Newsletters
Our Regional Improvement Plan can be found here
If you would like to apply to be a SESLIP consultant, please follow this link to Kent Business Portal – KentBusinessPortal and after registering on the portal, search for Ref – SC240046 – SESLIP – DPS
Updates
Children in custody 2024-2025
On 26 September 2025 HMIPrisons published Children in custody 2024–25
An analysis of 12–18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences
in secure training centres and young offender institutions
Details
This report provides an analysis of surveys conducted in young offender
institutions (YOIs) and Oakhill Secure Training Centre (STC) in England and
Wales between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. The report also provides an
overview of our findings from independent reviews of progress conducted
during this period. As with last year, outcomes continue to be worryingly poor
and, in some cases, children’s perceptions of their time in custody have got
worse.
West Midlands Team Excellence 2025
On 24 September 2025 West Midlands ADCS Network (the RIIA) published its team excellence awards brochure for 2025
More details from
paulmartin.brewster@wmchildrensservices.org.uk
West Midlands Children’s Services website
Details
Herefordshire Council – Fostering Recruitment and Assessment Team
Telford & Wrekin Council – Voice and Influence Team
Worcestershire County Council – Youth Voice Team (Participation and Engagement)
Walsall MBC – Youth in Sight Team
Sandwell Children’s Trust – Strengthening Families Service
Solihull MBC – Attendance Team
Coventry City Council – Education Capital Strategy Team
Sandwell MBC – Schools Attendance Support Service
Birmingham Children’s Trust & City Council – CASS
City of Wolverhampton Council – School Organisation Team
Staffordshire County Council – Youth Justice Service
Warwickshire County Council – Children in Care Team
Shropshire Council – Youth Support Team
Stoke-on-Trent City Council – Children with Disabilities Team
Dudley MBC – SEND, CDT, Tipton Road and Emotional Wellbeing Service
A guide for safeguarding
children partnerships
On 25 September 2025 the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse published Developing your strategic response to child sexual abuse – A guide for safeguarding children partnerships
Details
In 2024, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s review into child sexual abuse within the family environment recommended that all safeguarding partnerships should “develop a local action plan to respond to its recommendations as it affects local multi-agency practice,” to overcome local strategic challenges in identifying and responding to this abuse.
To help partnerships do this, CSA have written Developing your strategic response to child sexual abuse: A guide for safeguarding children partnerships. It gives practical advice on how to overcome the strategic challenges of responding to child sexual abuse in their area, develop a new strategy or monitor, review and improve their existing strategy.
Designed for all those working with local and regional safeguarding children partnerships, the guide covers each level the response to all forms of child sexual abuse – from top-level governance and accountability, to an effective action plan that professionals everywhere, in each agency, can easily follow.
Reminders From Previous Weeks
New education inspection framework: for use from November 2025
On 9 September Ofsted published a new EIF for use from 10 November 2025
Details
Ofsted states: “When inspections of state-funded schools begin in November, Ofsted has agreed to prioritise schools that volunteer for inspection. Routine inspections will be introduced on or after 1 December, depending on the number of schools that volunteer. There will be no routine inspections during the week before Christmas, to allow for inspector training.”
There are a range of supporting documents, including:
– a schools inspection toolkit and operating guide for inspectors and a guide for schools
Law Commission publishes final report on Disabled Children’s Social Care
On 16 September The Law Commission published Disabled Children’s Social Care: Final Report
The report is available in 6 versions:
Headlines
The Law Commission has completed its review of disabled children’s social care law and published its final report. The recommendations in the report provide a comprehensive set of reforms to disabled children’s social care law.
The reforms recommended represent the most substantial change to this area of law since the Children Act 1989.
The objective of the recommendations is to make the law clearer, simpler and fairer. Taken together, the reforms should provide a more modern legal framework, better suited to meeting the specific needs of disabled children and their families.
