Overview

Children & Young People's Placement Service (CYPPS) source placements for Essex children in care, by their assessed needs and care plan. Between April 2022 and March 2023, 1110 requests were received for placement searches. 

A family-based placement, through fostering, is the preferred placement option. It is seen as the most likely to provide the child or young person with the care and support they need. For some young people, who are able to live independently with support, a Supported Independent Accommodation is most suitable. These promote independent living skills to prepare them for adult life.

Children Residential Homes can also meet needs of a small number of children and young people who's needs cannot be met within a family setting. These provisions may specialise in supporting children to recover from trauma and associated behaviours.

Referrals

• Requested foster placements- 49%
• Requested SA placements- 38%
• Requested residential placements- <5%
• Between April 2021 to October 2022 243 CYP were placed out of county 

CYPPS Use referrals as an establishing point for when the sourcing of a new placement commences. In the "Total Referrals" graph we can see the amount of referrals between August 21 to March 23. There are noticeable dips around November/December with a peak around March 2022. 

The "Referral Request Types" graph gives us a visual representation of the trends of each placement type request. Fostering requests remain the most common with Supported Accommodation requests staying between 30-40 referrals per month . 

Data on requests for residential placements has been suppressed, but account for <5% of total referrals each month of average.

Outcomes

• Average CYP placements in residential framework between April 2021 to October 2022 were 22%
• Average CYP placements in residential SPOT between April 2021 to October 2022 were 78%
• Average CYP placements in SA framework between April 2021 to October 2022 were 82.5%
• Average CYP placements in SIA SPOT between April 2021 to October 2022 were 17.5%

Data collected from CYPPS show that most placements with Residential providers have been Spot Purchase. Framework usage has been increasing since later in 2022. This is most likely due to the creation of a new team within the Placement Service to improve relations with framework and work with these providers to place more ECC YP’s in Essex.

ECC place the majority of SA requested placements with framework providers. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the SA framework used when sourcing placements, as well as our engagement and relationship with the market.