Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales

Posted on December 22, 2018 By Chris

Nearly 600 homeless people died on the streets or in temporary accommodation in England and Wales in 2017, up 24% in five years, according to the first government figures on the issue.

After a slight drop in 2013, deaths have risen every year since, from 475 in 2014 to 597 last year, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. The average age of a rough sleeper at death was 44 years for men and 42 years for women. Men made up 84% of homeless deaths.

London and the north-west had the highest mortality of homeless people in England and Wales. More than half of the deaths in 2017 were caused by drug poisoning, suicide or alcohol abuse. No figures were calculated for 2018.

On Wednesday a homeless man became the second rough sleeper to die outside parliament this year after he collapsed in a stairwell.

The figures, which are estimates, were calculated by checking death registrations in England and Wales for indications that a person was homeless at or near their time of death. ONS researchers searched for terms such as “no fixed abode” in records, also checking whether the address included in the death registration belonged to a night shelter or a hostel.

The north-west, including cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, experienced the largest increase in homeless deaths, more than doubling in five years, from 55 in 2013 to 119 in 2017.

Fatalities in the north-east and Yorkshire have risen by 71% and 58% respectively since 2013.

The ONS findings show a pattern of deaths among homeless people which is strikingly different from the general population. For example, the causes of deaths recorded provide an insight into the circumstances around people who die while having no home. It is already known that homeless people can have complex health and personal histories, as well as being exposed to high levels of risk and difficulty obtaining good quality medical care.

In October the government pledged that local authorities would hold serious case reviews to investigate all homeless deaths, but it has not provided any funding or support for this work.

More than 24,000 people in Britain will spend this Christmas sleeping rough or in cars, trains, buses or tents, according to figures by the homelessness charity Crisis.

On Tuesday the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, said government policy was not responsible for the rise in rough sleeping. Official figures show it has increased by 169% since 2010, but the true number is believed to be much higher. Instead, Brokenshire blamed the spread of psychoactive drugs such as spice, a rise in non-UK nationals on the streets, and family breakdown.

Ben Humberstone, the ONS’s head of health and life events, said:

“Every year hundreds of people die while homeless. These are some of the most vulnerable members of our society so it was vital that we produced estimates of sufficient quality to properly shine a light on this critical issue. Today we have been able to do just that.

“Our findings show a pattern of deaths among homeless people that is strikingly different from the general population. For example, homeless people tend to die younger and from different causes. The average age of death last year was 44 years, with 84% of all deaths being men. More than half were related to drug poisoning, suicide or alcohol – causes that made up only 3% of overall deaths last year.”

Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s housing spokesman, said all homeless deaths were preventable, but he said supporting people at risk of homelessness was becoming increasingly difficult for councils because of lack of funding:

“Proper resourcing of local government funding is essential if we are going to end rising homelessness. Councils also need to keep 100% of the receipts of any homes they sell to replace them and reinvest in building more of the genuinely affordable homes they desperately need and the ability to adapt welfare reforms to prevent people from losing their home where possible”.

Brokenshire said on Thursday the figures would help the government in its “mission to end rough sleeping for good”.

“No one is meant to spend their lives on the streets or without a home to call their own. Every death on our streets is too many and it is simply unacceptable to see lives cut short this way.”

“To stop people from becoming homeless in the first place, we’ve changed the law to require councils to provide early support for those at risk of being left with nowhere left to go, are boosting access to affordable housing and making renting more secure.”

ONS Publications

Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales: 2013 to 2017

The first Experimental Statistics of the number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales. Figures are given for deaths registered in the years 2013 to 2017.

