Children in essex get the best start in life

1. Children in essex get the best start in life Essex County Council Commissioning Strategy 2014-2018 Version: consultation draft

2. People involved in this strategy Lead Commissioner Chris Martin - Director for Integrated Commissioning and Vulnerable People Supporting Commissioners Stav Yiannou - Head of Commissioning; Education and Lifelong Learning Tim Coulson - Director for Commissioning; Education and Lifelong Learning Ros Dunn - Director for Economic Growth and Communities Lead Members Cllr Dick Madden - Cabinet Member for Children and Families Cllr Ray Gooding - Cabinet Member for Education Officers Benjamin Mann – Senior Policy and Strategy Advisor, Lynne Taylor – Commissioning Support Manager, Helen Gregory – Senior Commissioning Support Officer, Jane Richards – Assistant Director of Public Health, Zoe Bloomfield – Information and Analysis, Richard Blakey – Head of Finance (People), Sarah Studd – Commercial, Pippa Everett – PBI, Jacqui Wells - IS, Donna Mair – Transformation Support Unit, Trudi Bishop – EYCC Commissioner for Workforce Development and Training, Liz Norton – EYFS Strategy Manager, Quality Improvement, Carolyn Terry – EYCC Commissioner for Sustainability and Sufficiency, Clare Corrigan – Lead for Partnership Delivery, Alastair Gibbons – Director for Local Delivery, Duncan Taylor – Commissioning Intelligence Manager Public Office Ruth Kennedy Julie Temperley Version Control 1

3. Contents The Strategy is made up of two sections. The first looks at Indicator Group A relating to Early Years attainment the second section looks at Indicator Group B which align more closely to work being undertaken to address Child Poverty. As such the format of the report is duplicated across the two sections with a final Risk Analysis and Finance slide to cover both sections. 2

4. Why is this strategy important? The Commissioning Strategy for – ‘Children In Essex Get The Best Start In Life’ will contribute towards delivering the strategic aspirations included within the Essex Children, Young People and Families Partnership Plan (CYPFPP) 2013-2016 and the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Essex 2013-2018. Both of these documents recognise the importance of providing as much support as possible during the early years of a child’s life. The collective value of these documents is best summarised by the leading statement of intent found within the Children, Young People and Families Partnership Plan. ‘At Essex County Council we want to do all we can to support all children, young people and their families to reach their full potential. We have high aspirations for all children and young people . We want them to grow up safe, happy and healthy, able to make the best use of their skills to secure good employment opportunities and make the most of their lives.’ It is important that this strategy document remains responsive to the changing needs of children and families in Essex. By supporting children and their families from conception through birth and the early years (up to the end of the Foundation Stage) of their life will give all children the best possible opportunity to succeed, thrive and have fun at school and be able to make a positive contribution throughout their lives. In February 2014, Essex County Council (ECC) adopted a new Corporate Outcomes Framework – a statement of ambition setting out the seven outcomes that would guide it’s activity into 2018. This strategy has been developed to cover the period 2014/15 – 2017/18 but it is envisaged that this remains a live, working document that informs the strategic commissioning of the Local Authority. The commissioning strategy will remain flexible and responsive, taking on board the outcomes of the current strategic review of Early Years and Childcare in Essex through future iterations. Looking more broadly the strategy will continue to reflect the changing national landscape and the convergence of Early Years and School education with particular focus on School Readiness, the Early Years Foundation Stage and high quality transitions. As such this strategy partners the Education and Lifelong Learning Strategy to take a holistic view of support, intervention and work with families from conception through to the age of 18 or 25 where there is a Special Educational Need and/or Disability) The Strategy is underpinned by the fact that proposed actions must be aligned to available resources and that resources are likely to be reduced as the Council seeks to close the current budget gap for 2015/16 and 2016/17. Within this strategy can be found actions against which we expect to deliver improved outcomes for children and families at reduced cost. These include the transfer of Health Visiting as part of the 0-5 Healthy Child Programme from 2015 and the potential for consolidation with the 5-19 Healthy Child Programme. There is some indication within this strategy of those actions that form a higher priority than others. The key priority action is the broad review of Early Years in Essex. As such future iterations of this strategy that follow the Early Years Review will deliver greater prioritisation of activity in order to support future resource allocation. 3

5. The way Essex County Council has agreed to shape support for children and families is dependent on levels of need and is set out in the ESCB guidance ‘Effective Support for Children and Families in Essex’ (See diagram).This sets out four levels of need: Universal, Additional, Intensive and Specialist. • Most families are properly served by universal services from pregnancy onwards (midwifery, health visiting, children’s centres. Nursery, GPs and voluntary groups) to ensure healthy development of their children. However, ECC and partners have available a range of support services where children and families have additional needs, for example where a child has some level of developmental delay or where parents need extra support to meet fully their child’s needs. These additional support services include health visiting, Family Nurse Partnership (FNP), children’s centres, free nursery for disadvantaged two year olds and pupil premium for children from low income families. Importantly they will provide support for children with Special Educational Needs or a Disability (SEND). In line with the vision for the SEND Strategy support will ‘ensure that all Children and Young People with SEND have a full range of support and opportunities available to them and are provided with opportunities to maximise their life chances, goals and aspirations’. • We will make sure that assessment and intervention is timely, share information effectively and support parents, families, carers and practitioners to deliver high quality support. • Through coordinated services and integrated commissioning we can improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND as part of a holistic approach to meeting their health, social care and educational requirements from 0-25. This pathway between the strategic commissioning approaches to Early Years, Education and Health and wellbeing will be recognised in the appropriate commissioning strategy. • Parents are the most important influence on their child’s life. By giving parents the information, tools and support to develop a stable home environment and be a positive influence, we increase considerably the chances of children developing well and remaining healthy. Taking a whole family approach and working with families on a holistic and voluntary basis we can help to identify and address the factors that impact on families on a day to day basis from housing and benefits to employment and health. • Where children have multiple disadvantage, intensive support will be offered through a Shared Family Assessment (SFA) and a team around the family approach. Adopting evidence based principles of Early Intervention, ECC will work with Early Years partners to provide families with access to Early Help opportunities that build family resilience and will act quickly to protect children from harm and neglect. • The following slide describes Charlie’s Journey, a fictional Essex child. The slide identifies the positive impact of timely and co-ordinated support for children and families. It highlights some of the key points of contact where we can maximise support and improve outcomes for Charlie and his family. The approach is based on an Early Years model that delivers seamless support for families from conception through to the end of the reception year. Where effective, well supported transitions are the focus of everybody and Schools develop strong relationships with early years settings to commission services or to raise the standards of provision through a teacher led model. 4

