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Children’s Trusts due for an overhaul in autumn

Submitted by Admin on August 14, 2010 - 11:14

 

The role of Children’s Trusts will be reformed under the forthcoming Education Bill, as part of moves by the coalition government to free schools from bureaucracy.

The government has announced an overhaul of Children’s Trusts, to be put forward in the autumn. As well as removing the requirement for schools to co-operate with Children’s Trusts, the government has announced plans to revoke all statutory guidance on Children’s Trusts.

The changes will mean that:

  • schools will no longer have a duty to co-operate through Children’s Trusts
  • local authorities will no longer be required to set up Children’s Trust Boards
  • Children’s Trusts will no longer be required to publish a local Children and Young People’s Plan.

It is important to note that this does not mean the abolition of Children’s Trusts. The basic duty to co-operate, set out in the Children Act 2004, will continue. However, there will be greater flexibility in the local partnership arrangements to improve children’s well-being.

The statement released by the Department for Education stresses that they understand the value of local partnerships, including Children’s Trust partnerships, and that the reforms will help to free up those partnerships to address local issues.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “Strong local partnerships are crucial to meeting the needs of all children, but a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.”

However, the announcement has been met with confusion by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), which rejected the description of Children’s Trusts as bureaucratic. Matt Dunkley, vice president of the ADCS, said: “In many areas Children’s Trust arrangements are working well and will continue to do so after these changes. These structures and the requirements of the Children and Young People Plan have helped agencies to develop shared priorities for the local area and a shared strategy for achieving those priorities.”

He ended by urging local authorities to consider keeping the arrangements they currently have in place, if they are working effectively: “Planning together helps partners to allocate their resources more effectively through shared understanding of costs and benefits – in these difficult financial times, the danger is that all agencies will see integration as a luxury rather than a financial necessity.”

Currently Children’s Trusts have a statutory obligation to publish a Children and Young People’s Plan by April 2011, setting out how they will commission services to deliver outcomes to children and young people. When the statutory guidance is revoked in the autumn, Children’s Trusts will no longer be obliged to produce these plans. However, the government has stressed that although there is no obligation, Children’s Trusts should feel free to publish a plan if they think it will be helpful in their area.

More information

Read the statement on the reform of Children’s Trusts.

View the response from the Association of the Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS).

Have your say!

Do you think that the changes to Children’s Trusts will make life easier for local partnerships? How is your area integrating child accident prevention into strategic planning for children and young people?