By Gavin Mackintosh-
A study by Kingston University academics and Ofsted analysts has found that children from the poorest neighbourhoods in England were almost fourteen times more likely to be referred to social care services than those from the richest areas.
Funded by The Nuffield Foundation- an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social informs social policy, primarily in Education- researchers used previous data as well as extensive quantitative data to assess the experiences of children from poor backgrounds.
The report comes after a recent government-commissioned children’s social care review criticized the system for being too focused on investigating families and insufficiently supporting them. The review, led by Josh MacAlister, which has been tasked with coming up with recommendations to reform the system, also said children’s social care needed to take greater account of deprivation as a causal factor in child abuse and neglect, and do more to tackle poverty.
The study from Kingston University in conjunction with analysts from Ofsted, analyzed data from the children in need census, completed annually by local authorities for the DfE, linked to data from other government datasets to identify deprivation Study and activity levels in small areas. It follows up on a two-year project to identify the links between system conditions and welfare inequalities in children’s social care and the Child Welfare Inequalities Project, a four-year study to identify the interaction between poverty and inequality and children’s social care practice.
It utilized previous research indicating that a social gradient – the tendency for higher levels of deprivation to be associated with higher rates of intervention depended on children’s demographic characteristics, their assessed needs, and the characteristics of neighbourhoods and LAs. The research contributed new evidence on the varying
steepness of social gradients for different groups of children.
Researchers found that children from the poorest neighbourhoods in England were almost fourteen times more likely to be referred to social care services than those from the richest areas. findings from a quantitative study of the national children’s social care datasets (CSC) from 2015-19 showed that rates of statutory CSC interventions were different for different groups of children.
Children’s chances of being referred to children’s social care datasets and receiving an assessment or intervention, varied systematically according to how deprived their neighbourhood was. It also found that both the social gradient and the inverse intervention effect tended to increase as children progressed through the system from the point of referral and were particularly prominent at the stage of a child protection conference or child protection plan.
The social gradient was also found to be steeper for younger children (compared to older children) and for White British children (compared to all other ethnic groups), and particularly high for children assessed with
Neglect.
Individual case-level data from six English local authorities (LAs) was used to calculate the social gradient of services for different groups of children. depending on children’s demographic characteristics, their assessed needs, and the characteristics of neighbourhoods and LAs.
The research contributed new evidence on the varying steepness of social gradients for different groups of children. Previous research has noted the surprising dearth of UK research into social inequality in the provision of child welfare services.
It found that the ‘social gradient’ increased at each subsequent level of intervention by children’s social care. Researchers found that a 10% increase in an area’s deprivation was associated with a 62% increase in a child’s chances of being referred to children’s services, a 64% increase in the rate of child in need plans, a 69% rise in child protection investigation rates and an 80% increase in the rates of child protection plans.
In light of the change from consent-based work with families towards increased surveillance at the child protection threshold, “the point at which the state decides that family life needs policing is also the point at which it decides more than ever to concentrate its attention on poorer families”.
Most of this research has taken a demand-side approach, treating poverty as a driver of demand for services and potential risk factor for maltreatment, without necessarily considering the role of supply-side factors. Moreover, there has been comparatively little investigation of the intersection between deprivation and other child
characteristics, such as age and ethnicity, or in connection with disability.
The implication, according to the researchers was that the shift in the balance of children’s social care provision from early to late intervention over the past decade was “exacerbating inequalities and encouraging a disproportionate focus on poorer families”.
Between a 10 year period from 2009-10 to 2019-20, while referrals rose by 7% and the number of children in need by 4%, child protection enquiries rose by 129%, child protection plans by 32% and the number of children in care by 24%. By 2019-20, the share of children’s social care spending on non-statutory provision had fallen to 35% from 23% in 2012-13.
