Priorities 2023 - 2024

West Yorkshire Police (WYP) report that domestic abuse, and its impact on children, as one of their top priorities due to the significant numbers involved. In Leeds each 24 hours sees an average of 60 domestic incidents reported to WYP which equates to over 21,000 in the year, with 24.4% of these noted to involve a child or children.

Overall police data demonstrates that domestic incidents reported to the police are down 12% on the previous year but those involving children rose slightly by 0.6%. Stalking and harassment remains the largest crime category, which is consistent with the previous year.  

The Front Door Safeguarding Hub continues to support victims-survivors and families through Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) and the Daily Risk Assessment Management Meeting (DRAMM). Over the past 12 months from April 2023 to March 2024 these arrangements have supported 4672 victims with safety plans.

In 2023-24, 18.8% of referrals accepted by CSWS were recorded as having a feature of domestic abuse, this is a reduction from 21.3% (2022-23) and 22.3% (2021-22).  

The data demonstrates that although there are some reductions in the cases of DA recorded across police and CSWS in Leeds, domestic abuse remains a significant issue in the city.

As a response, during 2023/ 2024 there have been extensive developments in safeguarding practice across the partnerships in Leeds with a responsibility for domestic abuse and safeguarding children, with just some of these detailed within the report.  

The Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy for 2023-28, has been launched in Leeds this year, setting out the overall vision to end the harm caused by domestic abuse. The new strategy covers four main themes:

• Awareness, prevention, and early intervention
• Responding to risk and harm
• People causing harm (perpetrators)
• Children and young people

The role of the Domestic Violence Co-ordinators (delivered by Behind Closed Doors) within the Early Help Hubs continues to support practitioners and families. This is an integral part of the wider response from children’s services to support children affected by domestic violence and abuse and has been agreed to be delivered until 2025.

Leeds Women’s Aid has continued to deliver the Elevate Project that provides support to children and young people in refuge and the community who have experienced domestic violence and abuse. Additional funding has been given to this project as part of the Voices Project so that those workers can also capture the views of children and young people to inform the work of the board.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) funding for an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) to work with young people (16–18-year-olds) at the Front Door is on-going with funding having been extended to 2025. This allows for the continuation of this resource to work with this group.

Operation Encompass is a process that allows for notifications to be made to schools where there has been an incident of domestic violence and abuse reported to the police where children are present in the previous 24 hours. This allows schools to provide a welfare or safeguarding response in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Alongside West Yorkshire Police an IT based solutions is being explored to improve the process of notifications, so they can be made directly to schools and further education establishments through a fully automated process.

NHS West Yorkshire ICB in Leeds have delivered a train the trainer programme aimed at practitioners working within primary care to support with undertaking Routine and Triggered Enquiry. Following this a Routine Enquiry Survey has been completed, to determine Primary Care practitioners use and knowledge of Routine Enquiry. The findings suggest that there is an increase in clinicians asking Routine and Triggered Enquiry questions and evidence of a more knowledgeable and responsive workforce in relation to recognising and responding to DVA, which is being embedded in practice.

Children at risk of domestic abuse are now flagged on GP records across Leeds, to ensure that practitioners are informed of any risk to the child.

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust (LYPFT) in November 2023 undertook an audit in relation to if practitioners are referring children at risk of domestic abuse to children social care services and documenting outcome. Learning was noted in terms of documentation and all safeguarding concerns are now recorded on a new Trust safeguarding contact form which is embedded within a service user electronic record. A further audit is planned to establish if there is evidence of sustained improvements.

This year West Yorkshire Police report that one significant key change in relation to the management of domestic abuse, is the greater utilisation of charge and remand of domestic abuse suspects, rather than bail, which can be subsequently breached by an offender committing further offences against the same victim. Remanding a suspect to court to await trial can vitally protect victims and children from harmful offenders, and this year WYP are on course to remand a third more suspects than two years ago.

The e-child and family assessment within Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) now includes a section on asking the child or young person if they feel safe at home, what makes them happy or sad, if they are ok and if there is anything we can help them with.  Children, young people and babies who are identified at high risk of domestic abuse in MARAC are flagged on LTHT systems.

An electronic version of the Young Persons DASH has been developed within LTHT patient records, to support staff to assess risks and safety plan and Routine Enquiry is now firmly embedded in the Emergency Department assessment.

In response to recognised and persistence high rate of domestic abuse in the city CSWS have begun to review the training offered to practitioners, including updated Masterclasses being delivered by prominent leads in the area focusing on Domestic Violence and Abuse and legislative and learning updates.

HMYOI Wetherby have employed a full-time family therapist whose focus is to support families to repair damaged relationships to support stronger links for when the child is released. A Time Out for Dads course is also offered to children, this course promotes positive parenting and the impact of domestic violence on the child.

