English Local Authorities Research Articles

Multiagency working between children's social care and schools during COVID-19: case study experiences from English local authorities and international reflections

PurposeA multiagency approach to supporting and enhancing child welfare lies at the heart of policies and practice in England and many other countries. The assumption is that if professionals together from different disciplines share their knowledge and skills this will lead to better outcomes for children and their families. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the “normal practice” of such arrangements. This research explored how the pandemic's disruption led to new ways of communicating and professional behaviour, while exploring the potential for longer-term impact in England and other jurisdictions.Design/methodology/approachCase studies were conducted in 2020 in five English local authorities to explore how schools worked with Children's Social Care and other professionals during the COVID-19 period. It was supplemented by a survey of schools and discussions with and reflections from those with relevant experience in five other countries.FindingsMany schools played an extended role in supporting vulnerable and “in need” families during this period. Children's Social Care recognised their contributions and the improved communication achieved, although schools were divided over whether relationships had improved. Most communication and meetings were online; while benefits were noted there were concerns for families who were digitally disadvantaged.Originality/valueThe work provides a contemporary picture of multiagency work during the 2020 pandemic and identifies factors which may shape this work in the future in England and internationally.

The social cohesion investment: Communities that invested in integration programmes are showing greater social cohesion in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social cohesion can rise in the aftermath of natural disasters or mass tragedies, but this ‘coming together’ is often short‐lived. The early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic witnessed marked increases in kindness and social connection, but as months passed social tensions re‐emerged or grew anew. Thus local authorities faced persistent and evolving challenges. A cross‐sectional survey (N = 2,924) examined perceptions of social cohesion while Britain was slowly emerging from its first national lockdown in June 2020 in six English local authorities that have prioritised investment in social cohesion over the last two years (including five ‘integration areas’) compared with three other areas that have not. We expected that social cohesion programmes would better equip people to tackle the various challenges of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We found a greater sense of social cohesion in the six local authorities (at the micro, meso and macro levels) than in other areas. This was manifested as higher levels of reported social activism, interpersonal trust and closer personal relationships, greater political trust and more positive attitudes towards immigrants. Findings are consistent with the proposition that investing in social cohesion underpins stronger and more connected and open communities, better able to cope with crisis situations.

English Devolution and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Governing Dilemmas in the Shadow of the Treasury.

This article explores the question of devolution in the light of the Covid‐19 pandemic's impact on English local government. Criticism of the government's handling of the crisis is widespread and tends to focus on the highly centralised nature of the British state. Here, we attribute the challenges faced by regional and local government in responding to the pandemic primarily to the asymmetric nature of power relations that characterise financial planning and control mechanisms, devised and overseen by the Treasury. We argue that the ongoing crisis underlines the need for a democratic form of devolution—including further fiscal powers for regional and local government—to support the economic recovery. In a context of increasing fiscal uncertainty, the Treasury should seek to unlock the existing powers of local leaders by reforming centralised budgetary constraints and taking accountability and monitoring mechanisms closer to citizens.

Association of Race/Ethnicity and Social Disadvantage With Autism Prevalence in 7 Million School Children in England