Data

Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales

Experimental Statistics showing for the first time the number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales, by sex, five-year age group and underlying cause of death.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on December 6, 2018December 9, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Online abuse: Facebook has announced that it has removed 8.7 million pieces of content that violated their child nudity or sexual exploitation of children policies in the past quarter.
Young people’s mental health: statistics provided by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, in response to a written parliamentary question from Bambos Charalambous, show that in 2017/18 there were 27,487 attendances at accident and emergency departments in England by young people aged 18 or under with a recorded first diagnosis of psychiatric conditions. This was almost double the figure for 2012/13, when there were 13,800 attendances.
Characteristics of children in need: The Department for Education (DfE) has published statistics for children referred to and assessed by children’s social services in England for the year ending 31 March 2018. Figures show there were 404,710 children in need at 31 March 2018, an increase of 4% on the previous year; the number of child protection plans at 31st March 2018 has increased to 53,790, an increase of 5.3% on the figure for 2017.
UK Youth Parliament: UK Youth Parliament has published the results of the Make your Mark consultation, run by the British Youth Council, which asked young people in the UK to choose issues they felt were a priority for discussion. Responses from 1,106,788 young people aged 11-18 show that putting an end to knife crime and improving mental health services for young people were among the top priorities identified.
Domestic abuse: The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has published a report following an inquiry into the government’s proposed domestic abuse strategy and draft bill on domestic abuse. The report looks at the impact of domestic abuse on children and makes recommendations including: the impact of domestic abuse on children should be explicitly recognised in the legislation; the government should develop a clear strategy to ensure that children experiencing domestic abuse are protected and given the support necessary to help them recover; children affected by domestic abuse should be given special waiting list status for all NHS services, including child and adolescent mental health services.
Digital Media Is ‘Like Cocaine’ for Babies’ Developing Brains: Some doctors refer to behaviors resulting from overexposure to digital devices as “virtual autism.”

