Contents.
2
Executive
summary.
3
Safe, Healthy and
Living Well 5
Maximise the potential
14
Welcome to the quarter
three performance report for the period 1 October to 30
December 2025.
The main report includes
an executive summary highlighting a combination of areas doing well
and areas to be addressed. The report has been organised by our
five revised Council Plan ambitions for 2025/29: Thriving Places
and Empowered Communities, Sustainable and Connected Places, Safe,
Healthy and Living Well, Maximise the Potential and One
Council, this is to aid in the monitoring of the Council plan
over time.
The report also includes
the following appendices:
·
Appendix A:
Appendix of KPI’s taken from the Council Plan
Going Well
Referrals to Children’s Social Care
(CSC)
This quarter, 1,235 referrals into CSC
between October and December 2025, marking the third consecutive
quarterly decline. One contributing factor is the improved
screening processes implemented by the Multi-Agency Screening Team
(MAST). Across the first three quarters of 2025/26, referrals have
fallen by 12% (n=499) compared with the same period in 2024/25.
This downward trend is expected to continue into Q4.
Children and Young People Who Experience
High Placement Instability
This quarter, the proportion of looked-after children
who experienced three or more placements within the last 12 months
decreased to 13.2% at the end of December, down from 14.7% at the
end of September.
Children and Young People Discharged from
Care
During this quarter, 41 children and young people
were discharged from care. This is five more than Q2 and 16 more
than in Q3 2024/25. This year to date, 134 children and young
people have been discharged from care, an increase of 28% (n=29) in
comparison to Q3 2024/25.
To be Addressed
Overall Number of Children in Care
The overall number of
children in care increased for the tenth consecutive quarter,
reaching 601 at the end of December 2025. This represents an
increase of nine children since the end of October and marks the
first time the number has exceeded 600 in North Yorkshire. This
figure is also 7% higher (n=41) than the position at the end of
December 2024. It is important to highlight that despite this
increase, North Yorkshire continues to have a relatively low rate
of children in care compared with both the national picture and our
statistical neighbour group. At the end of December, the rate stood
at 52 per 10,000 population, compared with 74 per 10,000 nationally
and a statistical neighbour average of 71 per 10,000.
Number of Children Admitted to Care
There were 61 children
and young people admitted to care this quarter, which is one of the
key
contributors to the
overall increase in the number of children in care. For the year to
date there have
been 184 admissions to
care, which is similar to numbers over the previous two years.
Timeliness of Early Help Initial Visits
As part of North
Yorkshire’s good practice standards, we set a target for 70%
of Early Help initial visits to
be completed within five
working days. Performance in Q3 2025/26 improved to 66.7%, up from
62.4% in
Q2, although it remains
just below the target level. The continued focus
on timely engagement reflects our
commitment
to maintaining high standards of practice and
ensuring children and families are seen
promptly.
Going Well
Timeliness of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans issued
High performance for the
timeliness of new EHC plans issued by North Yorkshire Council has
continued into this quarter. 72.8% of the 280 new EHC plans issued
in Q3 2025/26 have been issued on time, up from the 7.7% recorded
in Q3 last year.
To be Addressed
Permanent Exclusions
There has been an indication that children
being excluded for a temporary period has been reducing. Schools
choosing to permanently exclude children has been continuing at a
similarly high level to previous years and continues to require
addressing.
There have been 44 permanent exclusions
(appeals pending) from mainstream North Yorkshire schools in the
Autumn term of the 2025/26 academic year, slightly higher than the
37 in 2024/25.
Safeguarding & Child
Protection
Summary
The Multi Agency Screening Team (MAST) has improved
their screening process. This is a leading cause in the reduction
of referrals into Children’s Social Care (12% fewer (n=499)
compared with the previous year to date). This reduction is despite
the number of contacts (8,559) being 6% (n=504) higher than the
previous year. This process improvement has seen team members given
more time to undertake a robust analysis, including speaking with
families, before a final decision on a contact is made.