The global prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been reported to be between 1% and 2% of the population, with little research in Black, Asian, and other racial/ethnic minority groups. Accurate estimates of ASD prevalence are vital to planning diagnostic, educational, health, and social care services and may detect possible access barriers to diagnostic pathways and services and inequalities based on social determinants of health. To evaluate whether socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with ASD prevalence and the likelihood of accessing ASD services in racial/ethnic minority and disadvantaged groups in England. This case-control prevalence cohort study used the Spring School Census 2017 from the Pupil Level Annual Schools Census of the National Pupil Database, which is a total population sample that includes all English children, adolescents, and young adults aged 2 to 21 years in state-funded education. Data were collected on January 17, 2017, and analyzed from August 2, 2018, to January 28, 2020. Age and sex were treated as a priori confounders while assessing correlates of ASD status according to (1) race/ethnicity, (2) social disadvantage, (3) first language spoken, (4) Education, Health and Care Plan or ASD Special Educational Needs and Disability support status, and (5) mediation analysis to assess how social disadvantage and language might affect ASD status. Sex- and age-standardized ASD prevalence by race/ethnicity and 326 English local authority districts in pupils aged 5 to 19 years. The final population sample consisted of 7 047 238 pupils (50.99% male; mean [SD] age, 10.18 [3.47] years) and included 119 821 pupils with ASD, of whom 21 660 also had learning difficulties (18.08%). The standardized prevalence of ASD was 1.76% (95% CI, 1.75%-1.77%), with male pupils showing a prevalence of 2.81% (95% CI, 2.79%-2.83%) and female pupils a prevalence of 0.65% (95% CI, 0.64%-0.66%), for a male-to-female ratio (MFR) of 4.32:1. Standardized prevalence was highest in Black pupils (2.11% [95% CI, 2.06%-2.16%]; MFR, 4.68:1) and lowest in Roma/Irish Travelers (0.85% [95% CI, 0.67%-1.03%]; MFR, 2.84:1). Pupils with ASD were more likely to face social disadvantage (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.59-1.63) and to speak English as an additional language (adjusted prevalence ratio, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.63-0.65). The effect of race/ethnicity on ASD status was mediated mostly through social disadvantage, with Black pupils having the largest effect (standardized mediation coefficient, 0.018; P < .001) and 12.41% of indirect effects through this way. These findings suggest that significant differences in ASD prevalence exist across racial/ethnic groups and geographic areas and local authority districts, indicating possible differential phenotypic prevalence or differences in detection or referral for racial/ethnic minority groups.

Place, Strengths and Assets: A Case Study of How Local Area Coordination is Supporting Individuals and Families Under Conditions of Austerity

We report findings of a mixed-method evaluation of Local Area Coordination (LAC) in one English Local Authority—an approach that draws on principles of earlier intervention, and place-, asset- and strengths-based activity. We drew on documentary materials, unstructured observation and qualitative interviews. In total, fifty-five qualitative interviews were conducted with professional stakeholders (including Coordinators, statutory agencies and community organisations), and a purposive sample of individuals supported by LAC. Positively, LAC is operating as intended. It is a flexible and agile approach, and one that is less constrained by the expectations and methods associated with traditional service delivery. Reported impacts include: tackling isolation and loneliness; building a positive vision of the future; identifying non-service solutions and being heard. We discuss the ongoing conceptual and methodological challenges to building the LAC evidence base, fostering professional support and understanding, and managing expectations of individuals and communities in furthering development. Resolving these would allow LAC to move beyond being a promising, local and small-scale transformative development for individuals and families. Its future trajectory is enmeshed in the implications of COVID-19 for individuals, families and communities: rising poverty and widening inequality, a fragile Third Sector, and concerns about community fatigue and erosion of trust.

Risky business? Analysing the challenges and opportunities of Brexit on English local government

ABSTRACT Brexit is proving epochal in its impacts on Britain. Work exploring Brexit’s impact upon the structure, responsibilities and future plans of English local government is critical for anumber of reasons, from the sheer preponderance of legislation fundamentally altered in the context of the European Union Withdrawal Act of 2018, to changes in regional funding streams and alteration to the governance of local authorities. Based on the original research undertaken between 2015 and 2018 in South East England and the county of Kent, this article contributes to the body of research exploring Brexit’s impact on local government. To do so, it draws on acombination of stakeholder interviews, in-house analysis, regional Brexit impact assessment reports, evidence given in 2017 to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and the Committee’s final report of April2019.

Local economic governance strategies in the UK’s post-industrial cities and the challenges of improving local work and employment conditions

This study examines two inter-connected issues: the local economic governance strategies pursued by English local authorities in the post-2007 Crisis austerity period, and the impact of these strategies on local work and employment conditions. The study draws on interview data, policy documents and statistical datasets from an analysis of two English localities to understand how local authorities responded to the economic pressures resulting from the 2007 Crisis and subsequent imposition of austerity policies. The study finds local authorities engaged in various forms of entrepreneurial and austerity urbanist policies under conditions of tight budgetary constraints, resulting in an increased role for the private sector as a vehicle to generate jobs and increase tax revenue. This process has increased the influence of private sector actors within local government, part of a longer term trend. This study presents evidence to illustrate why this scenario is problematic for improving work and employment conditions, chiefly due to an unwillingness to progressively regulate work, and a prioritising of job quantity in terms of total employment, rather than favouring the creation of sustainable, high-quality local employment.