The report said the inequalities it identified had been driven by the rising identification of neglect, which accounted for 50.5% of child protection plans in 2020, up from 40% in 2013, a rise which researchers said coincided with increasing poverty and inequality. The report found that the social gradient was steeper for neglect than for any other category of child protection plan, with rates rising by 98% for every 10% increase in area deprivation.
Neglect impact
“The identification and substantiation of neglect is therefore closely bound up with the systematic focus on children from poor backgrounds within the child protection system,” said the report. “This phenomenon is evident across all LAs but becomes particularly visible in affluent, rural areas.”
The most substantial body of evidence on welfare inequalities in the Uk was provided by the Child Welfare Inequalities Project (CWIP), which ran from 2015-19. It found a steeper social gradien for younger children than for older children, while the intersection of deprivation with other factors, particularly ethnicity, was found to play a key role in unequal rates of intervention.
There was a steep social gradient for both child protection plans and accommodation in care, which varied in degree both within and between the constituent countries of the UK.
Services in more affluent local authorities were more disproportionately focused on poorer neighbourhoods than services in more deprived councils. This was reflected in an ‘inverse intervention law’ by which when similarly deprived neighbourhoods were compared across councils, rates of intervention and rereferrals were higher in more affluent local authorities.
The report also revealed that repeat referrals and the length of time children spent in the system affected children from more deprived neighbourhoods more than their more affluent counterparts. Children from underprivileged backgrounds tended to have longer periods of involvement with statutory services and higher rates of re-referrals and repeat child protection plans. However, rates of all of these were higher in more affluent authorities, when similarly deprived neighbourhoods were compared.
Independent Review
An independent review of children’s social care, a manifesto commitment, is examining how to keep children safe from harm at home and outside the home, how to support families to stay safely together and how to tackle the inconsistencies in practice that exist across the country.
The independent review plans to reshape how children interact with the care system, looking at the process from referral through to becoming looked after. It aims to address major challenges such as the increase in numbers of looked after children, the inconsistencies in children’s social care practice, outcomes across the country, and the failure of the system to provide enough stable homes for children.
Representatives of the government told this publication that measures have been put in place to establish Social Work England to better regulate the profession and strengthen the training available for new social workers and investing in fast-track recruitment programmes to reach the highest-quality candidates.
Many of its measures are expected to address major challenges such as the increase in numbers of looked after children, the inconsistencies in children’s social care practice, outcomes across the country, and the failure of the system to provide enough stable homes for children.
Recommendations from the Care Review also aim to shape the government’s future spending plans.
The government also recently announced a £51 million funding boost to help thousands of vulnerable young people in the care system, and proposals to improve the quality of their accommodation.
Rick Hood, one of the report’s authors, said the finding of its report showed that the system was not working.
“You could argue that because [more affluent authorities] have more money, and because there are fewer children living in poverty in those areas, they can concentrate on them and identify them,” said Hood, professor of social work at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London.
“But the rates of rereferrals and repeat child protection plans is actually higher in those areas. So, it’s not working.”
He said it was wrong to accept the report’s main finding of higher rates of intervention in poorer neighbourhoods as “a fact of life”.
“We take it absolutely for granted that children should be having more problems or experiencing more treatment if they live in poorer areas. Of course, we should not accept that. That in itself is social injustice staring us in the face,” he said.
The report proposed a shift from targeted interventions with high-risk cases towards a “public health approach” aimed at ameliorating poverty, social exclusion, precarious housing, inadequate support networks and lack of community assets, all of which drove demand for child welfare services, it said..
It also recommended restricting child protection interventions to cases where damage to children was “evident and serious”.
A government spokesperson told The Eye Of Media.Com: The independent review of children’s social care is wide-ranging and seeks to improve the lives of children and families who are supported by social care services. Key to this process will be identifying where the social care system can do more to transform outcomes for children and the work Josh MacAlister has undertaken so far in his role as Chair will help feed into this important review.
“The Government is already taking steps to raise standards for children in our care, including by extending the role of the Virtual School Head to support improvements in the attainment and attendance of every child with a social worker.”