Timeliness of assessment improved this quarter to
93.6%, the highest level recorded since Q3 last year. Performance
remains significantly above both the national average (84.4%) and
the statistical neighbour average (86.2%).
Contacts at the Front Door
This quarter has seen another period of very
high number of safeguarding concerns received by the front
door, with 8,559 recorded. Whilst the number of contacts received
this quarter is 2.5% lower (n=218) than the 8,777 contacts received
in Q2, it is 6% higher (n=504) than in Q3 last year. An increase in
the number of contacts form health services (+19%, +318 contacts)
accounts for much of the increase we have seen in contacts this
quarter compared with Q3 2024/25.
Referrals to
CSC
Despite the number of safeguarding
concerns received about children at the front
door remaining high this quarter, referrals to CSC
have remained relatively flat at 1,235. Although
almost identical to Q2 (1,257 referrals), it is a 13% reduction
(n=182) compared with Q3 last year and for the year to date we have
received 12% fewer referrals (n=499) than in 2024/25. Forecast data
suggests that Q4 will see a further fall in referrals, with around
1,100 referrals forecast. Improved screening in MAST, where social
workers are spending more time to robustly analyse contacts and
contact families is thought to be driving the reduction in
referrals to CSC.
However, despite fewer referrals to
CSC in Q3 2025/26 compared with Q3 2024/25, we continue to see a
high number of children referred where there is initial evidence of
risk of significant harm, demonstrated by the 649 strategy meetings
held this month and 460 S47 child protection investigations
undertaken this quarter. However, for the year to date,
strategy meetings have decreased by 3% (n=69) and S47 enquiries
have decreased by 5% (n=73) compared with the first 9 months of
last year.
The rate of re-referral increased
(worsened) by almost 4% to 21.5% this quarter
but remains statistically significantly lower than the
national rate of 22.4%. For the year to date the rate was 19.8% at
the end of Q3, compared to 21.1% in the same period in
2024/25.
Timeliness of
Assessment
Historically, timeliness of assessment has been a key
strength in North Yorkshire, and the local authority consistently
ranked among the top five performing local authorities nationally
in recent years. Performance has deteriorated in recent months from
97.7% in Q3 2024/25 to 90.6% in Q2 this year. However, performance
is showing signs of improvement, with 93.6% of assessments
completed in 45 working days this
quarter. It’s worth noting that timeliness of
assessment remains significantly better than the most
recent national data (84.4% completed in 45 working days) or
statistical neighbour average (86.2%).
Following an increase in the median time taken to
complete an assessment to 34 working days in
Q2, it’s positive to be able to report that this
has decreased this quarter to 29 working days. This means families
are receiving the help and support they need quicker, and this
should mean the needs of fewer families escalate
further.
Early Help
The number of ongoing households receiving support
from the Early Help Service decreased by 4.2% this quarter, falling
from 1,397 in Q2 to 1,338 in Q3 2025/26; this is also a 4.2%
reduction compared with Q3 2024/25.
These households include 2,538 children
and young people, a 4.7% decrease from 2,664 last quarter. The
number of safeguarding concerns received through the ‘front
door’ has also reduced, resulting in 1,254 new Early Help
Episodes in Q3 2025/26, down 18.8% year‑on‑year from
1,544 in Q3 2024/25. Over the same period, 2a/2b decisions
increased by 38.5% (from 423 to 586). Compared with the previous
quarter, new Early Help Episodes decreased by 6.7% (from 1,344),
while 2a/2b decisions rose from 362 to 586 (+224), reflecting
robust decision‑making within MAST.
2A / 2B are those
contacts that are assessed as not meeting the threshold for a
referral into the Early Help Service. The needs can be delivered by
an individual from an agency who has an existing relationship with
the child or, alternatively, an Early Help Champion can complete an
Early Help Assessment and, where necessary, coordinate a Team
around the Family Meeting to ensure an appropriate multi-agency
response to escalating needs.