Social relationships and their connection to mental health for young people who have been in the care system

AbstractThe mental health of young people is a pressing concern in global development. However, there is little research on how young adults report their own mental health. The interview data gathered in this study (n = 74) explored young adults’ well-being during the transition period from care to independent living under an English local authority and in Finland. Participatory action research methods were employed. The interview schedule included 71 open and closed questions, and was analysed by content and summarised using the SPSS software application and Excel tables. The themes concerning mental health and social relationships were divided into three categories: ‘They have been there for me’, ‘My friends are the only ones’ and ‘They just guided me’. Participants who felt they had supportive social networks also felt their mental well-being and security to be better than those who did not. Overall, the findings demonstrated that good, significant social relations provided a sense of security but did not guarantee a positive mental outlook. Exploring young adults’ own evaluations of their social networks provides social work practitioners with sensitive information with which to find ways for young people to support their mental health in their own terms.

A systems map of the determinants of child health inequalities in England at the local level.

Children and young people in the UK have worse health outcomes than in many similar western countries and child health inequalities are persistent and increasing. Systems thinking has emerged as a promising approach to addressing complex public health issues. We report on a systems approach to mapping the determinants of child health inequalities at the local level in England for young people aged 0-25, and describe the resulting map. Qualitative group concept mapping workshops were held in two contrasting English local authorities with a range of stakeholders: professionals (N = 35); children and young people (N = 33) and carers (N = 5). Initial area maps were developed, and augmented using data from qualitative interviews with professionals (N = 16). The resulting local maps were reviewed and validated by expert stakeholders in each area (N = 9; N = 35). Commonalities between two area-specific system maps (and removal of locality-specific factors) were used to develop a map that could be applied in any English local area. Two rounds of online survey (N = 21; N = 8) experts in public health, local governance and systems science refined the final system map displaying the determinants of child health inequalities. The process created a map of over 150 factors influencing inequalities in health outcomes for children aged 0-25 years at the local area level. The system map has six domains; physical environment, governance, economic, social, service, and personal. To our knowledge this is the first study taking a systems approach to addressing inequalities across all aspects of child health. The study shows how group concept mapping can support systems thinking at the local level. The resulting system map illustrates the complexity of factors influencing child health inequalities, and it may be a useful tool in demonstrating to stakeholders the importance of policies that tackle the systemic drivers of child health inequalities beyond those traditionally associated with public health.

Early help and children’s services: exploring provision and practice across English local authoritiesIntroduction

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore early help provision to children and families not reaching the Children Act (1989) child in need threshold, across all 152 English local authorities in 2017.Design/methodology/approachA freedom of information request was used, in September 2017, to obtain information regarding recorded numbers, attributes and referral reasons for Early Help cases, case categorisation, professional groups involved in this provision and models of practice.FindingsResponses revealed there are no common protocols categorising referrals and identified needs of children and young people. Child behavioural issues were the most frequently occurring category followed by parenting issues and child emotional well-being. The numbers of children engaged by Early Help services varied with a range between Barnsley with 7.8% of children under 18 years old and Richmond on Thames with 0.33% and only exceeded children in need in a 7 out of 71 reporting authorities. Models of practice used were most commonly based on the assessment framework, which operates at all social work thresholds including child protection. The enquiry found a diverse workforce involved in Early Help and sets it within a context of local thresholds for dealing with large increases in referral rates to children’s services departments in recent years.Originality/valueThe study provides a unique insight into the nature and scope of Early Help provision across England. The relationship between existing thresholds of intervention in the child welfare system is underexplored in the social work literature.

