Children's trusts
Children's trusts bring together all services for children and young people in an area, underpinned by the Children Act 2004 duty to cooperate, to focus on improving outcomes for all children and young people. Guidance on the duty to cooperate was published in 2005.
Children's trusts - consultation
Updated draft guidance on the 'duty to cooperate' was published for consultation on 3 April 2008. The new guidance raises the bar for children's trust partners to champion and take responsibility for achieving measurable improvements in the lives of children across all five ECM outcomes. It aims to help partners engage more effectively within the children's trust and to promote a step change in early intervention, narrowing the gap, and the involvement of schools. In future all schools should be strongly supported by their children's trust and schools need to have a real involvement in the strategic work of the children's trust.
Consultation on the guidance, 'Children's Trusts: statutory guidance on inter-agency cooperation to improve the wellbeing of children, young people and their families', was completed on 26 June 2008.
On the 3 July 2008 the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families wrote to local authorities and stakeholders on the next steps being taken to implement the Children's Plan. The Secretary of State's letter and accompanying discussion documents, which the Department would appreciate advice and comment on, include:
- Discussion document on the legislative options to strengthen children's trusts;
- Proposals for revisions to legislation for schools causing concern - particularly new provisions about local authority warning notices to help prevent severe failure;
- Draft guidance for schools on their role in promoting pupil well-being - setting out what the well-being duty means for schools, and the support they can expect from their children's trust partners.
Background
Children's trusts are local-area partnership arrangements for bringing together key agencies, some of which are under the Children Act 2004 'duty to co-operate', to deliver better-integrated and more outcome-focused services for children, young people and their families. The Children's Plan: Building Brighter Futures, issued in December 2007, recognises the importance of strengthening children's trust arrangements, including through further legislation if necessary.
The essential features of a children's trust are:
- Outcome-led vision - a focus on improved outcomes, informed by the views of children and their families;
- Integrated front-line delivery - professionals working together around the needs of children, not constrained by organisational boundaries;
- Integrated processes - better assessments, information sharing and improved referrals mean children get the services they need quickly;
- Integrated strategy - joint commissioning of services and pooling of budgets and resources to drive multi-agency working; and
- Inter-agency governance - setting a clear framework for strategic planning, resource allocation, and accountabilities.
Frequently asked questions on children's trusts.
Final report from the national evaluation of children's trusts.
This page was last updated on 22 July 2008