North Yorkshire
continues to work to its local good‑practice standard of
completing initial visits within five working days, which is not a
statutory requirement. In Q3 2025/26, 66.3% of visits met this
standard, up from 63.4% in Q3 2024/25,
although remaining slightly below the 70% target. The
timeliness of Early Help Initial Assessments within the
self-imposed 20 working days decreased slightly to 96.6%, but
performance remains above the 95% target and close to
levels seen in previous years. The proportion of Assessment Reviews
completed increased to 98.7%, up from 98% in Q3 2024/25, and
continues to exceed the target of 95%.
Child Protection
Plans (CPP)
This quarter saw the
number of open CPPs decrease for the first quarter in over two
years to 654, a decrease of 7.5% (n=53). However, this is still 12%
higher (n=68) than at the end of December 2024.
The number of ceased
CPP in Q3 2025/26 (167) has fallen by 40% (n=60) in comparison with
Q3 2024/25 (212) whilst the number of new CPP issued has also
fallen by 32% (n=53) from 220 in Q3 2024/25 to 167 in Q3 2025/26.
Of note, the number of new CPPs issued in Q3 this year was also 27%
lower than in Q2 (n=62). This abruptly reverses the rising trend in
the number of new CPP seen over the last 18 months.
40 of the new CPP
issued this quarter were second or subsequent plans,
equivalent to a rate of 24.0%. It’s worth noting
that more than 2 years had elapsed since
the previous plan in 24 of the 40 new CPP this quarter.
We continue to see some quarterly volatility around this indicator,
so it’s worth noting that the rate for the current
year to date (23.1%) is almost identical to the rate across the
same period in 2024/25 (23.0%).
Looked After
Children
We’ve seen
the number of looked after children rise steadily since 2019,
reflecting the “once in a generation” challenges
families have faced. More families are now presenting with complex
and entrenched issues. This is placing pressure on all aspects of
the child protection system, especially the availability and cost
of specialist placements for children with highly
complex needs.
At the end of
December, there were 601 children in the care of the local
authority, an increase of nine since the end of October and 41
compared with December 2024. Over the past three years, the number
of children in care has risen by 33% (n=150), which broadly aligns
with the increased number of children and families being referred
via our front door for help and support during the same
period.
Performance this
quarter has also been affected by the festive period, contributing
to additional children entering care but then also
children being discharged due to delays such as, court work and
case progression often slow due to staff absences. Additionally in
terms of additional admissions the festive period can
also place added pressure on families, including financial strain,
disrupted routines and reduced access to support,
increasing the risk of conflict at home. At the end of the
quarter there were 44 Unaccompanied Asylum
Seeking Children (UASC) in the care of the Local Authority.
This is 1 less than at the end of Q2 and 5 less than at the end of
Q3 last year.
Admissions and
Discharges of Children In Care
More children
continue to be admitted to care than discharged from
care. This is driving the rise in the overall number of looked
after children. However, the gap has narrowed this quarter to 20
(from 24 in Q2). When considering year‑to‑date,
admissions remain high at 184 (two fewer than last year) due to the
number of children meeting the threshold of significant harm.
Whereas there have been 134 discharges (29 more) which points to
improvements in safe discharge practice.
Placement
Stability
Short‑term
placement stability has improved this quarter, with 13.2% of
children in care (80 children) experiencing three or more
placements within 12 months, compared with 14.7% (86 children) at
the end of Q2.
Some placement
changes are planned and appropriate as part of a child’s
permanence pathway. Despite the improvement, performance remains
above the national average (12%) and the statistical neighbour
average (10%).
Youth Justice
Service
The latest data for
the 12 months ending June 2025 shows a decrease in the rate of
First Time Entrants (FTEs) into the criminal justice system in
North Yorkshire, falling from 176 to 164, relating to 93 young
people. This places North Yorkshire in the 3rd quartile nationally.
The current rate remains lower than the regional rate
(200) but higher than the national rate (155) and the family group
average (117). Recent data is sourced directly from the YJS case
management system rather than the Police National Computer (PNC),
and therefore includes some non‑recordable
offences—18% (n=17) of the cohort relate to motoring offences
not captured on the PNC. For comparison, the Ministry of
Justice’s PNC‑based 2024 annual data showed
78 FTEs (rate 140), while Youth Justice Board data (from case
management system records) recorded 99 FTEs (rate 178) after
correcting input errors.