6. 5

7. About the Measures It is important that commissioned services remain accountable, represent value for money and can clearly contribute to the strategic and financial position of the Local Authority over the next four years. Likewise it is important that performance indicators relating to the delivery of the Corporate Outcomes and this strategy remain benchmarks for performance rather than targets to which services are held accountable. What we must achieve is to realise our vision of success. The indicators that have been determined aim to highlight the extent to which Children in Essex are getting the best start in life. These include measures of development determined at the end of the Foundation Stage (Good Level of Development and School Readiness). By analysing data at this point we can make changes to those elements where ECC has an influence. We can consider the way that early years education and health services are delivered in order to continue improving the readiness of children in Essex to start school and we can work with parents and carers through Nurseries, Children’s Centres and Schools to offer them the support, information and advice. The second set of indicators have been chosen to give a picture of other influences on children in Essex such as where they are living and whether they have a settled home environment that will enable them to feel safe, secure and to develop positively. These indicators help us determine where we need to invest more resources in order to change lives and help children and families to succeed and also where we can reduce activity, or completely decommission, in order to ensure that the most effective services can be provided for within an environment of reducing financial resources. These indicators overlap with the Local Authorities work with partners to describe and address Child Poverty through the Child Poverty Strategy 2014-2017. There will be an alignment between the actions within this Commissioning Strategy and the principles and approaches taken to address Child Poverty. Whilst these are the primary indicators there will be a number of proxy measures or outputs that we can take a view on and that will provide some indication of the direction of travel in relation to the indicators above. These may include:- 6

8. 7 • What will we measure? • Indicator Group A • The Percentage of Children ready for school • The Percentage of children achieving a good level of development by the age of five • For both of these indicators we will collect and analyse information about all children in Essex from conception through to the end of the Foundation Stage. • What is currently happening in Essex? • Within Essex there are approximately 82,000 (2011) children falling into the 0-5 age range representing 1 in 4 of all children living in the County (329,000). Taking the County as a whole, Essex was in the top 21% least deprived local government areas in the 2010 Indices of Multiple Deprivation. In contrast; at district level, Harlow and Tendring are amongst the most deprived 21% and 25% areas nationally.  Whilst Basildon and Tendring Districts contain two-thirds of the most deprived areas in Essex most other districts have notable pockets of deprivation. Except for Brentwood, Uttlesford and Maldon, all districts in Essex have Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) or small geographic areas falling within the 20% most deprived nationally. Essex is working closely with District Councils in Harlow, Basildon and Tendring to provide intensive, targeted support packages to improve outcomes for young children. • How do we define the percentage of children ready for school ? • National and local attempts to define school readiness consider it to be where a child has the best possible start in life and is able to meet key points of social and emotional development. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework that all early years providers [0-5 years] must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. EYFS Statutory Framework (2012). • School readiness represents a complex combination of factors and influences fundamentally based on the earliest interaction that a child has with its parents and wider healthcare and education support including nurturing, attachment and an understanding, empathy and responsiveness to the needs of very young children known as attunement. These social and developmental interactions along with a rich Home Learning Environment (HLE) and effective transitions from home to pre-school and pre-school to school combine to result in a child’s readiness for school. A decision has been taken within Essex County Council to define readiness for school through interpretation of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile undertaken by all children at the end of the Reception Year. School Readiness will be determined on entry to Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum and will be a retrospective measure of the three Prime Areas of Learning and Development which include Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development and Communication and Language. 1 Readiness for school will be determined by figures for all three Prime Areas remaining above the National Average. As a progressive Local Authority, year on year improvement will be expected although variation in influences across the three prime areas is based on a complex combination of early childhood education and care both within the formal childcare environment as well as in the home. • The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is a statutory requirement set by Central Government, led by the Standards and Testing Agency and delivered by the Local Authority which assesses and reports the profile scores on a National basis. For 2012/2013 Essex exceeded the national average across all three Prime Areas of Learning and Development as follows:- Personal, Social and Emotional Development Essex (77%) England (76%), Physical Development Essex (84%) England (83%) and Communication and Language Essex (73%) England (72%) • 1The current measure will be reviewed should a Baselines Assessment be introduced in Sept 2016. As a statutory assessment undertaken at the beginning of a child’s reception year this would replace the EYFSP at the end of reception and would provide an earlier measure than the one currently planned.