Promoted but not delivered by the LSCP as part of the training offer, practitioners have had access to appropriate training via the Safer Leeds offer. This is a modular approach to training and 2,107 places have been delivered to practitioners across Leeds, during the year.

The partnership also supported the 16 Days of Action Campaign, led by the Safer Stronger Communities, which included supporting a 16 day social media campaign, which reached over 38,000 people across Facebook and Instagram, promoting a variety of support services and safety initiatives such as Leeds Domestic Violence Service (LDVS), Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds (SARSVL), Ask for Angela Leeds and WalkSafe Leeds.

The ambition in Leeds is that families experiencing parental conflict are supported at the right time, by the right practitioner to prevent any impact of this conflict on children. The aim is to increase awareness of parental conflict and the impact it can have on children and young people and their outcomes. Leeds is taking a practice approach through providing workforce development opportunities. Leeds is working with thirteen other local authorities within Yorkshire and Humberside to jointly commission a regional website and digital campaign for practitioners and members of the public to support this work. 

Children’s involvement in learning in addition to supporting lifelong outcomes aids safeguarding. One of the five outcomes within the Leeds Children and Young People’s Plan is that all children and young people do well at all levels of learning and have skills for life.

Children and especially those in secondary schools continue to be less engaged in learning than they were pre-Covid, this is a national issue. There were challenges pre- Covid secondary unauthorised absence levels being an example, these have been amplified.  

Published data for the 2022/23 school year highlights school attendance as 94.1% in primary schools and 90.3% in secondary schools. In that year 17% of children in primary schools and 27.2% in secondary schools were persistently absent, missing over 10% of their learning. Severe absence is missing more than 50% of learning, 4.8% of secondary pupils were severely absent in 2022/23.  DFE collects regular in-year attendance data from schools.  As of 24 June 2024, based on 267 of 280 schools, overall academic year attendance to date was 92.1% with 30,048 pupils recorded as persistently absent (22.8%) and 3,705 pupils were recorded as severely absent, missing at least 50% of all possible sessions. This is unofficial in year information.

Suspensions have also increased post pandemic, accepting there are termly variations.  Again, using unofficial but recent in-year data there were 5368 suspensions in the spring term of 2024 a rate 4.1 suspensions per 100 children. These suspensions involved 2861 children who on average experienced 8 sessions (half days) or 4 schools’ days of suspension, 22944 sessions (half days) were lost. This level of suspensions is 2.4 times greater than spring 2018/19.  

Children missing education (CME) are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. This could be for a range of reasons including children who are awaiting a school place and children in receipt of unsuitable education. The DfE started to collect information from LAs in England during 2022/23, these statistics are developmental with more to do on definitions and data capture to be assured of consistency. However, this does not diminish the importance of children in being in education, with 1510 children in Leeds recorded as missing education, a rate per population of 1.3 per 1000.  

A growing number of children are being educated at home. The local authority is notified of a child or young person becoming Electively Home Educated (EHE) by either the parent or school. The number of notifications almost doubled in the academic year following the beginning of the COVID-19 and have remained high. In June 2024 1,420 children were being electively home educated, an increase from 1,080 in October 2023. Reasons for home education include philosophical reasons, health-based reasons and dissatisfaction with local schools. Local authorities have no formal duty to monitor the provision of education at home, however, under section 436A of the Education Act 1996, they do have a duty to make arrangements to identify children in their area who are not receiving a suitable education. This duty applies to all children of compulsory school age who are not on a school roll.

The number of pupils with special educational needs is growing faster than the pupil population. 25,199 pupils had a special educational need in 2023/24, 33 percent higher than 18, 944 pupils in 2018/19. Over the same period the pupil population grew by 6 percent from 129,591 to 136,799. 18.4 percent of the pupil population now has SEN, broadly in-line with DFE statistical neighbours and England and lower than the Core Cities average of 19.4 percent. This cohort comprises children with an Education Health and Care Plan and those identified by schools for SEND Support.  The numbers here reference children in a Leeds school, the children in a Leeds school with an EHCP will include children who live in neighbouring authorities and is only part of the overall EHCP cohort in Leeds aged 0-24.    

Leeds has had a Funding for Inclusion (FFI) model that has historically provided schools in Leeds with additional funding without the requirement of a pupil having an EHC Plan. This model is changing, potentially leading to more school age children with EHC Plans bringing Leeds more aligned with other authorities EHCP rates.  In 2023/24, of all children and young people in Leeds schools with SEN:  

• 3864 pupils in Leeds schools’ have an education, health and care plan, 2.8 percent of all pupils in Leeds, lower than England (4.8 percent), Core Cities (4.3 percent) and DFE Statistical Neighbours (5 percent).  
• 21,335 pupils in Leeds schools’ have SEN support, 15.6 percent of all pupils in 
  Leeds, a similar proportion to the Core Cities average of 15.6 and higher than England and Statistical Neighbours (13.6 percent in England, 13.7 percent Statistical Neighbours).  