The latest binary
reoffending rate for the October–December 2023 cohort is
36.1%, a decrease from 40.0% in the same period the previous year.
Although improved, the rate remains higher than the Family Group
average (32.0%), the regional rate (33.9%), and the national rate
(32.3%). The frequency rate (average number of reoffences per
reoffender) increased to 4.46, but still sits below all three
comparators. This cohort consisted of 36 young people, of whom 13
reoffended, committing 58 proven reoffences.
Inclusion
Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan Timeliness
Performance in the
timeliness of new EHC plans issued by North Yorkshire
Council remains strong this quarter. 72.8% of the 280 new
EHC plans issued in Q3 2025/26 were completed within 20 weeks,
comparable to 78.3% in Q2 and substantially higher than
the 7.7% achieved at the same point last year. North Yorkshire has
moved from performing below the national average (46%) in 2024 to
performing above the national average in 2025.
This improvement has been
achieved during a period of historically high numbers of children
being found to be in need of an EHC plan, with 957 new
EHC plans issued so far this financial
year—around 40% more than last year and the highest number
issued in any year to date.
It should be noted that
our performance in respect of timeliness of EHC plans has
significantly improved from performing below the national
average of 46% in the 2024 calendar year to above the national
average in 2025.
This improvement in
performance and increase in proportion of EHC produced on
time has been achieved alongside historically high numbers of
new EHC plans being issued, with 1245 new EHC plans
produced this year. This is approximately 40% higher than the
number produced last year and more than in any previous
year.
Exclusions from
School
Permanent exclusions from
North Yorkshire schools remain at a similarly high
level to recent years. There were 44 permanent exclusions in
the Autumn term of the 2025/26 academic year, compared with 37 in
the same period of 2024/25. Of these, 33 were from secondary
schools (similar to last year) and 11 were from primary
schools (appeals pending), an increase from seven last year.
National data for 2023/24 indicates that North
Yorkshire’s secondary permanent exclusion rate (0.25%) was in
line with the national average, while the primary rate (0.06%) was
above national levels.
It is important to note
that schools choosing to exclude is a
trend observed nationally and the most recent available
national data National comparisons in 2023/24 showed that North
Yorkshire rates for secondary schools (0.25%) of the school
population excluded were similar to national but primary
schools (0.06%) were above.
Persistent disruptive
behaviour continues to be the most common reason for suspension,
accounting for 57% of all suspensions. The next most frequent
reason, verbal abuse or threatening behaviour towards an adult,
accounts for 16%. These patterns are consistent with both regional
and national trends.
Support to schools to
reduce exclusions (both permanent and temporary) continues through
the SEND Locality Hub teams, who provide direct specialist input,
training, and advice for children at risk of exclusion. In
addition, the newly launched Inclusive Mainstream
Toolkit provides practical guidance for educational
professionals to plan support effectively for children
with additional needs.
Elective Home
Education
There were 1,410 children
recorded as Electively Home Educated in North Yorkshire at the end
of December, a 7% increase (+96) compared with the previous
quarter. While this represents a seasonal high, there are
indications that overall EHE numbers are beginning to plateau.
During the 2024/25
academic year, the number of children in EHE rose from 1,089 at the
start of the autumn term to a record 1,559 by the end of the summer
term. Although it remains unlikely that the
total will fall by the end of the current academic
year—given ongoing patterns in parental choice—there
has been a clear slowing in the rate of increase over the past
year.
Parents are offered a
pre‑decision meeting to ensure they understand their legal
responsibilities when choosing to home educate. Schools also have
access to training and guidance to support children who are not
engaging in school-based education.
National
statistics indicate that an increasing number of parents
are choosing to home educate due to mental health concerns, a trend
mirrored locally. The recently published national 10‑Year
Health Plan (Fit for the Future) includes plans to expand mental
health support teams in schools and colleges, alongside the
introduction of Young Futures Hubs to identify needs
early and provide targeted support for children and young
people.