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on December 1, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Care Leaver Covenant: Children’s and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi has announced a scheme to raise the career aspirations and improve the life skills of care leavers. The Care Leaver Covenant has been signed by more than 50 businesses, charities and government departments in England who have committed to provide work based opportunities to young people leaving the care system. The scheme aims to create 10,000 work opportunities for care leavers over the next 10 years. For further information check out the Care Leaver Covenant website and see the pledges from government departments.
Online Safety: Childnet International has produced guidance for parents and carers on looking after the digital wellbeing of children and young people. This includes having an awareness of how being online can make children and young people feel, and how they can look after themselves and others when online. The guidance includes: age specific information about how children and young people are interacting with the internet; top tips to support young people at this age; and ideas to help start a conversation about digital wellbeing.
Loneliness Strategy: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published a strategy setting out the government’s approach to tackling loneliness in England – A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness – laying the foundations for change. The strategy refers to loneliness experienced by children and young people and states that the new subjects of relationships education for primary schools and relationships and sex education (RSE) for secondary schools, due to become compulsory in all schools in England in September 2020, will emphasise the value of social relationships. The guidance content for teachers will highlight the impact of loneliness, particularly on mental health.
Child trafficking: Europol has published a report on child trafficking in the European Union. Findings from a study of almost 600 intelligence contributions reported to Europol by member states between 2015 and 2017 include: traffickers active in the EU target underage victims mainly for sexual exploitation; the majority of non- EU networks reported to Europol involved Nigerian organised crime groups which traffic female children and women to be sexually exploited; trafficking and exploitation of male children, especially for sexual exploitation, remains an under-reported phenomenon at EU level.
Modern slavery: The Home Office has published an annual report on modern slavery in the UK giving an overview of modern slavery and how the UK has responded to it over the last 12 months. The report finds that 2,121 potential child victims of modern slavery were referred to the national referral mechanism (NRM) in 2017. The NRM is a victim identification and support process that is designed to make it easier for agencies involved in a trafficking case to cooperate, share information about potential victims and facilitate their access to advice, accommodation and support.
Knife Crime: The Guardian reports that figures obtained from nine of the NHS’s 11 regional major trauma centres in England that treat adults and children show that they dealt with 2,278 victims of serious knife crime in 2017-18, with cases involving under-18s increasing by 24.4% since 2015-16.
Kinship Care: Grandparents Plus has published a report looking at the challenges faced by kinship carers – grandparents and other family members – who have taken on the care of children who aren’t able to live with their parents. Findings from responses to a survey from 1,139 kinship carers across the UK show that the most common reasons for children living with respondents include: parental drug or alcohol misuse (51%), abuse and/or neglect (54%), a parent being unable to cope (39%), and domestic violence (31%). Carers also report that 54% of the children in their care have special needs, of which 85% have emotional or behavioural problems.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 29, 2018October 1, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Strengths-based social care: The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has published a report, written jointly with Leeds City Council and Shared Lives Plus, describing how strength-based approaches (SBAs) work in children and family settings and how effective they are. SBAs focus on the strengths as well as the needs of children, young people and their families. The report looks at: the key features of SBAs; embedding SBAs in practice; and avoiding pitfalls. SCIE has also published a series of blogs and a video in conjunction with the report, highlighting good examples of strengths-based social care for children, young people and their families.
Public health approach to tackle serious violence: The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced that a public health approach will be used to tackle serious violence in London. The approach, based on a similar initiative in Glasgow, will expand the work of the Mayor’s Knife Crime Strategy to include wider types of violence and look to address the links between violence in the home and on the street. It will aim to deliver early interventions to help prevent the spread of violence and improve coordination between the Metropolitan Police, local authorities, youth services, health services, criminal justice agencies and the Greater London Authority.
Girlguiding attitudes survey 2018: Girlguiding UK has published its annual report on the attitudes of girls for 2018 entitled ‘We see the big picture: girls’ attitudes survey’. 1,903 girls and young women aged 7-21-years-old took part in the survey from across the UK. The survey included questions about girls’ attitudes on a range of subjects, including: mental health; wellbeing and happiness; periods; education; relationships and socialising and safety. Findings include: 71% of girls knew another girl that had experienced mental health problems; 52% of girls have experienced harassment on the street, or know someone that has.
UK poverty metric: The Social Metrics Commission (SMC) has proposed a new metric for measuring poverty across the UK, outlined in their report on data for 2016/17. Findings include: 4.5 million children are living in poverty in the UK; overall child poverty has fallen by around 2% since 2001; the child poverty rate (32.6%) is higher than the poverty rate for the whole population (22%).
UK child welfare inequalities: The University of Huddersfield has published research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, into child welfare intervention rates in each UK nation. Based on a mixed sampling of 12,412 children on protection plans or registers and 24,477 looked after children across the UK, research found that Northern Ireland has the lowest intervention rates, despite having the highest levels of deprivation.
