Small youth charities to bear the brunt of funding cuts

Increasing numbers of small youth charities will face funding problems similar to the Stephen Lawrence Centre unless they learn to adapt to the economic environment, it has been warned.

And it is feared more small charities will face a struggle to survive amid a squeeze on grant funding and donations from the public.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) said the charity sector overall will be £911m down in annual funding by 2015/16.

Daniel Fluskey, NCVO policy officer, said charities are exploring different funding options but larger, more established organisations have a distinct advantage.

Options available to charities include re-focusing services to deliver less as well as attempting to secure other forms of funding such as loans or social investment.

“There is some potential for benefit [by pursuing alternative funding] but these things are small steps that might help a bit, but they are not going to be able to rejuvenate the sector to compensate for the amount of money being lost.

“There is not a magic solution that means in two years we are going to be back where we were. The sector is going to change quite a lot.”

One charity that closed late last year, Gay and Lesbian Youth in Calderdale (GALYIC), had been running a youth group and support services for 12 years.

Jan Bridget, the former service manager said she feared that if smaller charities close down work with oppressed minority groups could disappear. “There’s a belief that because we have got all this equality legislation now, services like ours may not be necessary.

“I’m delighted with the Equality Act, and the suicide prevention strategy and substance misuse strategy have started taking us on board.

“That is all excellent but other policies, such as giving control to local government, are only fine if local government is aware of the issues.”

She added that many small charities will face the prospect of either having to become a social enterprise or create a partnership with a larger charity.

Teachers blast crackdown on struggling staff

The government’s latest guidelines for dealing with underperforming teachers have been met with fierce opposition from teaching unions.

Under the new arrangements, which come into force in September, head teachers will have the power to dismiss poorly performing teachers in a term, significantly reducing the current year-long process.

Schools will also have more freedom over managing their teachers through simpler regulations, such as the removal of the three-hour limit on observing teachers in the classroom.

Announcing the changes today (13 January), Education Secretary Michael Gove said the reforms would make it easier for schools “to identify and address the training and professional development teachers need to fulfill their potential, and to help their pupils to do the same”.

“What we do need if we are to raise performance, rather than grab headlines, is to improve continuing professional development and methods of supporting teachers,” she added.

Voice also slammed the guidelines, with the union’s general secretary Philip Parkin claiming that the new arrangements would encourage some head teachers “to bully people out of their jobs”.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Head Teachers welcomed the shake-up to teacher appraisal.

General secretary Russell Hobby said: “Clearer systems of performance management are one way to build up the professional reputation of teachers. For those who are clearly unsuited to teaching, it is in everyone’s interests that, after a fair process, they should be helped to pursue their career elsewhere.”

Source: CYP Now

Lincolnshire academies accused of discrimination

Lincolnshire County Council is to investigate claims that some local academies are “subtly dissuading” parents of children with special education needs (SEN) from applying for a place at their school

Steve Williams, chairman of the council’s children and young people scrutiny committee, said the authority had received anecdotal evidence of such practices.

Allegations made to the council include a claim that parents attending academy open evenings have been told they might be better off applying to a different school, after disclosing that their child had SEN.

As a result, the committee has decided to carry out a review of admissions policies and exclusions across all local schools, with a particular focus on how children with SEN are supported, to establish the extent of any problem.

“We have no firm evidence of discrimination against schools but due to anecdotal evidence we need to see what the situation is across schools in the county,” Williams said.

“The review will enable us to get a clear picture of admissions and exclusions in the county and identify any problem areas that need addressing.”

He added that a review is timely, given the increasing number of academies in the local area and the new school admissions code, which comes into force in February.

Parents are being asked to come forward and give evidence to the review, which is expected to run from March until October.

Last year Lincolnshire County Council took the unprecedented step of urging all schools in its area to convert to academy status under a single trust in a bid to protect its smallest primaries from closure.

There are currently 40 academies in the area, the majority of which are secondary schools, as well as 28 secondary, 264 primary and 21 special schools still maintained by the local authority.

Source: CYP Now

Debt-ridden social workers turning to payday loans

Growing numbers of social workers are falling into financial difficulty, with some resorting to high-interest payday loans, according to a support charity.

The Social Workers Benevolent Trust, established and supported by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), saw a 61% increase in social workers approaching it for help last year. A further significant rise is expected this year.

The trust believes the economic downturn, a reduction in staffing levels and a growing number of agency staff struggling to find enough work have all contributed to increasing levels of financial hardship.

The trust received 97 applications for assistance and made 63 grants in 2010-11, compared to 63 applications and 43 grants the previous financial year. The trust has already received 100 applications in 2011-12.

The trust’s chair Simon Cole said the use of payday loans was a relatively new phenomenon. “Some of these companies have an APR of 4,214%. These loans, often relatively small, when not repaid on the due date, can grow very quickly and often cause people’s overall situation to worsen. It is a cause for concern that social workers feel pressured to turn to the same loan providers they might caution their clients against using,” he added.

