Equality impact assessment - area services for vulnerable children

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1. What is the name of the policy or service that is being assessed?

Area Services in Children & Families Branch this includes vulnerable children, educational achievement and children with disabilities.

2. What are the aims of the policy or service? Whose needs is it designed to meet? What are the current priorities?

Social Care – to provide level 3 services based on assessed needs to children in need including those in need of safeguarding and those who are Looked After.

Education Support – to offer preventative services to pupils at primary and secondary age to support schools in meeting educational needs within mainstream.

To provide 21 hours (primary), 25 hours provision for permanently excluded pupils and work towards re-integration.

Through a commissioning process, broker packages for children and young people who have a Statement but for whom there are delays in accessing appropriate identified education, set targets and evidence improved outcomes for pupils accessing the service.

Through the EWS, to support improved attendance, using statutory processes where deemed appropriate and to promote, challenge schools in respect of inclusive education as evidenced through a reduction in PEX.

Through clear service specification, provide complimentary assessment, contact and support work to social care teams through the reconfigured Family Support Teams. This includes out-of-hours provision to avoid accommodation to care.

Through the Pathways for Troubled Children and in conjunction with the PCT, provide a single point of entry for children and young people who may have mental health concerns to ensure access to the right level of service in a timely fashion according to assessed need.

To meet the needs of children and young people with disabilities who are children in need, taking account of family needs and in conjunction with other service providers (e.g. short break). This includes family support services for children with disabilites.

Through the EP Service, provide baseline assessment, contribute to the assessment of children and young people with additional or special needs and provide support to schools in meeting those needs.

These services are all designed to meet the needs of vulnerable children and young people and their families based on needs-led assessment.

The priority is to improve outcomes and evidence that this is the case.

Other priorities link with PIs, LAA and LPSAs.

Cross reference to the Looked After Children & Young People Service, Safeguarding and SEN are important.

3. In what ways might this policy or service affect some groups of people differently? Might some groups find it harder to access the service? Do some groups have particular needs that are not well met by the current policy or service?

The service provision may affect children and young people of black and minority ethnic groups and children with disabilities and their families in the following ways:

Take up of services – the percentage of children and young people of black or ethnic minority groups are not proportionately represented at point of referral to social care or other support services. However, the number receiving level 3 service intervention is over-presented.

The representation of black and ethnic minority children and young people accessing level 2 education support services needs to be clearly identified in order to ascertain whether there is an under or over-representation. This is also required for fixed-term exclusions.

Equitable access to services across the county including services for children and young people with disabilities is not always consistent. Thresholds to services, eligibility criteria need to be transparent and available to all including the opportunity to access direct payments.

Access of children and young people with mental health needs who are black or from ethnic minority groups are not proportionally represented in Pathways and tier 3 service provision of the PCT.

Cross reference Looked After Children, placements in and out of authority.

4. What evidence do you have for your judgement? Is there evidence of public concern? Have staff raised concerns? Is there local or national research to suggest there could be a problem?

There is considerable research regarding higher representation at level 3/4 or tier 3/4 for children and young people with disabilities, black or from minority groups.

Access to education, training employment for unaccompanied asylum seekers, children of families from eastern Europe who are without appropriate accommodation and therefore restrictive access to education, effective transitions of young people with disabilities into education, training employment.

Provision/assessment for OT services for children and young people with disabilities are not open and transparent and can further discriminate (complaint).

Children and young people with a Statement can be left without education for significant periods of time. (Evidence YPSS packages and number of primary exclusions of pupils with a Statement).

5. Who have you consulted with as part of your assessment? What were the results?

I have not undertaken consultation in respect of these issues.

6. If you have found that the service might have an adverse impact on a particular group, can you justify this?

The services do not have an adverse impact in themselves and seek to promote equality but there is recognition and attempts to alleviate institutional inequalities.

7. If the impact cannot be justified, what do you intend to do about this?

Further ongoing data and trends is essential to influence service delivery and promote early access to support services whilst analysing why some groups are then over represented in the higher targeted services.

8. How will you monitor the take-up or impact of services in the future?

Understanding BME representation through initial contact, referral and assessment processes to identify over/under representation.

Active analysis of data.

Work of thresholds re children with disabilities and monitor increased up take of Direct Payments for children with disabilities.

B&A Strategy Group to consider data re education inclusion/support service activity

and locality/school population.

Rigorously support placement choice including culture, ethnicity where strategy to look after a child or young person who is black or from an ethnic minority group.

Take full account of the views of children with disabilities where residential provision is being proposed – monitor interface and procedures.

Manager completing

Head of Area Service

17 July 2007 (Updated Nov 29th 2007)

Senior manager approving

Assistant Director Children and Families

07 December 2007

Last updated: 13 May 2009