9. How do we define the percentage of children achieving a good level of development by the age of five? • Outcomes for pupils aged 5 are determined at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (end of Reception year) using the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). These profiles summarise and describe a child’s attainment at the end of the EYFS and are based on ongoing observation and assessment. • The attainment measure used is the percentage of pupils who achieve a ‘Good Level of Development’. Until 2012 this required pupils to achieve 78+ points with at least 6+ in all aspects of CLL (Communication, Language and Literacy) and PSED (Personal, Social and Emotional Development).  In 2013  a new Framework was introduced with pupils being assessed as being emerging (1), expected (2) or exceeding (3) against seventeen Early Learning Goals. A Good Level of Development requires pupils to be at least at the expected level in the three prime areas of learning: communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development and the early learning goals within the literacy and mathematics areas of learning. • Historically Essex has performed below the National average with a national ranking as low as 135th (out of 152 LAs) in 2011. 2012 saw the gap reduce through targeted interventions along with all pupils starting their Reception year in the Autumn term for the first time. Whilst 2013 is not directly comparable with previous years, it is very noticeable that Essex now exceeds the Eastern Region and England averages for the first time and has its highest ever national ranking of 51st. • Under the revised framework the figures for Essex 2012/2013 (53%) compare with a figure of (52%) for England and (41%) in the National Pilot (2012). Essex County Council Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results have moved from the bottom Quartile in 2011 / 2012 to the top quartile in 2012 / 2013 based on the national profile of results. • A detailed analysis has been undertaken in relation to Good Level of Development (GLD). This document creates a detailed narrative for 2012/2013 that will form an effective baseline for future reference and future comparison. The document considers performance by school, district and quadrant, considers each EYFSP, gender and ethnicity. • Analysis of Good Level of Development in 2013 identified that the gap between boys and girls is 17% overall and 18% when measured against writing. • The current 2013/2014-2016 Vision and Core Purpose for Early Years and Childcare referenced below has set clear aspirations to improve on the already upward trajectory for early years outcomes in Essex. • All Children have access to sufficient and sustainable high quality early education and childcare provision. • Children aged 0-5 have improved educational attainment within the Early Years Foundation Stage, benefiting from a specific focus on Language, Communication and Learning outcomes. • Much of the early education and childcare that children receive between birth and four will be informal. Commonly this is provided by parents, family and friends, but there is an increasing acknowledgement that grandparents play a significant role in the lives of children. Essex County Council acknowledges the challenges in raising the aspiration and ambition of some parents in supporting their children to reach their full potential. There is a need to articulate the influence that parents have on the social, emotional and cognitive development of their child and the future aspirations of their children to achieve well at school and make a positive contribution through future employment. This can not be achieved in isolation and requires a robust alliance to be formed between ECC, parents and partners, that provides for a development of a common language and a shared understanding of the importance of parenting style, parental involvement in education and the quality of the home learning environment on harnessing the potential of all children. • Parents need support and reassurance to embed these messages. By influencing and integrating Early Years support in Essex we can make sense of a complex network of services. Involving parents in co-design and looking objectively at the resources we collectively invest with partners, we will ensure that families remain at the sole focus as they move through their child’s Early Years. Services will understand the differing needs of parents and children and know how to respond in a way that makes a real difference • This strategy will seek to deliver an approach to working with families that is ‘strengths based’ and builds upon existing skills and resilience with an acknowledgement that for too long the state has adopted a deficit model of intervention based upon needs over strengths. By the action inherent within the Early Years review we will ensure that such an approach is embedded across the Early Years workforce alongside a significant up scaling of peer and network support in order to fully realise the potential of parents and carers to support each other as volunteers. • . 8

10. What we know? We have a strong background in consulting with families who access services and in particular, early years services and Children’s Centres are at the forefront of this work. Essex County Council has undertaken a number of consultation activities with families, lead bodies and partners to seek their views on the focus and possible shape of future Children’s Centre Services. These include a recent Children’s Centre Family Survey (2013) Research shows that what happens in the first two years of a child life has a significant bearing on their future. From the Field Report in 2010, further developed through 1001 Critical Days in 2014 we know that parents play the most significant role in influencing their children’s futures. Research also tells us that a combination of positive parenting and a good home learning environment can transform children’s life chances. Graham Allen’s report in 2011 and the continuing work of the Early Intervention Foundation show us that that evidence based programmes are the most successful in improving outcomes for vulnerable children. Early intervention is essential. Whether it is advice on smoking in pregnancy or breastfeeding, parenting or child development, if we provide access to early help for families with children at the place and point of need we will prevent escalation and improve the outcomes of the child. Building on the EPPE study, the Nutbrown Review in 2012 made clear links between the quality of provision in Early Years and children’s outcomes making the correlation between the qualifications and aspirations of the workforce and the quality of Early Childhood Education. More recently there has been a levelling of the requirements placed upon schools and early years provision as determined by Ofsted with the expectation that standards of Early Years teaching provide safe, high quality childcare that meets the needs of all children and does not allow any to fall through the net. If we want children in Essex to be ready for school we need to do more to intervene early in support of children with delayed speech, language and communication. Research shows that speech, language and communication are crucial for reading, learning in school, for socialising and making friends, and for understanding and controlling emotions or feelings, these are the very building block for School Readiness. Our approach needs to be an co-ordinated and consistent through integration of health and education resources where front line Early Years and community health practitioners are confident to refer children for support and there is support and training for parents. Where we need to know more In addition to our consultation with families and service users we appreciate that we still do not have all the answers with regard to what families want and need in order to to feel supported or how different families may require different interventions at varying stages in the life of their children or in particular areas of the County. Essex County Council will continue to use internal engagement teams and external insight to inform future iterations of this strategy and provide intelligence to inform our commissioning decisions which will be vital in the context of reducing funding in 2015-2016 It is vital to ECC that we develop sophisticated mechanisms for capturing local family accounts in relation to how the services they access, including Children’s Centres, Daycare settings, child-minders, pre-schools and Health services, support them. We need to establish some qualitative baselines. What is the level of parental awareness in relation to school readiness? How does it link into the requirements for ECC and daycare settings to promote effective home learning? What more can Children’s Centres do to promote effective home learning? What are the true impacts on a family of having no secure employment or tenancy? How effective is transition between home and nursery and between nursery and school? More than consultation, genuine engagement with Children, Young People and Families will form the golden thread that runs through all that we do in our pursuit of better outcomes for children and delivery of the corporate objectives. Only by really understanding the issues for children, young people and families, by knowing what they think, what they want, what upsets them, what angers them and what they aspire to, can we really ensure services meet those needs. We want to go further and to work collaboratively with parents and carers to build an ethnographic evidence base and a genuine understanding of their needs as service users. A richness of everyday experience that has sufficient depth to inform future commissioning decisions and to deliver co-designed activity that has been developed and shaped by children and families. 9

