Sharon White is an award-winning strategist with over 20 years’ experience working in schools and focusing on CYP with SEND and those who were in alternative provision. A former Head of Inclusion at Barking & Dagenham, her team supported schools to promote inclusive practices The LA had the lowest exclusion rates in London; the team’s work being nominated for an LGC Award in 2022 and showcased in the RSA/London Mayor’s Inclusive Schools’ toolkit as best practice across the country. Her work in local government was recognised by the International Forum for Inclusion Practitioners (IFIP) and received the IFIP’s Global Inclusion award as well as inducted as a Distinguished Fellow in 2023. Before founding Educating Horizons, Sharon was Head of Communities & Young People in the London Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit leading a team responsible for £22m of investment programmes for young people, local authorities and third sector partners. In October 2024, Sharon won the Foundervine’s Future Award in the Catalyst for Change category.
During my time in local government, I have had the privilege to work with local authority officers who fervently strive for the best for their residents.
These residents include our most vulnerable children, young people and their families.
Public sector funding has been decimated over many years and this has led to an unprecedented scale of challenge to meet the increasing needs of residents as well as providing statutory services.
There are many reasons cited for this however the challenge has been exacerbated by a number of factors including: a global pandemic, cost of living crisis and workforce depletion due to Brexit.
If we drill this down further, we have seen the pressure in Adults and Children’s Services across the country. These pressures have accounted for the majority of some Council’s budgets
Taken from Gov.uk ‘Local Authority revenue expenditure and financing: 2024-25 budget, England’:
- Children’s Social Care net expenditure is budgeted to increase in real terms by +£1.4 billion (+10.7%) from 2023-24 to £14.1 billion in 2024-25. This increase was predominantly the result of real terms increases to two categories of children’s services: +£925 million on looked after children and +£264 million on children and young people’s safeguarding.
- Adult Social Care net expenditure is budgeted to be £24.5 billion, +£2.1 billion (+9.1%) higher in real terms than 2023-24. There is a corresponding real terms increase of £1.8 billion in social care grant funding compared to 2023-24.
So, what does this have to do with technology and digital?
We all know that early intervention and prevention is critical in meeting the needs of our most vulnerable residents. The earliest opportunity to address need is beneficial not only to the individual but the public purse.
My working experience in education and then local government and London’s City Hall has gifted me the opportunity to act and intervene at the earliest moment. However, I have also seen the effect of not intervening early enough for children who were for example, permanently excluded from school at the age of 16 and known to services from the age of 5 years or even pre-birth. Where was the join up of data from health, nursery, school, early help, social care and police? Was the intervention put in place the right one if at all?
We have a new government now keen to consult and affect change and break down systemic barriers.
This not only extends to education with the DfE’s recent call to evidence on Curriculum & Assessment review, HMI’s Ofsted developments on Inclusion and report cards, DCMS’ announcement that there will be a youth consultation on a National Youth Strategy All these conversations should be integrated to drive down economic and social costs to families.
Taken from UK Youth:
“We know that youth work can transform, and even save, lives. Now, we can also place an economic value on it too.
New, ground-breaking research by UK Youth and Frontier Economics has found that for every £1 government invests in youth work, the benefit to the taxpayer is between £3.20 and £6.40.
Youth work is already saving the government £3.2bn a year through improved education and employment outcomes and positive impacts on mental health. It is also contributing £5.7bn annually to the wider economy through jobs, volunteering, and local suppliers. With further investment, the benefits would be even higher.”
What I am suggesting is a cessation of silo working. We need to maximise resources and in doing this successfully is using digital insight tools and working in a strategic partnership across a local area. This involves a melding of statutory and non-statutory services working together.
All these developments need to be brought into one strand. Data needs to be pulled together to ensure continuity of care, joining up of services and impact
Prior to the Labour government’s return to power, The Guardian reported back in January 2024 that Bridget Phillipson’s (the then shadow education secretary) intentions to create a unique pupil number to link services working with vulnerable children and families.
“Children in England should be given a unique number to link their records held by schools, health visitors and councils, allowing governments to harness artificial intelligence and data mining to improve standards.”
This should also extend to youth services. What about post-16 who are not of statutory age and where vulnerabilities are greater?
I adhere to the ‘Tell it once approach’. Our most marginalised, disadvantaged children and families repeat their stories time and time again. Some don’t even have a voice in the first instance. What about a world where the story has been told and services respond efficiently through the use of data insights and intelligence. A world where we join the dots and link in existing services together. A world where through data we can signpost service users to positive destinations to empower them.
Our collective duty as providers is to meet need. Through my organisation, Educating Horizons, we believe in ‘changing systems to change lives’. This means breaking down barriers to enable equity and access.
We are embarking on a suite of digital tools to bring systems together so services can provide the right support, at the right place at the right time
Conclusion
Educating Horizons welcomes the potential introduction of a single unique identifier. In conjunction with our partners, Pupil Pathways who have delivered impactful work on Y6 -Y7 vulnerable pupil transition tracking we are happy to explore with you our new Vulnerable Child/Young Person Tracking tool. We hope to add an AI element to support the young person direct in their positive destinations.
Sources
Response to Ofsted’s The Big Listen
Local authority revenue expenditure and financing: 2024-25