1. Tom Clarke, Senior Quantitative Analyst
Stability Index
Tom Clarke, Senior Quantitative Analyst

2. Recap: what is the Stability Index?
Multi-dimensional measure of stability experienced by CLA:
School life
Professional Support
Home Life
How often do you experience a school move?
How often do you experience a change in social worker?
How often do you experience a placement move?

3. What data are we using?
CLA Census & School Census data supplied by DfE
Provides information on placement and school moves for all LAs
Measures of single and two-year instability
Bespoke social worker data collection
Collection of CLA’s social worker histories over at least 2 years
Episode level data
Received data from 78 LAs in 2018 – 97% match rate with CLA census after cleaning
Slightly over-represented in the South East in 2018
All but one LA provided information on changes in social worker teams

4. 2018 findings

5. Findings: placement stability

6. National figures Single year placement stability
Similar levels of instability to last year:
10% (7,500) children experienced multiple placement moves in 2016/17
Repeated placement moves over 2 years
3% (1,300) experienced 2 placement moves in both 15/16 and 16/17
Experiencing multiple placement moves in 1 year makes a child 3x more likely to experience it in the next year
Longer term placement stability
10% experienced 4 or more changes over 3 years, 14% experienced 4 or more changes over 4 years

7. Regional and local variation
Number of Looked after children with 2+ placement moves in 2016/17
% with 2+ placement moves in 2016/17
East Midlands
410 8
East of England
640 10
London
1140 12
North East
390
North West
1220 9
South East
1150
South West
690
West Midlands
1060 11
Yorkshire and The Humber
830

8. Factors that affect stability: age

9. Factors that affect stability: SEND/behaviour

10. Do LA-level factors matter?

11. Findings: school stability

12. National figures
Single year school stability
10% of those matched in both the Autumn and Summer school censuses (4,300) children experienced a mid-year school move in 2016/17.
400 were out of education for a term or more
50% more likely to experience a mid-year school move in 16/17 if experienced one in 15/16
Repeated school moves over 2 years
4% (1,600) experienced 2 school moves (of any sort) in both 15/16 and 16/17

13. The role of placement moves

14. The role of school characteristics

15. Findings: social worker stability

16. National figures Single year social worker stability
1 in 4 children (18,900) experienced multiple social worker changes in 2016/17
Repeated social worker changes over 2 years
6% experienced multiple social worker changes in both 2015/16 and 2016/17

17. Local variation

18. The role of LA characteristics

19. Multiple instability
How many children have which types of instability?

20. What have we done since and plans for the next year
Bespoke report for all LAs that submitted social worker data
Planning for collection in 2019
Aiming to get a full national picture
Qualitative research piece…

21. Stability Index Qualitative Research
Title: Children and young people’s experiences of instability whilst in care
Why do we want to do this research?
We want to know more about what those changes are like for children in care by speaking directly to children and young people.
Understand what factors lead to certain changes being more or less difficult for children in care, or even being positive.
Develop a better understanding of what impact these changes have on children in care.
AND - understand how the Stability Index is being used and it’s impact
We also want to understand how local authorities are using the Stability Index – and gather insights on the challenges and opportunities of using it
So far we have been measuring the number of school, social worker and placement changes that each child in care – NOW we want to also know more about what those changes are like for children in care by speaking directly to children and young people.
Develop a more nuanced understanding of what factors lead to certain changes being more or less difficult for children in care, or even being positive, as well as understand the factors that either exacerbate or help a child cope with changes they experience whilst in care.
Develop a better understanding of what impact these changes have on children in care.