11. What does success look like? 10

12. What are the important issues? • The fundamental principle of the strategy is to grasp the opportunity that exists to re-define the Early Years Workforce. This represents a significant challenge as the broader Early Years agenda is delivered through a multi-stakeholder network of services. By taking a holistic view of the resources available and establishing a clear outcomes framework there is the opportunity to develop and up skill the workforce and create a seamless pathway of timely support for families based on locally identified need and delivered through consistent advice, integrated provision and effective data sharing. • Whilst this is a positive opportunity it is one we must not fail to achieve. No longer can there be ambiguity about what good outcomes for children look like, nor can we overlook the gap between children from low income families and their better off peers. We have the knowledge and the opportunity, we now need to make the system changes needed. By working with partners and families we can develop an early years pathway that is simpler and more logical to families with key points of transition well developed and communicated, a landscape where every parent in Essex shares an understanding of their role as first educators and takes responsibility for ensuring their child masters basic essential skills before starting school because they want them to enjoy the experience, to do well and have a successful life. • Critical to the future success of plans for Early Years reform will be the creation of a sustainable model that works from the perspective of the family. A model that utilises the experience and expertise of ECC and partners but hands back control and decision making to parents and carers giving them the information and the support to make informed choices that impact positively on the long term stability and success of their children. • Examples already exist within Essex where families themselves lead local support through a peer support model. Volunteering , as set out in the Education and Lifelong Learning Strategy, includes expanding networks of peer support and mentoring programmes. The impact of this is to more freely utilise the experience of families. Parents and carers offer an empathy and the understanding that creates credible, non stigmatising local support options, increasing the likelihood of engaging the most vulnerable families and developing local community resilience through a framework that enables families to support each other, share experiences and learn from one another. As well as increasing opportunities for community based peer support, Essex County Council will develop the model further with families to create networks through the use of social media and online support. Here significant learning and understanding can be gained through sharing of concerns, experiences and support through Facebook pages and YouTube videos providing a degree of immediacy and creating a very localised and relevant community resource. • This investment in building community resilience and reducing the need for families to rely solely on the Local Authority for support has the potential to develop and extend far beyond Early Years and Childcare to enable the type of community mobilisation described in the ‘Who Will Care’ report (2013) commissioned for Essex. Extending the principles that a local approach and local understanding of needs can deliver the best care, support or intervention, there are opportunities grow the Early Years Peer Support and mentoring principles in order to embrace the broader priorities of Essex County Council and improve integrated health and social care outcomes for residents through a whole family view of community needs. • There exists an opportunity for ECC to consider more creative and innovative or flexible use of resources and capacity, particularly in terms of properties used to deliver community based services. This is an integral aspect of the Children’s Centre delivery model across the County with services delivered from schools and libraries as well as dedicated premises but there is significant scope for extending the use of premises in order to add value to these buildings and provide a richer resource for local communities. • The design of this strategy is very much grounded in national and international research that helps us to determine the key issues to address in order to bring about improvement in early year outcomes in Essex, such issues act as markers around which the strategy flows and include; Investment in points of transition, effective home learning, peer support, integrated services, workable data and information sharing protocols, good governance and appropriate scrutiny, parenting provision, workforce development and integration, Early Years qualifications and pay and quality of provision. The delivery of the strategy will largely be determined by local conditions based on conversations with professionals and families about local needs and pre-existing services in order that any additional emphasis or support avoids duplication and plugs existing gaps in a way that is meaningful and accessible to families. Essex is a large and diverse County with differing needs and no one policy or activity will have universal application but by basing our approach on a sound evidence and working with families to create local solutions we can collectively design and deliver local, sustainable support that brings about the changes needed. 11

13. What are the important issues? • It is important that we know what success looks like. The basis for both indicators is to demonstrate that children are starting in Year 1 with the right basic social and emotional blocks in place and the capacity to learn. In addition to this children attending school need to be ready to learn which will be determined by a number of external influences including the home environment. The following schematics (Fig.1 & 2) sets out what success might look like for a parent living in Essex and for Essex as a Local Authority. In addition to successfully improving outcomes for children and families ECC will expect to deliver these improvements within the envelope of the Medium Term Resourcing Strategy and working towards longer term financial savings. Essex is currently in the top quartile for Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results which should be noted as a significant turn around from 2012. This reflects the Private, Voluntary and Independent Sector provision across Essex where quality has been in the top quartile for some years. This needs to be recognised as part of the journey for turning the curve and it may be useful to further undertake work with stakeholders to analyse information behind this (including OFSTED reports over a period of time) with a sample of settings to establish the evidence base for what is working well. The EYFSP results provide part of the overall picture of quality and need to be considered alongside Ofsted inspection outcomes to give a more holistic picture of quality. • Having strategically responded to the 2011 position against national comparators and having so significantly 'turned the curve' in relation to these indicators there is now a shared focus to maintain this level of success and to sustain or build upon 2012/2013 figures. These figures need to be viewed in the context of changes to the measure following the national review of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and changes to the methodology for measuring progress. The figure being used to highlight the significant turning of the curve achievement for 2012/2013 reflects the first under this new framework, and as such a year on year comparison is not possible. • It will be important to maintain focus on childcare sufficiency, making sure that enough, accessible childcare places exist to meet demand. This will be a bedrock for supporting families and children in the Early Years of life. Concentrating on families who currently do not access the Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for three and four years olds and ensuring through sufficiency duties, that capacity exists to meet the 100% target. In relation to Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for two year olds, Essex has ensured that the current demand for places under the first phase of FEEE2 is met but will need to respond to the Central Government • increase in target from 20% to 40% for FEEE2 under Phase 2. • Fig.1 What success might look like for parents in Essex 12