In response to the trend, BASW has launched a debt advice service which members can contact on 0800 652 1640.

Source: Community Care

Study highlights widespread discontent among children

Half a million children across the UK are unhappy with their lives, the latest report from The Children’s Society has estimated.

The charity, which carried out the research with 30,000 children aged eight to 16, is calling for a “radical new approach” to increase happiness levels among children.

The Good Childhood Report 2012 reveals that children who have low levels of happiness are less likely to enjoy spending time with their family and friends and are more prone to worry about the way they look, potentially leading to eating disorders and depression.

The report found stability is an important factor for children, with almost a quarter (23 per cent) of children who have moved home more than once over the past 12 months having low levels of wellbeing.

Elaine Hindal, The Children’s Society’s campaign for childhood director, said: “We are calling for a radical new approach to childhood, placing wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. We want our country to be the best place for our children to grow up. Yet unless we act now we risk becoming one of the worst and creating a lost future generation.”

The problem of inequality was also identified in the report with around a quarter of children saying they often worry about the way they look and “fit in” with their peers.

The report found bullying to be a major issue affecting wellbeing with 36 per cent of children bullied more than three times in the past three months significantly more likely to experience low levels of wellbeing compared to six per cent of children who had never been bullied.

The Children’s Society has now identified six key ingredients for a happy childhood:

• having the right conditions to learn and develop
• having a positive view of themselves
• experiencing what matters to them
• having a positive relationship with their family and friends
• living in a safe and suitable environment
• having the opportunities to participate in positive activities to help them thrive

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu said the report should act as “a wake-up call to us all”.

“The moral test for any society is how it treats its most vulnerable, including children,” he said

Source: CYP Now

Military academies key to preventing repeat of last year’s riots, says think-tank

Schools run by the military should be introduced to tackle issues linked to last year’s riots, a think-tank has suggested.

A report by ResPublica calls for a partnership between the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Education to create a chain of academies in areas where there are high numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet).

Eventually the programme could be extended to all local authority areas with ResPublica suggesting that residents could petition for military academies to be opened.

“We believe that riot-hit areas will be among those neighbourhoods that will particularly benefit from this initiative,” the report states.

Military academies would create and teach from a unique curriculum, using expertise already existing in the Armed Forces.

The report states that academies would also be distinguished by their “whole person education” approach, emphasising the importance of “character formation”, and “high ethical standards and values”, besides more traditional and vocational skills.

It states that two-thirds of young people involved in last summer’s riots had some form of special educational need and more than a third had been excluded from school during 2009/10.

“Most obviously and straightforwardly, our proposal benefits the young who have grown up in deprived areas, both those who are talented and those who are troubled,” the report states.

However, the idea has already sparked controversy. Chris Keates, general secretary of the union NASUWT, said the report is based on a “cynical misuse and misrepresentation” of the causes of last summer’s riots.

“There is no evidence of either the widespread involvement of people from deprived, working-class communities in the riots or that they instigated them.

Source: CYP Now

“The proposal amounts to nothing more than the disgraceful, unjustified vilification of whole communities, promulgating the view that if you are poor and working class you must, therefore, be inclined to criminality and antisocial behaviour.”

Ten days’ notice on adoption inspections mooted

Adoption support agencies could be given just 10 days’ notice before an Ofsted inspection, rather than the current eight-week period, under proposals outlined today.

A consultation, launched today by the watchdog and running until April 3, has set out a number of changes designed to re-focus inspections. They include reducing the number of judgements inspectors make from thirteen to just four and introducing a system where people can comment, at any time, about the service they receive.

Ofsted said the changes will focus inspections on “what makes a positive difference to outcomes for children, adoptive families and adults” and help inspectors to “gain as true a picture as possible” of an adoption support service.

John Goldup, Ofsted’s deputy chief inspector for social care, said: “Adoption is rightly under the spotlight at the moment – and we know that good adoption support can be critical to the success of adoption.

“These proposals will focus inspection on what matters most – the difference services are making to the lives of children and their families. If that support isn’t available, the result can be placement breakdown, which can be a devastating double rejection for children and traumatic for adopters who can be left with a huge sense of guilt and failure.”

The four key judgements inspectors will be expected to make, under the consultation, concern: outcomes for service users; the quality of service provision; safeguarding children, young people and families and the leadership and management of the service.

Inspections under the new regime will begin in September 2012, pending the consultation.

Source: Community Care

Government concealed scale of opposition to benefit reform

A report written by disabled people, their friends and carers found that 74% of group respondents to a 2010 government consultation on replacing disability living allowance (DLA) with a new benefit, personal independence payment (PIP), were against the proposals. But in its summary of responses, published in April 2011, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said “it was clear from the responses received that some reform of DLA was welcomed.”