Child criminal exploitation: The Home Office has published a new version of the county lines guidance relating to the criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults, for professionals across the UK who work with children. The new version includes a definition of child criminal exploitation, which is common in county lines, noting: it occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18; it does not always involve physical contact and can also occur through the use of technology; and it is broader than just county lines, including children forced to work on cannabis farms or to commit theft.
Predicting child abuse: A series of articles in the Guardian report that local authorities in England are developing and using “predictive analytics” systems, where algorithms are used to identify families who may need attention from children’s services. The articles report that at least five local authorities have developed or implemented a predictive analytics system for child safeguarding (Thurrock; Brent and Essex; Bristol and Hackney.)
Update to Ofsted inspection framework for children’s services: Ofsted has updated guidance for inspections of local authority children’s services. Updates include: Ofsted will no longer use the single inspection framework to carry out re-inspections of local authorities rated inadequate, but will re-inspect using a standard inspection framework; and new guidance on producing an action plan for priority action areas after a focused visit. See the full ‘Framework, evaluation criteria and inspector guidance for the inspections of local authority children’s services‘ for more information.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 23, 2018October 1, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils’ experiences at school: The BBC reports that the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee has heard evidence from experts pointing out that bullying, racism and feeling left out of the curriculum are major factors in low school attendance rates among children and young people from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community. The Women and Equalities Committee is holding an inquiry to look at inequalities faced by the GRT community.
Child development from birth to two years: Community Care has published a short guide to child development from birth to two years. The guide is aimed at social workers involved with families who need to be aware of children’s typical developmental stages and processes.
Child abuse image offences: The NSPCC has released figures from a freedom of information request sent to 43 police forces across England and Wales, and a formal request for information from police forces in Northern Ireland and Scotland, asking them for the number of recorded offences for indecent images (still or moving) of children. Figures show that 22,724 offences were recorded in 2017/18, an increase of 23% on the previous year.
Healthy and unhealthy relationships: Childline has launched a campaign to help young people understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and help them identify signs that their relationship might not be quite right. ‘Looking out for Lottie’, an eight part series, follows a fictional character Lottie who gets into an unhealthy relationship, showing how grooming can happen without realising it.
Care applications fall 5.7 per cent over two years: Cafcass has published its monthly care application statistics for England. In August 2018, Cafcass received a total of 1,179 new care applications. This figure is 5.1% lower than August 2017.
Children and young people’s mental health: Researchers from University College London, Imperial College London, University of Exeter and the Nuffield Trust have published findings from research looking at trends in mental health problems in children and young people. Analysis of data from 140,830 participants aged 4–24 years from 36 national surveys in England, Scotland and Wales found that: in 2008, 3% of 4-24 year olds in England and 3.7% in Scotland said they had a long-standing mental health condition, with 2.9% of 4-24 year olds in Wales saying they had received treatment; by 2014 these figures had grown to 4.8% in England, 6.5% in Scotland and 4.1% in Wales; boys aged 4-12 were consistently more likely to report a long-standing mental health condition than young girls.
Sharp rise in young people overdosing: The Guardian reports that research carried out by the University of Nottingham medical school looking at patterns and trends among 10–24-year-olds across England who overdose on painkillers and antidepressants. Findings from a study of 1,736,527 young peoples’ GP and hospital records from 1998 to 2014 include: 40,333 poisoning episodes were identified, of which 66.5% were recorded as intentional; and there were increases in poisoning incidence rates of between three- and fivefold for opioids, antidepressants, aspirin and paracetamol over the study period.
Child arrests in England and Wales: The Howard League for Penal Reform has published a research briefing on child arrests in England and Wales. Analysis of freedom of information data from 43 police service areas in England and Wales and the British Transport Police shows that: there were 79,012 child arrests in 2017, a 68% reduction from 2010 when there were 245,763 child arrests; there were 616 arrests of primary school-aged children in 2017.
Schools and colleges: survey of pupils: The Department for Education (DfE) has published a report on findings from wave 4 of the omnibus survey of school pupils aged 11-17; college students aged 16-17, and their parents/ carers in England. Findings from more than 3,000 survey responses include: 20% of school pupils and 12% of college students reported being a victim of bullying at school or college at least once a month in the last year; and 79% of school pupils and 78% of college students said that their school/college has a specific member of staff that they can talk to if they have a problem or worry.
Children’s social care services: raising concerns with Ofsted: Ofsted has published revised guidance on how to share concerns about children’s social care services in England with Ofsted and what they will do with the information. The guidance has been revised to include all concerns, rather than just whistleblowing.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 14, 2018September 23, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Children’s access to healthy food: The Food Foundation has released a report analysing Public Health England’s (PHE) Eatwell guide, finding that 3.7 million children in the UK live in households for whom a healthy diet is increasingly unaffordable. Families earning less than £15,860 would need to spend 42% of after-housing income on food to meet the costs of the Government’s nutrition guidelines. The report calls for a national measurement of food insecurity in the UK.