14. Parents and carers will help to inform the look and feel of the support that they access and by working to co-design design support we will build positive and trusting relationships that empower families to take a lead in identifying and finding solutions to their own needs. • A strengths based approach to working with families will be based on a clear understanding of what family life is like, gained through a consistent approach to using ethnographic research. Being more informed, we will be able to make whole system changes that enhance our Early Help offer based on a more anticipatory approach to support, intervening early to prevent problems from developing. • When families are vulnerable the seamless Early Years landscape will identify and intervene quickly where a child is at risk of harm and will develop a network of multi-agency support where families need it, through the use of Shared Family Assessment and the Early Help and Advice Hub. • Integrated commissioning with Clinical Commissioning Groups across Essex will provide the opportunity to bring together early years outcomes with physical and emotional health, joining up and developing a shared understanding of child development, identifying and supporting children with developmental delay or additional needs at an early stage and providing support and advice to their families. • A homogenous workforce does not need to lose the professional heritage of its component disciplines but can build a diversity of experience and a richness of personal and professional development that will raise the standards of the workforce and maintain the continuous improvement in outcomes for children that we seek. • Through a network of Children’s Centres we will work through both targeted and universal routes to embed further the need for a rich home learning environment for children, providing support for children with additional needs and disability so that they can fulfil their potential. • Fig.2 What success might look like for Essex County Council Working with schools and childcare providers we will create a shared understanding of what school readiness looks like for individual children, and will embed the fundamental importance of effective, well nurtured transitions for all children in Essex. We will advocate for a greater alliance between Early Years providers and school headteachers to support improved outcomes for those least likely to reach their potential. Where there is demand for high quality early education, particularly in areas of deprivation, we will explore the funding opportunities to develop further Maintained Early Years provision led by Schools either on site or on linked sites, in line with Government and Ofsted recommendations. 13

15. Early Years Review The strategic union that has been formed between the Local Authority and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) is one of the key factors in creating the right conditions for a broad reaching and ambitious review of Early Years in Essex. This is a unique opportunity and one that will fully utilise the combined organisational strength and expertise to develop an innovative approach to meeting local needs and really involving families in the design and development of their own, community based support. The review will use national and international research and best practice to consider how best to re-model the Early Years workforce and corresponding finances to develop an integrated Early Years and early help offer from pre-birth through to school. Working in collaboration with CCGs there are opportunities to be truly innovative and to remove duplication. Opportunities to better understand funding and resources, both those in scope for the review and those that may exist within complimentary areas of health and education in order to achieve value for money and determine what quality looks like in terms of outcomes for children. There is the scope to develop a shared understanding of child development and school readiness across the spectrum of early years practitioners and to look at how best to utilise specialist targeted interventions and highly trained health professionals to improve outcomes for children. The diagram in Fig.3 identifies the scope of the Early Years Review and the key consideration including finance, workforce, research , needs assessment and engagement. Work in all of these areas is underway and will combine to inform the review. Some of the most exciting and innovative work is developing from the strategic review of engagement with families and children. Through the use of ethnography, commissioners will be able to access a far richer and more informed picture of what impacts on the day to day life of families in Essex and gain a deeper appreciation of how to design effective fig.3 Early Years Review Process Map support alongside parents and carers. The opportunity to place children and families at the centre of a model of integrated support and early help will drive thinking during this far reaching review and will have significant influence over the strategic actions taken forward through this strategy at the point where final actions are determined. 14

16. Who do we need to work with ? • The focus on partners has been kept purposefully broad and is not an exhaustive list. 15

17. The focus on partners has been kept purposefully broad and is not an exhaustive list. 16

18. 17

19. What are we doing to support children in Essex? • Lead commissioners are currently formulating a visioning document for the Early Years and Childcare Service ‘The Essex Approach to Commissioning Early Years and Childcare - The Best Start in Life‘This high level document will form the operational blueprint for the service drawing on the strategic proposals included within the Commissioning Strategy and aligning with the Essex Health and Wellbeing Strategy, Lifelong learning Strategy and Children, Young People and Families Partnership Plan. • The vision for Early Years and Childcare Services details the aspiration of Essex County Council to support all children in Essex to get the best start in life, to enable them to reach their full potential through direct delivering directly and procurement of early years and childcare support that endorses the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage and early intervention. • The document sets out the statutory duties under the Childcare Act 2006 in relation to improving outcomes for all young children aged 0-5 and reducing inequalities, ensuring sufficiency of childcare for all children and provision of information, advice and assistance to families. Drawing on the importance of a high quality workforce in achieving better outcomes for children, the vision includes information, advice, guidance and training for childcare providers to enable them to improve the quality of childcare provision. The following section represents a series of critical actions that will drive forward the strategy for – Children in Essex get the Best Start in life, specifically in relation to Indicator Group A. • The following actions represent a series of markers around which the future findings of the Strategic Review of Early Years can be mapped. Current actions fall within the forecast budget for Early Years and Childcare and are based on early findings of the review process, national policy or evidence based decisions. Actions have been ragged according to the time period for delivery. Actions ragged Green are already underway. Actions raggedAmberwill commence within 3 to 6 months and actions ragged Red will be delivered within 6 to 12 months. 18

20. 19

21. 20

22. 21

23. 22

24. 23

25. 24

26. 25 • How will we know things are improving? What will we measure? • Indicator Group B • Percentage of families living in temporary accommodation • Percentage of children living in non working households What is currently happening in Essex? • In relation to Temporary Accommodation the figures below demonstrate the national picture based on an aggregated report for 2013 – Quarter 1 through 4. The total number of children includes children up to the age of 16 including expected children. This report is based on a return to government called the P1E which is a homelessness return completed on a  quarterly basis by Districts. This records homeless households that are in some form of temporary accommodation (including Bed and Breakfast, Hostels, Local Authority Housing, Private Lease and Temporary Accommodation in another Local Authority area. • Q1 76,030 • Q2 79,680 • Q3 78,690 • Q4 80,950 • The plateauing figures for the number of households deemed • to be Homeless under the statutory definition are seen in the • graph. These figures are an indication of the trend in relation to • homelessness which is aligned to the requirement placed upon • District, Borough and City Councils to identify temporary • accommodation. This may be through crisis intervention where • families are placed in nightly accommodation or bed and breakfast • or may be a longer term solution where families are housed in local • housing stock. In both case the insecurity of tenure has a significant • impact on the health and development of our children and the health • and wellbeing of the wider family as recognised in the • Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Number of households living in temporary accommodation in Essex (LGA 2014) Then number of households living in temporary accommodation - A simple count of households living in temporary accommodation provided under the homelessness legislation

