Decision details

Background:

The vision of Early Help and Preventative Services is that every child and young person and their family, who need Early Help services, will receive them in a timely and responsive way, so that they are safeguarded, their educational, social and emotional needs are met, and they achieve good outcomes.

In November 2016, KCC commissioned several Early Help and Preventative Services to complement and support the development of the internal provided Early Help Services. These services include:

·      The Family Support Service – a service to provide early support for families experiencing difficult challenges.

·      The NEET Service – offers support to those young people who have been either NEET in excess of 6 weeks or whom have experienced multiple periods of NEET.

·      The Young Carers Service – a bespoke service that offers support to young people who have a caring responsibility within their family unit.

Since commissioning these service, KCC’s Children, Young People and Education Directorate has undergone a transformation programme integrating internal services to develop the new Integrated Children’s Service. This has included the enhancement of the adolescent offer, investment in training and development, new practice models and the development of a single ‘front door’ for all referrals.

Recommissioning the Early Help services will ensure alignment with the new service arrangements. The existing contractual levers have been utilised to extend all three services until 30^th September 2020, allowing the recommissioning to take place alongside the work currently being undertaken to refocus the Early Help element of the Children and Young Person’s Mental Health Service into alternative evidence-based services/interventions.

Decision:

1.  Recommission a range of Early Help and Preventative Services in line with changes to KCCs Integrated Children’s Services and the Local Transformation Plan for Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services. Affected Services are:

·      The Family Support Service

·      The NEET Service

·      The Young Carers Service

2.    Delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education, or other nominated officer to undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision.