Consultation on the Future Direction of the Children and Young People’s Service (CYPS)

 

Leicestershire's Children and Young People’s Service is changing. We want to capture your views on the changes we are proposing so that we can take them into account when making decisions.

In Leicestershire we continue to believe that children and young people should have access to the best learning opportunities, are safe, can achieve to their highest ability and enjoy high morale and self-esteem, and that those who are vulnerable or who require special help receive the support required.

New legislation such as the Academies Act 2010 and the Education Act 2011, together with the reduction in funding across the country means that education services delivered by councils are changing.

Schools are moving out of council control and some are becoming Academies. The Government is transferring funding from the council’s budget to support the new academies, which means we have to deal with the implications of losing significant funding.

The Government expects the local authority role to be primarily focused on vulnerable children, young people and their families. The council is asked to focus on providing help to families at an early stage, and ‘commission’ rather than directly deliver services.

This approach will impact on services that are currently provided directly by the Children and Young People’s Service. The changes in legislation will also mean that some services traditionally delivered by the local authority will become the responsibility of schools and not the Children and Young People’s Service.

The future role can be broadly defined as follows:

a) To secure a modernised safeguarding and child protection service (including where necessary to provide services to children in care).

b) To secure early help and support (focusing services on the needs of vulnerable children, young people and their families, including children with special educational needs and disabled children).

c) To be champions for children, young people, parents, carers and families, ensuring appropriate support for vulnerable pupils when they need it, and educational excellence in schools.

d) To deliver the remaining Children and Young People Service statutory functions.

A consultation is taking place from Wednesday 18^th January 2012 through to Tuesday 14^th February 2012 to consider the future direction of the Children and Young People’s Service.

This consultation is now closed.

Following the wide-ranging consultation with stakeholders, a report detailing the findings will be presented to the County Council Cabinet in March 2012, to enable a decision on the way forward to be agreed.

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