HoC Public Accounts Committee publishes Improving family court services for children
On 12 September the PAC published Improving family court services for children
Family court backlogs: children and families let down amid lack of urgency from government
The Public Accounts Committee has published a report on its inquiry into improving family court services for children in England and Wales. The Committee received written evidence from various professionals, legal representative bodies and voluntary sector organisations. Key issues highlighted include: children and families are experiencing long delays when waiting for family courts to resolve their cases; there is poor accountability for service improvement and overall performance in the family justice system; and there are inefficiencies in systems and processes that worsen experiences and outcomes for children and families. The Committee is calling on the government to set out how they plan to reduce delays and take steps to improve efficiency in family justice systems and processes.
AYJ publishes From exploited to exploiter?
On 10 September the Alliance for Youth Justice published From exploited to exploiter?
Headlines
The Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ) has published a briefing looking at the criminal justice response to exploited young people as they transition to adulthood in England and Wales. The briefing drew on an evidence review, a consultation session with professionals and meetings with practitioners. Issues highlighted include: safeguarding and support often ends at 18-years-old for young people who have been criminally exploited; and a lack of transitional safeguarding and support for young people who are more vulnerable to criminal exploitation, such as those with care experience, special educational needs and disabilities, and Black and mixed heritage children, risks further criminalising young people from these groups. The briefing calls for safeguarding and support for criminally exploited young people to extend beyond 18; a cross-governmental taskforce to tackle criminal exploitation; and more support for police, prosecutors and courts to recognise young adults’ continued vulnerability.
New JTAI guidance: CSA in a family environment
On 10 September Ofsted, CQC, HMICFRS and HMIProbation published new JTAI guidance for inspections of the response to child sexual abuse in the family environment
Headlines
For JTAI inspections after April 2022, there are now 6 themes available:
- Joint inspections of the response to children who are victims of domestic abuse (17 January 2025) (DA)
- Joint targeted area inspections of the multi-agency response to serious youth violence (22 September 2023) (SYV)
- Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to children and families who need help (7 October 2022) (H&P)
- Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to the criminal exploitation of children (28 March 2022) (CE)
- Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to identification of initial need and risk (5 April 2024) (INR)
- Joint targeted area inspections of the multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment (10 September 2025) (CSA
New Children missing education guidance
On 8 September Ofsted published Children missing education: statutory guidance for local authorities and schools
Details
This guidance is statutory for local authorities in England and is intended to help them fulfil their legal duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education (CME).
This guidance is also statutory for academy trusts, governing bodies, management committees and proprietors who must have regard to it as part of their efforts to promote the welfare of children.
Care Leavers Policy Worshop – NOW BOOKING
On Tuesday 14 October, 10-12, Oxford University’s Rees Centre is hosting online workshop as part of the Children’s Information Project to share the learning from two recent research studies and help us to plan some ways forward.
It is convened by the Rees Centre , University of Sussex, Become and North Yorkshire Council
The workshop will:
Hear the emerging findings from two studies which aim to better understand how outcome frameworks for care leaving services can better reflect what care leavers themselves say is important.
Work with care-experienced group facilitators to help refine a set of recommendations for policy and practice
Parenting disabled children and young people and those with Special Educational Needs
Foundations are pleased to invite you to online sessions for local leaders and practitioners. There will be two opportunities:
- Monday 6th October, 11am -12.30pm – please use this link to sign up
- Tuesday 14th October,10.30am -12.00pm – please use this link to sign up
Webinar details
The sessions will provide the opportunity to hear from the Foundations team who developed the Practice Guide and the Parent Carer who led the Anna Freud’s Parent Advisory Group and who was also part of the Foundations’ advisory group for this Practice Guide. There will be space to:
- Hear more about how this Guide’s Recommendations can support commissioning and de-commissioning cycles by using the best available evidence alongside local population and organisational data, professional knowledge and lived experience.
- Consider how the Key Principles can build on the work already going on in local areas to bring about whole-system culture change.
- Reflect on how parenting support can improve a range of outcomes for disabled children and young people and their parent carers.