27. The data (for Q3 of 2013 dated 30th September 2013 ) highlighted only 14 families in Essex were in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks at the point of recording. • These are incidents where the period of review requires that families reside in Bed and Breakfast beyond the statutory six week period. Research identifies that the • greater the exposure to this form of accommodation the more likely it is to have an adverse impact on family stability, child development and attainment. Families with Children living in Bed and Breakfast (DCLG 2013) • Families with children in Bed and Breakfast accommodation for more than 6 weeks, excluding those pending review, by local authority. • In Qtr. 3 of 2013 the number of households living in temporary accommodation in Essex was 1,017 compared with 1480 in Quarter 3 of 2008 Local Government Association (2014) • As set out in the Economic Growth Strategy, the strain on home finances for families is increasingly becoming a priority issue in Essex. Currently 46% of Essex residents are concerned about their own financial situation, with one in five Essex residents worried about redundancy or unemployment. • Worklessness contributes towards a sense of disempowerment that means individuals and families are unable to make decisions that impact on their lives. This has a serious impact on the stability and security of families and a detrimental impact on the emotional and physical health of individuals. • Worklessness in Essex this increased in 2012 (7.2) compared to 2011 (6.7). By contrast, East of England authorities showed general improvement in 2012, compared to a period of decline in 2011. Between July 2012 and June 2013 Harlow (9.8%), Tendring (9%) and Basildon (8.9%) had the highest unemployment rates of all the Essex districts. Unemployment hotspots in parts of the county are also worst affected by youth unemployment. • 2012 Data from the Office of National Statistics identifies the percentage of children living in workless households in Essex as 12.8% against a national average figure of 14.9% • There has been a decrease in the proportion (and number) of Workless households for households with dependent children and children under 16 between 2008 and 2011. This is approximately 6,800 fewer households, a decrease of 20.4%, for children under 16 years and 6,900 fewer dependent children or a decrease of 18.9%. What is changing in Essex (2013) • What is Changing in Essex 2013 • Report on population and demographic trends of children, young people and families 26

28. The number of children living in households where nobody works is reducing across Essex. • This decrease in workless households for those with ‘dependent children’ (Red) and in households with ‘children under 16‘ (Blue) has also been coupled with a decrease in the number of Mixed households and an increase in the number of Working households. This is different from ‘all households’ (Green) which shows a decrease in the number of working households since 2008. • Concerns have been raised over Universal credit in relation to reducing the incentives for second earners therefore in the future we may observe an increase in workless / mixed households. What is Changing in Essex (2013) • The following documents also provide key information for further analysis against these indicators Office of National Statistics - Workless Households for Regions across the UK (2012) Local Authority and ward level statistics for most major benefits relating to worklessness • The Essex CC figure below exclude Southend and Thurrock. The Essex figure in bold include figures for both Unitary Authorities. • When looking at these figures • Harlow has the highest number of workless households at 22.1% of their households, followed by Tendring who have 21.7 then Basildon who have 19.1%. • Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000 and the table shows grey areas as being less reliable due to sample size. • Workless Households for regions across the UK in 2012 – Households by combined economic activity – Office of National Statistics Sept 13 extracted from Department of Communities and Local Government Report (March 2014) . 27

29. How do we define the percentage of families living in temporary accommodation? • The Housing Act 1996 and Homelessness Act 2002 refer to use of temporary accommodation as follows:- • Where there is a legal homeless duty and the accommodation solution would reasonably be expected to last for 6 months or less. • b) A family with children as part of the household who are likely to be ‘owed a homelessness duty’ can be housed for 6 weeks in temporary solutions – This is usually bed and breakfast, hotel or similar shared arrangement specifically and is referred to B and B style accommodation. Provision is seen as being reasonable whilst investigations and decision making takes place regarding a statutory homeless duty. This should not be for longer than six weeks. • The definition used to determine successful homelessness Intervention or Homelessness Relief is accommodation secured for a period of at least six months – Department Communities and Local Government – Recording Homelessness Prevention and Relief at E10 of the P1E Quarterly Return • Families who are homeless and housed in temporary accommodation is an increasing number nationally. The most recent figures issued by the Government (December 2013) show that the total number of homeless households in temporary accommodation (of all types, including B&B) increased by 8% on the same date in 2012 (11%) in London. • Shelter’s June 2004 report, Living in Limbo, which was based on a survey of more than 400 homeless households living in temporary accommodation in England, found that living in temporary accommodation has a “devastating’ impact on the health, education and job opportunities of the homeless”. The authors estimated that temporary housing was costing the taxpayer over £500 million each year through higher rents and additional housing benefit costs, additional take up of out-of-work benefits, out-of-school provision for children, take up of sickness benefits and visits to the GP due to health problems (See our Health and Wellbeing Commissioning Strategy for an explanation of the relationship between health and worklessness). • Shelter, reported that over 80,000 (80,950) children across Britain were living in temporary accommodation on Christmas day 2013 Homeless households in temporary accommodation - England (2013) • In November 2012 the National Housing Federation (NHF) published Homeless Bound? a study of homelessness in London, the south east and east of England. The report highlighted a 60% increase in the number of children and pregnant women living in B&Bs with over a third in B&Bs for longer than the six-week limit – representing a 200% increase over two years. The NHF called on the Government to monitor the full amount of time that children spend in B&Bs beyond the six week limit. • Living in Bed and Breakfast accommodation for children often means living in cramped conditions, perhaps sharing a single room with their whole family. It means having to share a bathroom with strangers and eating unhealthy food prepared with inadequate cooking facilities. It means playing in damp, squalid rooms that lack proper fire escapes, furniture or facilities. This accommodation potentially exposes children to a greater safeguarding risk as a result of the multiple occupancy nature and shared facilities. These are risks to development health and the safety of children that need to be eliminated. For District, Borough and City Councils, bed and breakfast accommodation is expensive, costing them up to twice as much as other forms of temporary accommodation. Not only does this impact directly on the housing benefit bill and housing authorities’ it has a long term impact on the general funds administered by the ECC as it drains limited resources away from other services vital to the development of children such as education and social services. Assured tenancy represents the lowest cost to the District Authorities and represents the best situation for families. • Essex Refuge Network • Children across Essex will be housed in refuge accommodation on a temporary basis where there is a need for emergency accommodation, advice and help for women suffering domestic violence, and their children. Actions in the previous section seek to improve the developmental opportunities for children in refuge accommodation who may be removed from regular early childhood education. It is important to consider the impact of this temporary move and the unfamiliar surroundings on the child’s ability to thrive and the impact of transition from the family home, to refuge accommodation and then into safe accommodation elsewhere. 28