SEND represents a range of needs that are grouped into categories called primary need. The most prevalent primary needs are speech, language and communication (SLCN), social emotional and mental health (SEMH) and moderate learning difficulty (MLD). Notably, the primary need of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) has tripled since 2018, from 902 children in 2018 to 3299 in 2024.  There are differences in the prevalence of need by phase of education, with SLCN the most prevalent in primary schools, SEMH in secondary schools and ASD in special schools.

This year has seen developments in relation to the identification of and support to vulnerable learners across the partnership and they have also been considered throughout the work related to the other two prioritises.

The Dynamic Risk Register is a tool used by practitioners across agencies to dynamically assess the risk, of a child or young person with a learning disability and or Autism, at risk of admission to hospital or placement breakdown. Children and young people are risk assessed using a traffic light system. Where a child or young person is assessed at being at greatest risk (red) the lead practitioner will be asked to complete a CETR referral form which will trigger the CETR process within the complex needs business unit of the ICB. Where lower-level risks are identified practitioners work together to ensure the child of young person is able to access appropriate services across health, education and social care in a coordinated way. The DSR enables partners to work more effectively together to support this group of children and young people, meaning their needs are met in the community and the number of children admitted into tier four CAMHs inpatient provision is reduced.

In HMYOI Wetherby there are now two new function leads in positions as head of education, skills and work, this position is funded by YCS but is a qualified teacher to support the activities for children. With a Neurodiversity support manager to support the needs of those who need adjustments while in custody and the supporting of staff around understanding their needs.

The Leeds Deaf CAMHs team, as part of LYPFT, have worked to strengthen processes and support to ensure that any children identified with hearing impairment can access appropriate education and support.  

In Leeds, all children who attend the Emergency Department are asked which school/college or nursery they attend to identify those who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), which is recorded, and appropriate sign posting can take place.

LTHT has a specialist LD and Autism Team who support staff to complete a Learning Disabilities Passport with the person and the Trust has a series of ‘Easy Read’ leaflets, posters etc to support both children and adults with additional needs.

Significant work has taken place across the partnership to improve practice and the identification and reduction of risks.

The work that has been undertaken this year, has been to develop a more integrated approach to our citywide work to better respond to the violence and exploitation agenda. Work has been undertaken to better understand the cohort of young people involved; the size, the extent and the diversity of those affected. This ongoing work has informed the systems and services that have been developed.

A consistent approach to responding to serious youth violence and exploitation across the city has been embedded, including the streamlining of assessment and referral pathways. A whole family approach to issues of exploitation, assessments and plans continue to address and respond to the needs and difficulties for all members of families as well as focusing on existing strengths.

There has been a real enthusiasm across the partnership to do things differently, with a focus on thinking about harm outside the home, thinking about the contexts that harm happens in, developing effective welfare responses and learning about what works, working with parents as 'protective partners' and building trusting relationships with third sector partners and non-traditional agencies.

Leeds continues to work as a partner with Durham University (Prof Carlene Firmin) to further develop the contextual approach to exploitation and the Risk Outside The Home (ROTH) ICPC (Initial Child Protection Conference) pathway, which is a pathway for young people who are felt to be at significant risk of harm beyond their families. The pathway has been developed to consider contextual approaches to safeguarding, the parents as protective partner agencies and bringing in non-traditional partner agencies.

An online safety campaign, ‘start the conversation’ (described in the Campaigns section) has been developed in response to concerns regarding the risk of on-line exploitation.

Exploitation has been key to learning and development opportunities across the partnership this year, with LYPFT having child exploitation as one of their themes for their Trust conference, WYP having a focused on upskilling their safeguarding officers with the provision of bespoke training, including the victims lived experience, bespoke training to education providers which is supported by the SAFE project, and LTHT developing and launching “Introduction to Child Exploitation” training.    

WYP have carried out operations during the year, to test the responses in the city in relation to exploitation, including the responses from hotels and taxi companies.

LTHT have a risk assessment in place for young people aged 16-17 attending ED to ensure they could self-identify areas of concern and know staff would be able to support them to keep safe. This year this is being developed further to be a digital e-assessment for 12–18-year-olds.

A safeguarding nurse advisor has now joined the Navigator Service as part of the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) plan to reduce violence and exploitation. A&E Navigator Service accepts referrals from any service within Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. They aim to support young people between the ages of 11-25 who have been victim of serious youth violence, or who are vulnerable due to risk of CSE/CCE/NEET substance misuse or multiple ACE’s.

LTHT has also produced of an educational learning video called ‘Trauma call’ which depicts the journey of a 16-year-old who victim of knife crime, including an assessment in Emergency Department Resus, breaking news to relatives and support provided by the MDT and A&E Navigators. It is designed to be used alongside a lesson plan in schools to educate young people and their families.

