Commissioning and operational teams within children and young people sector have identified existing and operational pressures that affect placement types. These can include but are not limited to:

• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Complex Needs (including mental health)
• Tier 4 Step Down

The common themes listed highlight some areas of these pressures:

• A national shortage of Care Workers and a high turnover of care staff reduces consistency within placements.
• Communication between responsible individuals makes agreeing clear milestones difficult
• Several responsible individuals are required to sign off on placements before they can be secured
• Transforming Care is currently under development in terms of market for Individual Resettlement settings 
• Sourcing providers who have training to support individual CYP’s is only achieved on a case by case basis
• Creating a bespoke package for first time service users is a complex and laborious process
• Residential providers struggle to provide holistic care for complex needs for those aged between 14-15
• Capacity for agencies and services to effectively support out of county placements is often delayed

For more information on all placement types, see the “Homes where children live” section.

A common theme across sourcing is identifying a provision with consistent staffing training and experience in supporting a children or young person with the above needs.

These provisions and providers do exist, but restraints around locality of placement limits the support children and young people can receive in Essex, opposed to an out of county placement.

There has been a growth of information around the needs listed above and some of the market are still developing with training evolving to best support these children and young people.