- Use the guide’s Reflective Tool.
- Ask questions and hear from colleagues working across the country.
SESLIP QA Conference – NOW BOOKING
On Monday 8 December SESLIP is hosting a collaborative QA co-design event.
Headlines
On behalf of the SESLIP QA network, Kent Analytics has been research CSC QA processes and practices across the region.
This event will be an opportunity for QA leads and staff to participate in the co-design of new improved procedures based on the research findings.
SESLIP Targeted Support
The SESLIP Targeted Support scheme is now open to enquiries from children’s services authorities in the south east.
This project is funded by the DfE’s RIIA grant and is open to both CSC and SEND.
Details
The prospectus introduces our dedicated Targeted Support Core Team, which includes experienced, ex-local authority leaders, who have worked at director, assistant director and principal programme manager levels,
The core team’s practice is enhanced by collaboration with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from across the full range of children’s services.
A bespoke package will be agreed at scoping stage.
For more information, or to become involved as a subject matter expert, contact Claire@clairewoodcockconsulting.com
Regional Improvement Plan 2025-26
On 18 July 2025 SESLIP published our regional improvement plan for 2025-26
Headlines
The new regional improvement plan has 47 projects and a budget of just under £2m.
The plan incorporates our delivery plan for DfE’s RIIA grant of £1.6m to SESLIP for the current year
Tools & Templates
We have produced a Regional Improvement Plan (July 2025)
On 26 September 2025 HMIPrisons published Children in custody 2024–25
An analysis of 12–18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences
in secure training centres and young offender institutions
On 25 September 2025 the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse published Developing your strategic response to child sexual abuse – A guide for safeguarding children partnerships
On 24 September 2025 West Midlands ADCS Network (the RIIA) published its team excellence awards brochure for 2025
On 24 September Speech and Language UK published Transforming SEND: An Alternative White Paper
On 17 September APPG for SEND launched Reforming the SEND
System in England
On 16 September The Law Commission published Disabled Children’s Social Care: Final Report
On 12 September the PAC published Improving family court services for children
On 12 September NAO published Managing children’s residential care
On 10 September the Alliance for Youth Justice published From exploited to exploiter?
On 10 September Ofsted, CQC, HMICFRS and HMIProbation published new JTAI guidance for inspections of the response to child sexual abuse in the family environment
On 10 September LGA published Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Strengthening Local Leadership and Supporting young parents to reach their full potential
On 8 September Ofsted published Children missing education: statutory guidance for local authorities and schools
On 1 September Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) published new guides to help social workers support those children in care with insecure immigration status.
On 29 August SESLIP published its Targeted Support scheme prospectus
On 23 July LGA published Children and young people’s mental health in their “Must Knows” series
On 22 July ECPAT UK published More than Words: how definitions impact on the UK’s response to child trafficking and exploitation
On 16 July 2025 Ofsted published Social care providers and places as at 31 March 2025
On 16 July Foundations (What works centre for children and families) published a new practice guide: Parenting Disabled Children and Young People
On 13 July Nesta published on open call for an Early Years Resident as part of the Nesta Residency Programme
On 10 July 2025 DfE published Families first for children pathfinder – Implementation and process evaluation report: early findings
On 10 July 2025 BMJ published Characteristics, outcomes, and maternity care experiences of women with children’s social care involvement who subsequently died: national cohort study and confidential enquiry
On 9 July Inclusion in Practice published Emerging Insights
On 7 July the Office of the Schools Adjudicator published its Annual Report for 2024
On 7 July DfE published Keeping Children Safe in Education for use from September 2025
On 7 July DfE published Keeping Children Safe in Education for use from September 2025
On 26 June Lucy Faithful Foundation published Everyone’s Safer:
Supporting effective leadership responses to harmful sexual behaviour in school
On 26 June DfE published Education and Health Care Plans data for Jan 2025
On 25 June Foundations published its Evaluation of Multi-agency Safeguarding Hubs