I have been wrestling with the Ofsted Social Care Report 2012-2013 (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/social-care-annual-report-201213) that was published last week. I will complete my post on it shortly, but I have stayed my hand and not rushed to judgement. So please watch this space.
One thing I can address now is some interesting information
arranged on page 9 of the report. Extracted from government statistics the volumes
of children’s social care work in 2012 are compared with those in 2008. In the
table below I reproduce these together with a % change column that does not
occur in Ofsted’s table.
Some of the figures are quite shocking. Although there has
only been a modest increase in referrals and the number of children looked
after, initial assessments were up by
more than 40% over the four year period; Section 47 Enquiries were up by more
than 60%; Core Assessments were up by 110% and the number of children made
subject to Child Protection Plans were up by nearly 50%.
No wonder services are experiencing strains and stresses!
Sadly I can find no accurate estimates for changes in the
size of the children’s social care workforce during the period. If anybody
knows where this data might be found, please email me on chris-mills-child-protection-blog@gmx.co.uk
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Volumes of children’s social care work in
2012 compared with those in 2008, adapted from Ofsted Social Care Report
2012-2013, page 9
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2008
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2012
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% Change
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Referrals
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538,500
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605,100
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12.4
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Initial Assessment completed
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319,900
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451,500
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41.1
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S.47 started
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76,800
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124,590
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62.2
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Core Assessment completed
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105,100
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220,670
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110.0
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Children made subject to CP Plans
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29,200
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42,850
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47.0
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Children looked after on 31/3
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59,500
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67,050
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12.7
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