NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

20 MAY 2026

STATEMENT OF EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR EXECUTIVE MEMBER CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Children and Families Service

Early Quarter 4 indicators show that referrals to Children’s Social Care have remained stable, despite high levels of front door contacts. This reflects improved screening within the MAST, with practitioners undertaking stronger analysis and engaging directly with families before decisions are made. Encouragingly, the number of children supported through Child Protection Plans has fallen for a second consecutive quarter following sustained increases over the past two years. Placement stability continues to improve, with fewer children experiencing multiple moves, although the number of children entering care remains under pressure. In response, North Yorkshire has introduced a new Home Again Panel to strengthen oversight of reunification planning and support children returning home safely where this is in their best interests.

Care experienced children and young people continue to shape our work through regular voice group meetings. Current priorities include supporting young people to chair their own review meetings where they wish and strengthening how their views are reflected in plans. The Care Leaver Forum is also progressing implementation of national best practice in supporting care experienced parents, developed with direct input from one of our own care leavers. Both groups are planning a summer celebration on 4 July, to which members of the Corporate Parenting Board are warmly invited.

Foster carers and kinship carers play a vital role in providing stability and security for children who cannot live with their birth families. Kinship care continues to grow across the county, helping children remain within their family networks. The Mockingbird programme is expanding further, including the development of a new ‘stepdown’ hub linked to residential care, strengthening transitions into family-based settings. To coincide with Fostering Fortnight (12–25 May), the council will be celebrating carers through a series of local events, recognising long service and thanking them for the life changing difference they make for children every day.

The Virtual School has worked collaboratively with One Adoption to develop regional guidance on Education Planning for Adoption, Special Guardianship and Kinship families. This work responds directly to feedback from families and partner services and builds on earlier engagement with kinship and adopted families. The development of a regionally aligned approach will improve consistency, particularly for families who move between local authority areas.

A three-year Best Start in Life Plan, published on 31 March 2026, sets out our shared ambition for every baby, child and family in North Yorkshire to have the best possible start in life. Working alongside families and partners, the plan focuses on children growing up safe, healthy and happy, ready to learn, with strong relationships, a sense of belonging, and clear access to help and support when needed. Our vision is for early help and high-quality early education and childcare to be accessible to every family, regardless of where they live, building on our established Grow and Learn model. The Virtual School also continues to play a key role across the Families First and Best Start agendas, ensuring the voice of education is embedded within multi‑agency safeguarding arrangements. Education representation is now firmly established within learning audits and working group pillars, and the Education Sub‑Group of the Safeguarding Partnership is fully operational.

As part of delivering this vision, North Yorkshire’s first Best Start Family Hub will be located at Scarborough Library, providing families with access to information, advice and support from the earliest opportunity. A formal launch will take place later in the year following completion of refurbishment works.

Local Area SEND Partnership and National Reforms

Following the publication of Every Child Achieving and Thriving, the Schools White Paper, the Council and local area partners are progressing a Local Area Reform Plan to align local strategy and services with the national reform programme. A first draft was completed by 18 May and will guide the strategic repositioning of existing services, with a stronger focus on integrated support for schools so they are better enabled to meet the needs of children and young people. The plan must be Co-signed with partners and submitted to the Department for Education by 19 June 2026; in response, the Council is convening a programme of engagement across education, health and care to ensure the requirement is met.

Alongside this, engagement is underway with headteachers and special educational needs coordinators to shape how services can be refined and strengthened ahead of the new academic year in September, including how we further develop joined-up support around schools. In parallel, recruitment has commenced to increase speech and language therapy capacity. This will enhance the Council’s Best Start in Life offer so more children begin school with the communication and language skills they need to thrive.

The service also continues to work closely with regional partners through peer support and constructive challenge to strengthen SEND partnership arrangements, with a dedicated development day planned for June 2026 to bring partners together and support joint preparation for delivery of the forthcoming reforms.

Request for statutory assessment remains high; however, I am pleased to report continued improvement in performance. In Quarter 4 of 2025/26, 81.3% of new Education, Health and Care Plans were issued within the 20week statutory timeframe, up from 72.8% in the previous quarter and significantly above the last published national average of 46%.

Medium Term Financial Strategy

In March, I reported on initial information published by the Department for Education regarding the High Needs Stability Grant, intended to support local authorities with historic high needs deficits. Subsequent clarification has indicated that councils will be required to utilise surplus balances from other elements of the Dedicated Schools Grant to manage high needs deficits, with only limited additional external support available.

This outcome is disappointing for North Yorkshire, particularly given the close and responsible work undertaken with Schools Forum to manage pressures and avoid the significant levels of overspending seen in other areas. The position is further compounded by the absence of clarity on how the Department for Education will support councils in the two‑year period prior to the ending of the statutory override.

During this period, we anticipate continued growth in the number of children and young people requiring support, and therefore increasing financial pressure, before the full impact of national reforms is realised. The Council will continue its work on the Local SEND Reform Plan to ensure that our local SEND system remains focused on delivering positive outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Although this matter is referenced within my Statement to Council, it should be noted that responsibility for the relevant resources sits jointly with both Executive Members for the Children and Young People’s Service.

COUNCILLOR JANET SANDERSON