1. In your authority’s children’s services department, what was the highest caseload of a frontline child protection social worker as of 1 April 2022?
Please explain how the figures are calculated on occasions where there are multiple children in a family being supported. (Ie. Is there one case per child, or one case per family?)
48 – One case per child
Please understand ‘frontline social workers’ to be those that are registered with Social Work England.
2. In your authority’s children’s services department, what was the average caseload of a frontline child protection social worker as of 1 April 2022?
Please explain how the figures are calculated on occasions where there are multiple children in a family being supported. (Ie. Is there one case per child, or one case per family?)
19.5 – One case per child
3. In each of the following financial years, how many referrals did your authority’s children’s services department receive – where a referral is defined as a request for services to be provided by children’s social care?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
4. What was the number of section 47 enquiries made by your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
5a) How many children in total were on child protection plans within your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
5b) How many children were newly added to child protection plans within your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
5C) How many children exited child protection plans within your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
6a) How many children in total were categorised as ‘in need’ within your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
6b) How many children were newly assessed as ‘in need’ within your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
6c) How many children were removed from the ‘in need’ category within your authority’s children’s services in the following financial years?
i) 2017/18
ii) 2018/19
iii) 2019/20
iv) 2020/21
v) 2021/22
With respect to questions 3 to 6, this information is available online from the Department for Education. We therefore recommend that you contact them for this information.
7. In the following years, how much was spent by your authority’s children’s services on early help and prevention services?
i) 2011/12: £3,870,733
ii) 2017/18: £4,905,313
iii) 2018/19: £5,858,190
iv) 2019/20; £4,389,293
v) 2020/21: £6,194,590
vi) 2021/22: £4,865,579
Please note that the chart of accounts in 2011/12 were different to 2017/18 to 2021/22 and so may not be directly comparable.
8. On 1 April in the following financial years, how many children designated as ‘in need’ or as a child protection case were either not yet allocated a social worker or had been given a holding allocation?
i) 2018
ii) 2019
iii) 2020
iv) 2021
v) 2022
Nil