EXCELLENCE BASED ON EVIDENCE:

What works and evidence informed practice

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Carole Brooks Regional Associate

Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services

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C4EO - what we do• Sector led tailored support• Wealth of evidence – research & information• Validated practice – knowing what works• Cost Effectiveness & Social Return on

Investment tool• Data tool• Training events and workshops

Excellence & Evidence Events11 March Early Intervention London

(London)

14 March Early Intervention & Integration on a Shoe String

East(Cambridge)

17 March Early Intervention & Families with Multiple Problems

South West(Taunton)

24 March Families with Multiple Problems & Early Intervention

E Midlands(Leicestershire)

C4EObookings@rip.org.uk

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Themes• Child Poverty• Disability• Early Intervention & Prevention• Early Years• Families, parents and carers• Safeguarding• Schools and communities• Vulnerable (looked after) children• Youth• Cost Effectiveness

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The challenge of change…• What we don’t fully know - Shifting sands:

– New legislation; review of National Curriculum; how recommendations from reviews will be taken forward

(Field, Munro, Allen etc); effect of CSR & Early Intervention Grant.

• What we do know – our current base:– Current legislation, frameworks & guidance; professionals

expertise and experience; what works and messages from research

• Evidence we can find out ourselves:– What are the needs of the client group?; how much does it cost and is it value for money?; what do our service users say?

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Decisions are informed by:

• views of service users and non-service users (expectations, preferences, the impact of services on their needs, their experience of services)

• practice expertise (built up through operational experience)

• the best available research evidence and statistics about what’s effective:

• National, international and local research• Population, activity and performance data

What is evidence-informed practice?

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What does EIP look like?

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• Supports evidence-informed commissioning – ensuring best value by basing decisions on sound evidence

• More likely to achieve the outcomes we’re seeking for children, YP and their families if we know what’s likely to work best

• Provides clear expectations to professionals who work with children and gives staff the opportunity to explain to families how decisions are made

• Assists in justifying scrutiny of decisions (e.g. courts, inspection, performance assessment)

• Raises the status of the organisation and it’s at the heart of continued professional development - it helps people grow by developing skills, knowledge and confidence.

Why EIP is important

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Early Intervention: The knowledge

C4EO ‘Grasping The Nettle’ Report and other evidence

Graham Allen ReviewDfE Families Intervention

Programme evaluationEarly Intervention GrantEtc. etc…..

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Early Intervention: Key messages

• Early Intervention Works!• Five golden threads:

The best start in life Language for life Engaging parents Smarter working, better services Knowledge is power

• Requires active joined up involvement of everyone working with children and their families from early pregnancy throughout childhood and adolescence

• Needs ‘energetic and visionary’ leadership

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Early Intervention: Good Practice 1

Early intervention through mentoring for 5-11 year olds with behavioural difficulties (Chance UK – London)– Targeted work to children who are at risk of becoming offenders in

later life, assessed by SDQ.– Mentoring programme to directly address children’s behavioural

problems and build resilience socially and emotionally– Cost of £4,000 per child per yearBenefits:– Improvements in child’s academic attainment, attitude towards

learning and raised aspirations– 98% had reduction in behavioural difficulties– SROI: £9.60 to society for every £1 spent

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Early Intervention: Good Practice 2

Community Childminding network (Buckinghamshire)– Network of quality-assured childminders provided with additional

training and support to meet a wide range of additional needs for children aged 0-19 and their families (179 children in 2008/9)

– Cost of £20.85 per child per weekBenefits:– Independent evaluation: overwhelming endorsement of BCCN as a

cost-effective way of providing high-quality, flexible support to families.

– Prevented 7 children coming into care– Estimated savings to social care: £269,000 over 2 years– SROI: £1.35 to society for every £1 spent

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Early Intervention: Good Practice 3

Early Learning with Families (ELF), Blackpool– Work with 90 of most disadvantaged children and their

families to develop relationship between child and family; promote take up of 2 and 3 year grants and deliver reading project

– Home visit by 5 ELF workers, working with parent to create developmental plan for the child.

– Cost of £1,500 per child per yearBenefits:– Improvements in child’s development progress across FSP

scales

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Other risks to poor outcomes

• Highly resistant families• Families with multiple problems

– Substance Misuse– Domestic Violence– Mental Health– Parental Offending

• Child Poverty

Num

ber o

f chi

ldre

n

Severity of assessed need

Cost

64,400 looked after children

Figures are for 2009-10 unless otherwise indicated

607,500 referrals to social services

3,200 children adopted

Edge of care

Children around the threshold

Universal Services

Social Care

‘The Wedge’

CAF – estimated 90,000 initiated

during 2009

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Achieving excellence efficiently• If you keep doing what you’ve always done, are you

are likely to get what you always got?• Listen and learn – all the information you need to be

successful is out there – including unit costs and SROI• Know the needs of the people you need to help – the

right provision at the right time, and keep them at the centre of what you do.

• Work in partnership• Focus on outcomes, not outputs

Carole BrooksC4EO Regional Associate – West Midlands

Carole.Brooks@C4EO.org.uk

For further information contact us:

C4EO OfficeTel: 020 7843 6358 contactus@C4EO.org.uk

www.C4EO.org.uk

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Your views about…1. Evidence of ‘what works’- source, resources, importance

• Finding• Applying • Evaluating

2. Value for money – how do we evidence it?• calculating unit costs and social return on investment• Will reduced funding = reduced services or outcomes?• ‘ripples’ – effect on other services, e.g. third sector

3. The future?• Innovation• Total transformation of the way we plan and provide services• Securing Improvement…• …Or just trying to maintain what we have already?