30. How do we define the percentage of children living in non working households? • The Office of National Statistics define worklessness as the unemployed and economically inactive. The unemployed population ‘are people who are without a job, want a job, have actively sought work in the last four weeks and are available to start work in the next two weeks or are out of work, have found a job and are waiting to start it in the next two weeks’. The economically inactive population are ‘those without a job who have not actively sought work in the last four weeks, and/or are not available to start work in the next two weeks’ (Publication Hub 2009a; 2009b). The definition will consider households containing no adult in work excluding students and those where the household head is over retirement age. • Workless households are defined as a household where no-one aged 16 or over is in employment. These members may be unemployed or inactive. Inactive members may be unavailable to work because of family commitments, retirement or study, or unable to work through sickness/ disability. • A working household is a household that contains at least one person aged 16 to 64, where all individuals aged 16 and over are in employment. • A mixed household is a household that contains at least one person aged 16 to 64, where at least one person aged 16 and over is in employment and at least one other is either • unemployed or inactive. • In terms of families we define this as either of the above definitions where there is one or more child between the ages of 0-16 (25 for children with additional needs) • Worklessness forms one of the criteria against which families are assessed prior to engagement through the Essex Family Solutions, early help programme. A relationship with the Department of Work and Pensions allows for data sharing to take place but only in relation to families who have been referred to the programmes based on other triggers. 29

31. What we know? • Research has highlighted the negative impact of temporary, and especially B&B, accommodation on homeless families with children particularly in terms of space and conditions. For this reason it is vital that a child exposure to such tenure arrangements is limited and that support is made available to identify the causes of homelessness and counter the impact of accommodation arrangements, even when restricted to the six week period. • Reduced educational development as a result of disruption in schooling from moving to and from new areas, making keeping links with school difficult • Issues in relation to routine and problems with lateness and poor attendance • The lack of available space in which to study • Social isolation from friends • Behavioural problems such as aggression, bed-wetting and over-activity • Reduced communication skills • Increased likelihood of accident caused by the lack of space i.e. limited cooking facilities • Children are twice as likely to be admitted to hospital • Admission rates are higher for accidents and infectious diseases(See Commissioning Strategy for Health and Wellbeing) • Research shows that parental worklessness is significantly associated with poorer academic attainment of young children in primary school and poorer educational achievement (GCSE point scores) of adolescents. Worklessness along with housing is one of a number of multi-dimensional risk factors that increase the risk of poor outcomes for our most vulnerable children. Persistent parental worklessness was related to a number of other socio-economic disadvantages, lack of qualifications, being a single parent, ethnic minority status, living in social housing, family instability, and having a long-term limiting illness. Every Child Journal The impact of family • worklessness on children’s education (2013) • The risks for children’s development from living in a workless household tend to be higher when they are younger, although there are relatively few studies examining the association between parental worklessness and education outcomes during the early years. Despite this we know that the research foundations of the Sure Start Local Programmes and subsequent Children’s Centre Initiatives nationally were in part based on the profound consequences of long term unemployment not just for the children but for their families, communities, and for society at large. SSLPs not only aimed to enhance health and well-being during the early years, but to increase the chances that children would enter school ready to learn, be academically successful in school, socially successful in their communities and occupationally successful when adult. • Where we need to know more • In addition to the social, emotional and developmental impact of temporary accommodation on children and the impact on long term family stability there is a significant financial costs attributed to short term crisis intervention in relation to accommodation. Working with partners across Essex there is an opportunity to develop a understanding of the financial costs to District, Borough and City Councils as well as the wider global costs on health, social care and education. In doing this we can better determine the cost benefit of early intervention in order to reduce or prevent homelessness through an ‘invest to save’ model. • In most communities in Essex there is a severe shortage of affordable housing (Economic Growth Strategy) . Commissioners will benefit from a pan Essex review of housing related issues, looking at current and forecasted pressures on private, rental and social housing stocks alongside the impact on family finances and health as well as the macro impacts on economic growth. • Using the ethnographic model commissioners will work alongside children and families to develop a clearer understanding of the impact of worklessness and insecurity of tenure on the lives of families so that support is designed by families and has lasting application and impact on improving outcomes. 30

32. What does success look like? 31

33. What are the important issues? • Workless Households • There is a significant overlap between the reduction in the number of workless household and the drive of the Local Authority to expand Economic Growth on a pan Essex basis. Families with children represent a subsection of the wider Essex population including the workless population and have specific requirements in relation to employment based on their need for flexibility as carers. Emphasis on developing sustainable economic growth across Essex is based on Essex County Council working with key partners including District, Borough and City Councils, HM Government, Higher Education Institutions and the South East Local Enterprise Partnership. The focus of this work will be driven through the Commissioning Strategy for ‘Sustainable Economic Growth for Communities and Business’. By drawing together the Local Authority approach to addressing Child Poverty in partnership with locality stakeholders the two strategies will be aligned to improve the outcomes and future aspirations of children in Essex through the continued reduction in workless families. • Temporary Accommodation • The issue of homelessness is not restricted to those who are not in work. A significant problem exist where families work yet through a combination of benefit entitlement and income are still unable to meet their monthly financial obligations. It is too easy to see this problem as one of inability or unwillingness to work. • Success for Essex County Council will be based on a more robust relationship with District, Borough and City Councils that enables the scale and geography of the issue to be better understood. This will be largely based on the availability of housing stock in areas where homelessness is a persistent issue and the relative buoyancy of the local rental market. Private landlords are unwilling or unlikely to work with District Authorities where the benefit cap exceed average district rents fearing that they are less likely to get what they are owed and they are likely to have more stable tenant wanting the properties. • Viewing this issue as one that cuts across commissioning for People and Place will enable Essex County Council to explore opportunities to counter the destabilising impact that temporary accommodation has on families. Looking across the strategic commissioning for Health, Education and Lifelong learning, Community Safety and Economic Growth there is a local infrastructure that could be utilised. This includes libraries, health centres and children’s centres, that could offer out of hours support for these vulnerable families through drop-ins, workshops, learning sessions and support groups, all potentially contributing the stability, familiarity and routine that families need. • There exists the potential to utilise school and Early Years premises as community hubs offering as wrap around care and support through Breakfast Clubs, Afterschool clubs and homework clubs to support family stability. • Fig.4 What Success might look like from an Essex County Council Perspective 32