The report, Responsible Reform, was based on an analysis of 500 group responses to the consultation, obtained under Freedom Of Information requests.

It also claims that the DLA consultation did not meet the government’s own code of practice on consultation as it was two weeks shorter than recommended and took place over the Christmas holidays. And, the Welfare Reform Bill was presented to Parliament two days before the consultation ended, meaning that responses could not be taken into account when the legislation introducing PIP was drafted, the document argues.

The study has been dubbed the Spartacus Report, a reference to a 1960 film about a slave revolt in ancient Rome which has come to typify the idea of solidarity in adversity.

The DWP said it had had over 5,500 responses to its consultation and The Spartacus Report was a selective analysis of 500 responses from organisations only.

It said its proposals for the PIP had developed significantly since the consultation and it had been working closely with disabled people and disability organisations.

Source: Community Care

Waltham Forest children’s services threatened with government intervention

Children’s services at Waltham Forest Council need to improve significantly to avoid government intervention, children’s minister Tim Loughton has warned.

An inspection carried out by Ofsted in September 2011 found that, overall, safeguarding services in Waltham Forest were “adequate”, but services for looked-after children were judged to be “inadequate”.

Furthermore, in its annual assessment published in November, the overall performance of the council’s children’s services was rated as “poor”.

Following discussions between Department for Education officials and the council, Loughton issued an improvement notice to the council.

Councillor Marie Pye, cabinet member for children and young people in Waltham Forest, said: “The appointment of a new chair to the safeguarding board is just one of a number of changes to management that are being made. We are confident that we can raise standards of practice and provide a greatly improved service to residents in the future.

“There is nothing more important than safeguarding our young people and providing services to children in our care. It is down to us to work with local health professionals, schools, families and the whole community, to make sure we are providing the very best service possible.”

The council has been told to prove care standards in children’s services are acceptable and will have to meet a series of targets and deadlines set by the government.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said the improvement notice will be published on the Department for Communities and Local Government website in “due course”.

Meanwhile, an unannounced inspection report into Brighton and Hove City Council revealed improvements to safeguarding services, whileHalton Borough Council was praised for significant safeguarding improvements.

A report into Cornwall also showed overall improvement in safeguarding services, although inspectors said quality of case recording remained variable.

Source: CYP Now

Ofsted unveils plans to scrap school inspection notifications

Teaching unions have reacted angrily to plans to stop giving schools advance notice of impending Ofsted inspections from September this year.

The watchdog’s new chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw argued that “the time is now right” to make all school inspections unannounced.

“Ofsted has been moving towards a position of unannounced school inspection over a period of years,” he said. “I believe the time is now right for us to take that final step and make sure that for every school we visit inspectors are seeing schools as they really are in the corridors, classrooms and staff room.”

Ofsted already conducts some unannounced school inspections – for example where particular concerns are raised about a school. The watchdog also carries out no-notice inspections of local authority safeguarding services, among others.

“Ofsted already has considerable experience in undertaking unannounced inspections and we know it works,” Wilshaw explained. “With this further change, parents and all those interested in what is happening in our schools can have absolute confidence in Ofsted’s findings.”

He added that the inspectorate’s new “parent view online questionnaire” would allow inspectors to consider the views of parents during inspections, since parents can now share their opinions of their child’s school at any time.

But Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, argued that the proposals would reduce schools’ ability to engage with inspections and limit the usefulness of checks.

“It [inspection] is supposed to be a joint process and a dialogue that changes the school’s thinking rather than merely criticising it,” he said. “And it is this engagement which translates inspection judgments into real improvements. Unless inspection leads to such improvements it is a waste of time.”

He added that it is often necessary for school leaders to be out of school during the daytime – attending child protection hearings, for example.

“A well-run school functions normally in their absence but it is not appropriate that leaders should not be present at an event with such vital consequences for the school and their career,” he said.

Philip Parkin, general secretary of the union Voice, claimed that no-notice inspections would put an enormous strain on teachers and support staff.

“Ofsted inspections are stressful at the best of times, but it would be intolerable to work under the constant and relentless stress of anticipating an inspection at any moment,” he said.

“If that is the way inspections are to go, it shows a distrust of, and disrespect for, the teaching profession and signals that the inspection regime has become too overbearing and needs to be reviewed and restructured to make it much more supportive and advisory.”

Nansi Ellis, head of education policy at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, warned that tinkering with the amount of notice for inspections would not improve education for the vast majority of children and young people.

“We also remain deeply concerned about the use of the online parent view questionnaire,” she said. “Any survey that allows people to ‘opt-in’ is likely to attract more critical responses than positive ones, and this one is unlikely to reflect the education most children receive at a school.”

The details of Ofsted’s plans will form part of a consultation, due to be unveiled in the next few weeks.

Source: CYP Now