Parental responsibility: guidance: The Department for Education has published guidance to help schools and local authorities in England understand and deal with issues relating to parental responsibility as recognised by education law, in particular in situations where parental responsibility can be confusing or unclear.

Young carers: Coram has published an evaluation of the Young carers in schools Programme, a free England-wide initiative delivered by Carers Trust and The Children’s Society aimed at improving the identification and support of young carers in schools. The published report, A better relationship with learning: an evaluation of the young carers in schools programme, involved an online survey of 103 schools involved in the programme, 14 interviews with schools and other stakeholders, and two focus groups with young carers. Findings include: the introduction of the programme resulted in the identification of an increased number of young carers; 85% of schools reported that young carers were demonstrating increased wellbeing; 83% reported increased happiness and 83% reported increased confidence.

Mental health policy in England: The House of Commons Library has published a briefing on mental health policy in England. The briefing includes reference to services for children and young people.

Children and young people’s mental health networks: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced the creation of eight mental health networks to bring researchers, charities and other organisations together to address mental health research questions including: health inequalities for people with severe mental ill health; social isolation; youth and student mental health; and domestic and sexual violence.

In the service of youth – making waves in youth work: This year’s Institute for Youth Work conference is taking place in Brighton on the 10th November, it will be an opportunity to both celebrate Youth Work Week and the conference theme: coastal youth work. The conference is being co-hosted by the University of Brighton, and consequently one of the aims of the conference is to create a short paper on the unique nature of coastal youth work.

Suicide data from the UK and what does this mean for suicide prevention? The latest data shows that there were 5,821 suicides registered in 2017 in the UK, and the number and rate has decreased for the third year in the row. The decrease has mainly occurred in men, and the picture is different for women with the number of suicides remaining stable. However, men still account for three quarters of all suicides. Also, rates are not uniformly decreasing for all groups of men; rates in some age groups are increasing, for example men aged 45-49.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 8, 2018September 23, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

One in eight young people without degrees work in graduate jobs: The ONS publishes research showing that in 2017, 12% of non-graduates (327,303) aged 22 to 29 were working in a graduate job – defined as a role where the tasks typically require knowledge and skills gained through higher education. This compares with 54% of graduates (1,273,336) in the same age group who had a graduate job.

Call for young people to join NSPCC online safety group: The NSPCC is looking for young people aged 13-18 to join their online safety advisory group, to ensure young people’s views and experiences inform NSPCC campaigns, policy work and projects to help keep children safe online. Taking part will include face to face and online discussions about issues from gaming to online grooming. If you work in a school and are interested in your pupils getting involved, please email ParticipationUnit@NSPCC.org.uk. The deadline for young people to apply is Friday 21st September.

Keeping children safe in education: The Department for Education (DfE) statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England on Keeping children safe in education comes into force on 3 September 2018. The guidance includes: changes to information for all staff; the management of safeguarding; and a new section covering child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment. Annex H of the guidance provides a table of all changes.

Child Poverty: The House of Commons library has published a briefing paper setting out information on the levels and rates of poverty, including child poverty, in the UK. Figures show that in 2016/17 4.1 million children – 30% of all children – were in relative low income households after housing costs, up 100,000 from the previous year. Projections indicate that the proportion of children in relative low income households is expected to increase to 37% in 2021/22 based on incomes after housing costs.

Child Migrants: The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper giving an overview of the policy and practice of immigration detention in the UK. The briefing includes information on: unaccompanied children, at risk adults, pregnant women and families with children.

Children’s play and physical activity: The Children’s Commissioner for England has published a report looking at the importance to children of play and physical activity. Recommendations for government include: putting out-of-school activity at the heart of the plan to reduce obesity; and focussing on play and activity in policy responses to challenges faced by children, including mental health issues and excessive use of technology.

Good childhood report: The Children’s Society has published its seventh in-depth report on children and young people’s wellbeing in the UK. The report uses data from the Millennium Cohort Survey on the lives of more than 11,000 children born in the UK in 2000-01. In 2015, when the children were 14, they were asked whether they had hurt themselves on purpose in any way in the past year. Responses show that: 22% of girls and 9.2% of boys had self-harmed.

