This report by the National Audit Office examines the Department for Education’s approach to funding innovative practices in children’s social care, through the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme and related interventions. It sets out how evaluation informed policy development and funding.
From 2014 to 2020, the Department funded the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme and has continued to finance successor programmes after 2020.
The Innovation Programme funded 94 projects, including an integrated mental health, education and families service to support children in or on the edge of care; targeted support for young people to secure more stable placements and a positive transition to adulthood; and relationship-based support for women who have experienced removal of their children into care.
Most evaluations of individual local projects noted positive results and some reported cost savings. For example, 42 of the 56 projects completed between 2014 and 2016 reported improvements in the quality of services, and 21 reported cost savings.
Since the Innovation Programme came to an end in 2020, the Department has continued to fund children’s social care innovation projects and has commissioned evaluations that measure impact over a longer period.