Professional parental status disclosure in intensive family intervention work

Purpose This paper is concerned with what intensive family intervention professionals reveal to the parents with whom they work about whether they themselves are parents or not, as a form of professional self-disclosure in child welfare work. This paper also addresses the act of lying in professional self-disclosure. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on material from a series of narrative interviews completed with practitioners from one family intervention programme in an English local authority as part of a study looking at how children’s services professionals experience the suffering of parents. The study was based on a psychoanalytically informed methodological approach, which is represented in the analysis provided in the paper. Findings The overall team ethos regarding parental status disclosure is considered briefly first then two participants’ accounts are explored in depth. These involved, what can be considered as, questionable or unorthodox stances regarding parental status disclosure (and self-disclosure more generally). The exploration illustrates the role that practitioners’ personal lives and histories can play in influencing how the act of professional parental status disclosure is experienced and how particular positions are invested in regarding the role of self-disclosure in working relationships with parents. Originality/value Child welfare and family intervention professionals are often asked personal questions by the parents and carers they work with, including questions about whether they are a parent or not. These questions can be difficult to answer and there is a need for dedicated empirical analysis into the ways in which professionals experience, think about and respond to them and what they disclose about themselves when working with families.

A spatial interaction model for the representation of user access to household waste recycling centres

Managing waste is a crucial challenge for modern societies. The UK government has established ambitious targets in terms of landfill diversion for household waste. Household Waste Recycling Centres represent key facilities for achieving these targets. However, Local Authority budgets are under severe strain due to reductions in central government transfers. As such, local councils often need to perform reconfigurations of the recycling centres networks, by reducing the number of sites or their opening hours while still offering adequate service levels. Central to being able to do this, is understanding the spatial patterns of access to such centres. Therefore, this paper develops a spatial interaction model aimed at examining and exploring users’ behaviour and preferences when choosing recycling centres. Specifically, an origin-constrained gravity model is developed; through a careful estimation of its attractiveness parameters, the model is capable of describing demand flows from Sheffield City Council districts to Household Waste Recycling Facilities. The results are compared to actual data obtained through a users’ survey from an English Local Authority. The high level of correlation between the results provided by the model and actual users’ preferences indicates that the model can be a valuable tool in describing users’ behaviour in accessing the service. Based on this, the model can be employed in order to estimate the impacts of modifications to the network configuration on users, performing scenario analyses and providing useful suggestions to planners.

The impact of demographic trends on local government financial reserves: evidence from England

ABSTRACT Local government in England has experienced significant financial volatility in recent years due to cuts in central government funding and increased demand for service provision. Using a panel data set of English local governments over the period 2005–2016, this study investigates the impact of demographic factors on the financial reserves held by different types of English local governments. Dissimilar effects are traced on local governments’ saving capability of different grant funding mechanisms and whether local governments are involved in social care provision, and how they provide these services. Findings show that local governments actively act upon financial uncertainty by expanding their reserves through implementing changes in both their income and expenditure structures, including revenue generation through alternative sources such as capital investment. The potential, however, to expand reserves differs significantly between local governments and has reduced due to growing demand for social care services.

External Peer Challenge in Local Government: The Role of Spatial Spillover and Past Performance

AbstractVoluntary assessments by a team of critical friends (external peer challenges) among local governments became established as popular complement to compulsory and centralized audits and inspections. This study empirically investigates the decision of English local authorities to have a voluntary peer challenge or not by taking advantage of an original dataset about participation in the Local Government Association’s Peer Challenge Programme (CPC) 2010–2015. We find that the LGA’s CPC programme does not carry a risk of leaving behind authorities with performance shortcomings. Councils with poor past performance scores and those with excellent ones do not differ in their tendency to invite a team of critical friends. Spatial clusters exist in the case of small district councils but not in the case of larger unitary authorities, London boroughs and metropolitan authorities. This implies that the corporate peer challenge process seems to be more suited to small authorities delivering community based services.

Out of area housing by local authorities in England: displacement of vulnerable households in a neoliberal housing crisis

Based on freedom of information responses from English local authorities, the research examines the number of households where a duty to accommodate was accepted that were subsequently housed in other local authority areas. Recognising neoliberal housing policy of increased marketisation and less government intervention, the article identifies market failure, housing unaffordability and welfare reform contributing to households being displaced and social cleansing. Importantly, the research recognises negative housing outcomes beyond the binary of homelessness and the impact on vulnerable households by examining out of area housing, which is currently an under-researched area within housing.