34. What are the important issues? • Figure 5 seeks to convey what success might look like from the perspective of a parent in Essex where a joined up relationship between the Local Authority, District Borough and City Councils and Voluntary Sector agencies has developed early help support for families on the margins of homelessness. Working closely with landlords through assurance and bond schemes, guarantees can be put in place to prevent families from being evicted when they face financial crisis. This provides the time and opportunity for organisations to provide support in relation to debt, money management, benefit support and employment or training. • Whilst understanding the issue and working with District Authorities to improve the options for Temporary Accommodation, successful intervention needs to be realistic and based on providing the highest level of support for children and families made vulnerable by their accommodation and insecurity of tenure. • We will not always be able to keep families out of crisis and there will continue to be a need to use temporary accommodation where no preventative intervention has been possible or the needs of the family have not been disclosed. • Through the use of targeted interventions undertaken by Children’s Centres and Early Help teams and the use of Shared Family Assessments we can mitigate, where possible, the negative impact on a child of any period in temporary accommodation. • Working with District, Boroughs and City Housing Leads will enable these families to be referred at the earliest stage. • Through the use of ethnographic research we will be able to develop a clearer understanding of the chain of events or the multiple factors that converge to place a family in homelessness and requiring the need for crisis intervention. By working with families to build a shared understanding of the triggers we will be in a position to identify some of the early warning signs and will know the right questions to ask families in order that we can intervene as early as possible. Fig.5 What success might look like for a parent in Essex 33

35. Who do we need to work with? The focus on partners has been kept purposefully broad and is not an exhaustive list. 34

36. - 35

37. 36 What are we doing to support children in Essex? Actions have been ragged according to the time period for delivery. Actions ragged Green are already underway. Actions raggedAmberwill commence within 3 to 6 months and actions ragged Redwill be delivered within 6 to 12 months.

38. 37

39. Legislative 38

40. Risks and Mitigations - Risks are events or actions that may prevent us from successfully supporting children to have the best start in life - Mitigation is the action we will take to reduce the impact that any risks identified will have on our success 39

41. What are the costs of the actions proposed? • Early Years Attainment • The Early Years strategy is formulated on the principles of intervening early in order to reduce the longer term financial costs of acute and targeted interventions. As such emphasis will be placed on addressing the needs of children and families upstream through integrated assessments with health and investment in the development of the early years workforce. • Spend on Early Years services in 2014/15 is £72m and is made up of £12.9m of funding from ECCs revenue budget and a further £59.1m through the ring fenced Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) • The material areas of spend within the DSG budgets for 2014/15 are : • - £39.0m of payments for free early education entitlement (FEEE) for 3 and 4 years old to settings in the private and voluntary sectors • - £7.5m of payments for free early education entitlement (FEEE) for 3 and 4 years old to settings in maintained schools • - £8.4m of payments for free early education entitlement (FEEE) for 2 years olds to settings across all sectors • - £2.1m  FEEE Early Years Support Costs (generally staff costs) • - £1.1m  - Quality Assurance and Sufficiency Team • - £1.3m Area co-ordination of Special Education Need provision • The majority of the £12.9m non-DSG budget relates to the provision of Children’s Centres across the County where contracts have recently been re-negotiated. Therefore the 2014/15 budget has been aligned against agreed activities. For the Commissioning Strategy to contain actions that will deliver new ways of providing early years services this will need to be remain within the existing budget constraints. • The Council’s Medium Term Resource Strategy currently has a funding gap of approximately £237m+ to 2016/17 and it is expected that Commissioning Strategies will identify ways in which this gap can be closed. The actions highlighted within this Strategy for – Children in Essex get the Best Start in Life need to be viewed against this financial backdrop and will need to be prioritised so as to ensure that the reducing financial envelope is used most effectively to deliver the best possible outcomes. • The DSG is allocated by Government and funding is largely based on numbers of 2, 3 and 4 years old within Essex. Any exercises to transform the delivery of DSG funded services will need to ensure that these revised services are in line with the Schools Regulations that underpin the use of DSG funding. On the non-DSG budgets ,the impact of reduced funding would be approximately £1.3m if there was a 10% reduction and £2.6m should there be a 20% reduction. • As the strategy is developed, it will need to address areas of existing work that can be de-commissioned or reduced in a way in that minimises impact on outcomes. Both reviewing options to partially or fully decommission services as well as looking at new ways of delivering successful outcomes will require innovative solutions and new ways of working. The key actions currently within the Strategy that will seek to explore financial savings in 2015/16 and 2016/17 are: • a) Children’s Centre reconfiguration; and • b) the future commissioning of the health visiting services and the potential consolidation with 5-19 healthy child programme • These actions are in the early stages of development and currently it is too early to identify the extent to the savings these pieces of work may deliver. 40

42. What are the costs of the actions proposed? Alleviating Child Poverty The Council does not currently have direct budgets in place to support children and their families in temporary accommodation. Therefore any additional funding required to deliver direct support would have to be seen in the context of the Council’s funding gap that needs to be closed from 2015/16 onwards. Many of the actions against this indicator are influential activities rather than ones that require a sustainable investment. It is assumed that these activities will be able to be contained within existing budgets and how we seek to influence stakeholders will depend on budgets available as the Council seeks to identify ways in which it can close its funding gap. 41

43. This report has been prepared by Essex County Council’s Place/People Commissioning and STC functions. Essex County Council, PO Box 11, County Hall, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1QH