Improvements to children's safeguarding at Haringey Council

Despite being under pressure the council is increasingly meeting its EHCP deadlines with 81% finalised within 20 weeks, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey Council’s children’s services department in Wood Green

Haringey Council’s annual safeguarding children report shows improvements despite sharp demand and funding constraints.

The Haringey Safeguarding Children Partnership (HSCP) presented information on how children’s services were responding to forecasted budget pressures amid a backdrop of record increases in demand.

The council is under financial pressure with a substantial budget gap of £32million for 2025/26 and every directorate’s budget is being scrutinised in a bid to look for savings.

The latest report from HSCP highlighted over £15m of forecast pressure from adult social care, of which 50% was due to the “increase in numbers with a long-term care package”.

An “increasingly challenged” provider market was partly responsible for cost pressures, it said, but difficulty in transitioning young people from children’s services to adult social care combined with the rise in education, health and care plans (EHCPs) had led to “more complex care packages” and eligibility levels for funded health care had not “offset the overall increase”.

Looking at data collected between April 2023 and March 2024, requests for EHCPs were up 17% compared to 2022. In 2023 there were 536 requests, compared to 2022 which had 458.

Despite the pressure, Haringey is increasingly meeting its education plan deadlines with 81% of EHCPs finalised in 20 weeks, up from just 43% in 2022.

Councils have a legal time limit of 20 weeks, in most cases, to issue an EHCP after a parent or school requests one.

Speaking at a scrutiny panel last night (Tuesday 19th), Ann Graham, the council’s director for children’s services, said: “You’ll see there’s a pressure for EHCPs and we’ve put in a growth bid to support that because we know if we don’t do that, they’ll be an impact on our ability to deliver the service.”

Continuing on areas of concern, David Archibald, the independent chair of the HSCP said: “We’re clear, since the last two or three years, we could do better at transitional safeguarding.

“This deals with young people who may be subject to exploitation or are at risk in some way. They’re moving towards the age of 18, and there is some national evidence that sometimes young people in these situations don’t transition effectively to adult’s services for a number of reasons.”

David said the council had put “new arrangements in place” to deliver this service “better” but it still had “some way to go”.

Child protection plans decreased by 23% as of 31st March, with 207 children starting one and 251 ceasing a child protection plan in 2023/24.

The support provided through the council’s early help services were “one of the things” that contributed to the reduction, according to Ann.

In the data, 73% of families engaging with the council’s early help services were closed with “outcomes achieved or signposted to other agencies”. This was a slightly higher increase on last year, which had 70%.

The panel also addressed the implications of the central government’s autumn budget which announced £1billion of funding will go towards special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision. Further investment in school buildings and maintenance, as well as breakfast clubs were also a part of the budget.

Jackie Difolco, the assistant director for children’s services, highlighted the council didn’t have details on how much would be allocated to Haringey but expected to know by the end of December.

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