Special educational needs and disability tribunals in England 1994-2019

ABSTRACT This paper provides an overview of the rate of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal in England by analysis of official data published by the Ministry of Justice. The article will also consider the effects of socio-economic deprivation on appeals and hearings, the fiscal constraints placed on Local Authorities and the 2018 change to the calculation of the rate of appeal. The 2014 Children and Families Act consigns a greater emphasis on the avoidance of disagreements, nevertheless appeals to the Tribunal have more than doubled since 2015. Analyses of appeal and hearing rates are conducted for all English Local Authorities (LAs) and regions using the government’s Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index to identify levels of deprivation. The research confirms significant variations across LAs and regions and concludes that the appeal and hearing rates in areas with lower socio-economic status (SES) are significantly smaller than in the least deprived areas. There still continues to be considerable challenges to improving parental confidence for the SEND non-statutory offer (Lamb, 2009, 2019). The question remains though how achievable is this in the exceptionally uncertain funding environment, post Covid-19?

The Alexafication of Adult Social Care: Virtual Assistants and the Changing Role of Local Government in England.

Voice controlled virtual assistants, delivered via consumer devices such as smart speakers and tablets, are being trialled by local authorities across England as a convenient and low-cost supplement or potential alternative to “traditional” telecare. Few papers have explored this increasingly widespread phenomenon, despite its growing importance. This article looks at choices by some local authorities to trial Alexa, within the context of the ongoing care crisis in England, with councils facing depleted funds, a lack of expert guidance on care technologies, and an increasingly complex and fragmented care technology marketplace. It draws on interviews with managers from eight English local authorities involved in the commissioning and trialling of technologies for adult social care to examine how and why virtual assistants are being implemented, and what implications their use might hold for care. Scaling up the application of such technologies could shift the role of local authorities towards one of an app developer and data broker, while generating considerable risks of reliance on the precarious technological infrastructure of global corporations that may have little interest in or sensitivity towards local care concerns. The findings suggest an urgent need for a national social care technology strategy and increased support for local authorities.

Do Policy Implementation Support Programmes Work? The Case of the Care Act 2014

Context: Policy implementation is an often overlooked stage when policy is introduced. Too often the result is policy failure caused by overly optimistic expectations, implementation in dispersed governance, inadequate collaborative policy-making, and the vagaries of the political cycle. The Care Act 2014 introduced the most significant change in social care law in England for 60 years. Given the complexity of the changes, the Department of Health and Social Care and its key partners introduced an Implementation Support Programme (ISP) to increase the likelihood of smooth implementation. Objective: To assess the impact of the ISP on local implementation of the Care Act and develop a framework for understanding the requirements of a successful ISP. Methods: Analysis was undertaken of the relevant theoretical and conceptual literature in addition to a review of support programmes for other national policies. The empirical study of the impact of the Care Act’s ISP, conducted in six local authorities, focused on three levels of activity that shaped outcomes: national, regional and local. Data were collected through interviews with key stakeholders at each level. Findings: The ISP enjoyed several successes including: helping to secure policy legitimacy, developing stakeholder engagement, sustaining political support, and ensuring the readiness of local implementation agencies. Limitations: The empirical research was confined to six English local authorities which limits drawing general conclusions applicable to the whole country. Implications: Little evidence exists on the value of ISPs. The research goes some way to closing the gap and offers provisional messages on their value to policy-makers and practitioners.

A Dataset of Workforce Job Counts for British Local Authority Districts, 1981-2018

This paper presents workforce job counts for British local authority districts between the years 1981 and 2018. The estimates are produced by adjusting local authority job counts drawn from the Census of Employment, Annual Employment Survey, Annual Business Inquiry, and Business Register and Employment Survey to match regional job counts drawn from the Workforce Jobs dataset. The result is a measure of sub-regional workforce jobs which is consistent with publicly available national statistics, and can be motivated as a maximum entropy estimator. To illustrate the use of the dataset, the employment effects of European Union Objective 1 funding are examined using a synthetic control method.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children who become looked after in Derby City

This article compares the needs and background characteristics of children who became looked after by an English local authority between April and July in 2019 and the same three months in 2020, with the aim of identifying any impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out in March 2020 and continued for some months thereafter. It scrutinises the two cohorts, comparing children's age, gender, ethnicity, entry to care with siblings and reasons for admission. Differences attributable to the pandemic were found.