All under 18’s who are booked for pregnancy have a mandatory child exploitation risk assessment completed.

The head of resettlement at HMYOI Wetherby, has developed a well-attended public protection meeting. This meeting discusses the work done by Wetherby, police, social workers, and community teams planning any relevant monitoring in custody and release. The social work team continue to support children in reporting historic abuse and support them if they need to attend police interviews around this.

MACE Arrangements 

Leeds has developed strong multi-agency arrangements to respond to child exploitation through its Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) arrangements. 

The MACE framework in Leeds has four interrelated steps: Partnership Intelligence Management (PIM); Bronze Group; Silver Group; and Gold Group.

The PIM is an information and intelligence sharing process between the Police and Children’s Social Work Service (CSWS). All information, intelligence and concerns about children missing and at risk of exploitation are shared electronically with CSWS and the Youth Justice Service (YJS) by the Police. The information is reviewed by allocated workers and Team Managers who then coordinate timely and proportionate responses to vulnerable children and young people, including ensuring that referrals to the children’s social work service are made where there is known or suspected significant harm. The PIM reports to the Bronze Group.

There are two distinct MACE meetings that take place and make up the Bronze MACE, these are the child-focused MACE meeting and the Contextual MACE meeting, both are embedded practice and are well attended and referred to from partner agencies.

Child-focused MACE meetings take place every two weeks and focus on children where there is either a low/ emerging risk of exploitation, or where there is a high risk because the vulnerability and risk management plan (VRMP) for the child is not having the desired effect. The purpose of the MACE meeting is to: analyse risk; share information; consider connectivity and push and pull factors; and to enable further actions in relation to each child or young person to be decided. The meeting also identifies themes, trends and suspected/ known perpetrators.

Through these meetings, recommendations are made to ensure that the needs of children at risk of exploitation are responded to. The meeting does not and replace statutory planning processes such as strategy meetings, child protection conferences or care planning reviews for children looked after.

Contextual MACE meetings are held every four weeks, focusing on themes, trends, places, spaces, peer groups and suspected/ known perpetrators linked to exploitation concerns. They take a contextual approach to identifying, responding to and disrupting child exploitation.

In the last 12 months issues which have been identified have included: 

• Several derelict buildings where there have been concerns that children have been entering and at risk of exploitation
• Several specific ‘issues’ such as drill music and under representation of girls in our data – the latter resulting in a ‘girls and gangs’ task and finish group
• Focus on specific business premises where children were being exploited
• Work on some properties where young people were moving into independent living and being targeted and exploited.  

Both meetings are chaired by a senior Children and Families manager, with membership including lead practitioners and managers from: Early Help; Children’s Social Work; Police Child Exploitation Leads; Adults and Health; Youth Justice; Health; Education; CAMHS; Youth Offer, Safer Leeds; third sector partners, accommodation providers and others.

The Bronze MACE meetings report to the LSCP Silver Group, with the Gold Group being the three Statutory partners, who make up the LSCP Executive and reports from the Silver MACE are received by the Gold MACE on a quarterly basis as part of the Executive meetings.  

The purpose of the group is to enable senior leaders to have a line of sight about the most vulnerable children and young people, in addition to a clear understanding of the scale of child exploitation in the city.

Additionally, and in response to the identified concerns of Serious Youth Violence, meetings have now been set up in all three areas, West, South and East area of the city of Leeds. These are attended by statutory, voluntary and third sector organisations. There is also a daily youth violence meeting – project shield that takes place each morning at the Front Door. This is attended by Police (Sgt at the Front Door), Early Help, Youth Justice Service, Liaison and Diversion and CSWS (The Safe Project).

Serious Youth Violence

Serious youth violence is a subset of the wider statutory duty to tackle Serious Violence. The definition of Serious Violence is broad but specific focus on knife crime and young people and violence.

The findings of the recent JTAI in Leeds, recognises the significant work that has taken place across the city in response to Serious Youth Violence, outlined in the External Inspections section, they is ongoing work taking place with both Safer Leeds and the Violence Reduction Partnership.  
An action plan will now be developed as a response to the findings of the inspection and work will continue throughout the coming year to improve practice and evidence impact. 
The Knife Angel came to Leeds in February 2024 at the Royal Armouries where Project Shield was launched by Cllr Coupar.

Project Shield is about enabling a more positive, hopeful conversation with young people and delivering a co-ordinated response to tackling serious youth violence and protecting young people in Leeds.

The aim is to reduce instances of Serious Youth Violence in Leeds, specifically: 

• A reduction in hospital admissions for assaults with a knife or a sharp object, especially amongst those victims under 25. 
• A reduction in knife enabled serious violence, especially in those victims aged under 25. 
• A reduction in all non- domestic homicides involving knives, especially among those victims aged under 25.