Transgender foster carers and adopters: An article in Community Care outlines tips to help social workers supporting transgender foster carers and adopters. Good practice tips include: using inclusive gender neutral language wherever possible in written materials; and not making assumptions or having fixed views about what is ‘normal’ for transgender people.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 4, 2018September 3, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

SEND complaints: guide for young people: The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance for young people aged 16-25 in England who are unhappy with their special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision or support at school or college, and need help and guidance on how to resolve disagreements.
UK Youth Parliament survey: The UK Youth Parliament has launched a Make your mark survey of the views of young people aged 11-18. Young people are invited to take part in the ballot to decide what members of the UK Youth Parliament should debate and vote on to be their campaign in 2019. The survey closes on 10 October 2018.
Vulnerable young people: The Home Office has published a summary of the 11 local authority-led projects in England receiving grant funding from the Trusted Relationships Fund to help youth workers, police, nurses and other professionals working with vulnerable young people aged 10-17 who are at risk of child sexual abuse, criminal exploitation or peer and relationship abuse.
Revised Police & Criminal Evidence Act Codes of Practice (PACE): Changes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act Codes of Practice, codes C (detention), H (detention – terrorism), E (audio recording of suspect interviews) and F (visual recording of suspect interviews), came in to force on 31 July 2018 including changes that are of particular significance to children and young people.
New unit to tackle exploitation of vulnerable young people: The Department for Education (DfE) has announced plans for a new national response unit to help local authorities in England support vulnerable children at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs. The new unit, which will operate from 2019 up until 2022, will address child sexual exploitation together with other crimes, such as gang and drug activity, which exploit vulnerable children and can lead to children going missing.
First ever study of serious case reviews of sudden unexpected infant deaths: The research was conducted by academics at the University of Warwick who aimed to develop a detailed understanding of the circumstances of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) cases subject to serious case review. Key findings include: domestic violence, mental health problems and substance misuse highlighted as factors; most cases occurred when intoxicated parents shared sleeping surfaces with child; and many happen following a sudden change in family circumstances.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 1, 2018September 3, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Child on parent violence: An article in Community Care reports that Children Experiencing Loss & Trauma (CEL&T) has published an overview of the findings from a survey of parents and carers who were experiencing challenging, violent and aggressive behaviour from their children. Analyses of responses from 538 parents and carers indicate that the commonly-used definition of child on parent violence isn’t robust enough with parents and carers saying that their children were as much victims of the behaviour as the adults and other children that were often hurt or threatened.
Looked After Children – Local Authority Factsheet: The Social Market Foundation (SMF) has published a report analysing the 2017 Ofsted inspections of local authorities in England looking at the provision of services for children in need of help and protection, children in care, and care leavers. Findings include: 36% of local authorities are classed as good; 2% are rated as outstanding; and 63% of local authorities either require improvement or are inadequate. The calculations based on these figures show that this means that 47,085 children – 65% of all looked-after children – are looked after in Local Authorities that are deemed to be falling short of a good standard. Recommendations include a Charter for looked-after children and a commitment from government to monitor the system and ensure outcomes improve. An interactive dashboard has been developed to show how services in local authorities are performing.
The lives we want to lead: the LGA have published a green paper for adult social care and wellbeing and launched a nationwide consultation to kick-start a desperately-needed debate on how to pay for adult social care and rescue the services caring for older and disabled people from collapse.
Now’s the Time small grants programme from the Justice and Equality Fund launches with grants of up to £25,000 available: ROSA want to amplify the voices of all the individuals and groups who are calling for an end to sexual harassment and abuse, in their workplaces and in their communities
The relationship between family violence and youth offending: This LGA commissioned report explores evidence based approaches and interventions for breaking the cycle for young people who experience family violence and go on to be involved in youth offending.
The cost of a child in 2018: The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has published its annual Cost of a child report calculating the costs of a child based on the minimum incomes standard (MIS) – the income that people need in order to reach a minimal socially acceptable standard of living in the UK. Findings from the report include: the minimum overall cost of a child from birth to 18 (including rent and childcare) is now £150,753 for a couple and £183,335 for a lone parent.