been used by 1,502 individuals in the last year, with a notable percentage of users reporting Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
• Melo: An early intervention and prevention service for young people aged 0-25, delivered by a partnership of agencies. It offers one-to-one support, group activities, and specialist therapies. Since its launch in April 2025, Melo had received 2,694 referrals, with approximately 80% from Worcestershire.
• Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST): These teams provide low-intensity mental health support for children aged 5-18 in educational settings, as part of the national Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in schools programme. In 2024-25, WEST directly supported 2,984 children and young people.
• NHS Talking Therapies: This service assists adults and young people aged 16 and over with common mental health problems, offering various treatment modalities. In the last 12 months, 5,320 people completed a course of treatment.

The report highlighted significant progress in developing these services, including the commissioning of Lumi Nova and Melo, and the ongoing expansion of WEST and NHS Talking Therapies. It also noted that CAMHS in Worcestershire had made progress in reducing waiting times for first appointments.

Performance and 2025-26 In-Year Budget Monitoring

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on the performance and financial information for services relating to children and families for Quarter 2 (July to September 2025). This included a dashboard of performance indicators and in-year budget monitoring information, with a summary of reserves. The Cabinet Members with Responsibility for Children and Families, and for Education and SEND, along with the Strategic Director for Children's Services, were invited to attend to respond to queries.

Key areas covered in the performance data included:

• Ofsted Performance: Data on the percentage of schools judged as Good or Outstanding across different phases, with a comparison to national figures. The report noted changes in Ofsted's inspection framework.
• School Attendance: Information on overall attendance rates, persistent absence, and severe absence, with breakdowns by school phase and for specific cohorts such as Children Looked After and pupils with SEND.
• Children Missing Education (CME): Data on the number of CME cases, their duration, and the rate of CME per population, compared to national figures.
• Part-Time Timetables (PTTs): Data on the number of PTTs in use, their duration, and the characteristics of children on PTTs, including those with EHCPs.
• Elective Home Education (EHE): Figures on the number of children registered for EHE, including those with EHCPs, and commentary on reasons for EHE and support provided.
• Exclusions: Trends in permanent exclusions, showing an improving rate in Worcestershire compared to the national picture.
• Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET): Analysis of NEET figures for 16-18 year olds, including breakdowns by district, gender, year group, and reasons for being NEET, with commentary on contributing factors and ongoing strategies.
• Children Looked After (CLA): Data on the CLA population, health assessments, NEET figures for 16-17 year olds, placement types, and the number of children experiencing multiple placements.
• Children with SEND: Information on the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), timeliness of EHCP decisions, and the number of Electively Home Educated children with SEND.
• Worcestershire Children's Social Work: Summary data for Quarter 2, including Family Front Door referrals and outcomes, social work assessments, strategy discussions, Section 47 enquiries, and initial child protection conferences.
• Throughcare – Looked After Children and Care Leavers: Data on the number of looked after children, care leavers in EET, and those living in suitable accommodation.
• Child Protection: Information on the number of children subject to child protection plans, with a focus on categories of harm and repeat plans.
• Children in Need: Data on the overall numbers of children identified as children in need, and outcomes from services supporting these families.
• Missing/Get Safe: Numbers of children reported missing from home and care, and police domestic abuse referrals.
• Workforce and Quality of Practice: Data on permanent frontline staff, case loads, and supervision.

The financial report indicated a breakeven position for the council overall, but highlighted forecast overspends in demand-led areas of Adult Social Care and Children's Social Care. Specifically for Children's Services, a forecast overspend of £8.1m was noted, with significant variances attributed to placements and staffing. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) showed a substantial projected overspend of £95.3m for High Needs, leading to a projected accumulated deficit of £193.7m by March 2026.

Work Programme

The panel was asked to consider and potentially amend its work programme for 2025-26. The report outlined the panel's responsibilities for scrutinising Children's Social Care and Families, Public Health relating to Families, and Education and Skills. The work programme included scheduled items such as budget scrutiny, updates on SEND, educational outcomes, and a review of EHCP tribunals, complaints, and ombudsman cases. Potential future items for inclusion were also listed, covering areas like Home to School Transport, Elective Home Education, the use of AI in EHCP production, and updates on CAMHS access and SEND co-production.