Placements Standards Working Group - Meeting 2 - 17th September 2025

[ivjyot-oberoi]

Social Care Placement Working Group - Session 2 Summary

Date: 17th September 2025
Time: 2:30pm - 4:00pm
Location: Microsoft Teams

Working Group 2 Slides.pdf

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Programme Overview and Objectives: Maddy provided an overview of the three-year programme to develop data and technological standards for the children's social care sector, highlighting the partnership with Coram, the Open Data Institute, Social Finance, and DfE, and clarifying the working group's focus on enabling better analysis for strategic decision making.

Programme Scope: Maddy explained that the programme aims to improve data sharing for safeguarding, enhance data analysis for strategic decision making, increase productivity for social workers, and empower children and families, with the current working group focusing specifically on sufficiency analysis in the children's social care market.

Timeline and Roadmap: Maddy outlined the three-year timeline, with the first year dedicated to establishing foundational standards and building a network of collaborators, and subsequent years releasing additional data standards based on working group input.

Design Process and Methodology: Maddy described the co-design methodology used to refine the data standard, including assembling a long list of design issues, conducting deep dive sessions, and consolidating feedback from working group members, with Ivjyot and Ida supporting the process.

• Deep Dive Sessions: Deep dive sessions were used to address specific design questions in detail, such as describing placements and determinants for offering placements, with participation from a range of stakeholders.
• Criteria for Design Decisions: Four criteria guided each design decision: relevance to sufficiency questions, feasibility (data can be gathered in under 90 seconds), non-duplication, and consideration of unintended impacts, with perspectives from various roles included in the assessment.

Key Design Decisions and Testing: Maddy summarised the main design decisions reached in the deep dives, including refining placement descriptions, identifying determinants for offering placements, and planning further testing with providers and representatives of children and young people.

1. The first deep dive focused on how placements are described, resulting in a refined specification for capturing this information.
2. The second deep dive addressed how to capture the variables that influence whether a placement is offered, such as provision requirements and risk factors.

Discussion

Optional Data Fields: The group agreed to test the inclusion of optional 'silver' or 'gold' data fields, allowing regions or local authorities to gather additional insights beyond the minimum viable product.

Engagement with Providers and Young People: Further testing will involve residential care providers, IFAs, and representatives of children and young people, particularly regarding language and the practicality of data collection.

Consultation, Governance, and Implementation: A couple of participants raised questions about the formal consultation process, governance, potential mandation of the standard, and the need for broader communication, with Maddy and Kevin clarifying the open, sector-led approach and plans for further deep dives on implementation. Maddy further explained that the working group is open to all sector participants, with decisions and recommendations made transparently and ultimately referred to the programme steering committee, and that all key stakeholder groups are being consulted.

Mandation and Adoption: Questions about whether the standard would be mandated were addressed, with Maddy stating that this remains an open design decision to be discussed in a dedicated deep dive, and one member noting the inevitability of greater standardisation due to sector reforms.

Data Collection Practicalities and Integrity: Participants discussed the practicalities of data collection, the rationale for the 90-second data entry target, and the importance of aligning data standards with future analytical needs, including forecasting and sufficiency modelling. Maddy clarified that the 90-second target refers to the time required to extract necessary data from existing referral forms, not to replace those forms, aiming to minimise additional administrative burden.

Voting, and Next Steps: Maddy facilitated voting on the proposed design decisions, encouraged detailed feedback via Mentimeter, chat, or email, and outlined the schedule for upcoming deep dives and the next working group meeting, inviting further suggestions for topics and process improvements. Participants were asked to vote on whether to endorse the resolutions from the deep dives, with options to proceed, proceed with comments, or not to proceed and request further discussion, and were encouraged to provide detailed feedback.

Voting result

Design Considerations Deep Dive 1

Design Considerations Deep Dive 2

Planning Future Deep Dives: The group was invited to suggest additional topics for upcoming deep dives, with planned sessions on placement cost, location, adoption and rollout, and quality assurance.

[ivjyot-oberoi]

Working Group 2 Slides Link:
Working Group 2 Slides.pdf