Consultation Hub

This consultation invited views on draft statutory guidance for local authorities on the use of agency child and family social workers.

A total of 110 responses were received. The responses were broadly supportive of the draft statutory guidance with a range of 48% to 86% of respondents agreeing that the statutory guidance across each of the agency rules contained the correct level of detail.

The government’s response to the consultation is available online at: Child and family social workers: agency rules statutory guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Listening to the feedback, we have taken the opportunity to make changes to improve drafting of the rules where there were lower levels of agreement, namely on price caps (48% agreed or strongly agreed) and notice periods (58% agreed or strongly agreed). We have also made minor changes throughout the statutory guidance to improve clarity.

New statutory guidance for local authorities on the use of agency child and family social workers was published on 12 September 2024 and will come into force on 31 October 2024. This is available online at: Child and family social workers: agency rules - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

We asked for views on our proposals to make changes to the fees for children’s social care providers and how we consult on them in the future. We also sought views on the frequency of children’s homes inspections when there are no children accommodated and the disclosure of names and addresses in secure 16-19 academy and secure children’s homes inspection reports.

13% of respondents said a 20% increase in fees payable by children’s social care providers would have no impact. 18% thought the impact of the proposed fee increase would be minor. 38% told us it would have a moderate impact. 31% said it would have a major impact.

Most respondents (69%) thought it was necessary to consult on future fee increases and 19% thought it was not necessary.

The majority of respondents (69%) were in favour of our proposal of removing the requirement for Ofsted to undertake a second inspection on a children’s homes when there are no children accommodated in the home at the time of the first inspection. 12% were not in favour and 19% were not sure.

Half of respondents (50%) did not foresee any issues with the proposal for Ofsted to disclose names and addresses in secure 16-19 academy and secure children’s homes inspection reports. 25% did foresee issues and 25% were not sure.

The results of the consultation have been set out in a report on the gov.uk website. Based on these results the department has decided to implement a  20% increase on current fees payable by children’s social care providers not paying the full cost rate and not consult on future fee increases of 20% or less.

The department will remove the requirement for Ofsted to undertake a second inspection on a Children’s Home when there are no children accommodated in the home at the time of the first inspection and will allow Ofsted to disclose names and addresses in secure 16-19 academy and secure children’s homes inspection reports.

The Department for Education published a consultation asking for sector views on a range of questions covering two broad themes to drive up quality in further education (FE) initial teacher training (ITT):

1. proposed changes to student support funding eligibility for FE ITT courses
2. longer term proposals to improve FE teacher training quality.

A total of 78 responses were received from individuals and organisations spanning a variety of stakeholder groups, including FE colleges, universities, awarding bodies, unions, other learning providers, and representative bodies.

All parts of the consultation were positively received by a majority of respondents.

As a result of the responses received – and broader evidence reviewed by government – we have updated the eligibility for student support funding for FE ITT courses, effective from academic year 2024 to 2025: Recognised further education teacher training courses eligible for student support: 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). As a result, only those FE ITT trainees at English higher education providers with degree awarding powers, or their validated partners (including FE colleges), will be eligible to receive student support funding for FE ITT courses.

Government is undertaking further work to develop longer term plans for reform of the FE teacher training system. It is highly likely that this will require regulations to be made under section 17 of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022. This section of the Act has not yet been commenced. A first set of regulations made under this section would be subject to affirmative resolution by Parliament. No timetable for commencement of the relevant section, or the making of regulations, has yet been set.