PHOTO CREDIT: RYLEE DICKINSON, YPBMF LEGEND
An evaluation of the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) has found that the network is driving significant improvements in support for care experienced young people, by strengthening professional practice, fostering collaboration among local authorities and informing national policy development.
NLCBF, part of the charity Catch22, brings together 135 local authority leaving care teams (134 when the evaluation was conducted), representing around 85% of local authorities in England, alongside two Health and Social Care Boards in Northern Ireland. The evaluation was co-led with care experienced young people through an Advisory Group and sought to explore the forum’s impact and future development needs. This was done through 104 survey responses, 27 interviews, three focus groups and two collaborative workshops.
“If I think about the service I’ve got now, compared with the service I had 15 years ago, it’s quite different. I would attribute a lot of the changes to ideas, little nuggets, bits and pieces that I’ve picked up from the forum.” Leaving Care Professional
Impact at local authority level included:
- 86% of survey respondents felt that NLCBF membership had some or a significant impact on how their local authority supports care experienced young people.
- 88% of survey respondents reported that listening to and learning from care experienced voices through the forum has positively influenced their practice.
“I think the standard of local offer has absolutely been raised by the benchmarking form. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. I think that’s a combination of that research work, the tools it developed, the ongoing workshops, the ongoing opportunities for people to reflect on their local offer with peers.” Leaving Care Professional
At a national and regional level, impact included:
- Nearly seven in ten respondents (69%) reported that membership had improved partnership working, helping local authorities develop regional initiatives and strengthen cross-boundary coordination.
- Promoting relationships with key partners such as prisons and enabling more effective cross boundary coordination when care experienced young people move between areas
- 73% of respondents said the forum had influenced care leaving policy and practice. Examples of policy shifts directly influenced by the NLCBF included its recommendations being adopted by the Department of Health and Social Care, and Ofsted’s introduction of a separate judgement for care leavers.
“There is a direct link between the NLCBF and tangible changes in national policy.” National stakeholder,
Young People’s involvement central to NLCBF’s impact
Throughout the evaluation, we heard the importance of the role of the Young People’s Benchmarking Forum (YPBMF):
- 88% of survey respondents said that learning from young people’s voices had positively influenced their practice
- In particular, YPBMF’s ‘In Their Own Words’ co-produced research, reports and events have provided an influential platform to highlight priority issues for young people
- 85% of survey respondents said that ‘In Their Own Words’ had influenced or supported their work.
“We use “In Their Own Words” work as a way of informing our priorities for what we’re doing. Being able to say, actually, this is what the young people say we should be focusing on is super helpful for us.” National or regional stakeholder
“We got the opportunity to be involved with Ofsted’s consultation about the regulation of semi-independent living for 16 and 17-year-olds. And we even got to go down to the House of Lords, and it was just brilliant getting to meet all these policymakers and really high-up people, and being able to advocate for ourselves. And then we did some work around the review of children’s social care. There’s just so many opportunities for us to speak to these people… I can definitely see an improvement and an influx of all these different opportunities, and people are actually listening to us, it’s great.” YPBMF member
Recommendations for the Future:
The evaluation also identified recommendations to strengthen the forum’s influence and delivery approach, such as further strengthening the role of care experienced young people in shaping the work of NLCBF, expanding partnerships and member engagement, and providing more practical support for leaving care teams. It also calls for stronger regional collaboration and greater national influence to help improve outcomes for care leavers. The findings and recommendations will now inform the development of a strategy for the future.
To find out more about the evaluation findings:
- Watch a 5 minute video hosted by YPBMF Legends: HERE
- Download a 2 page summary: HERE
- Download the Executive summary: HERE
We would like to thank:
- Researchers Ellie Mendez Sayer and Dr Claire Baker.
- Segelman Trust for generously funding this evaluation
- YPBMF Legends Mark, Esla, Leo-Dan and Reece who made up the Young People’s Advisory Group
- Matilde Chora, Catch22’s Senior Research and Evaluation Manager for managing the evaluation
- The Local Authority teams, care experienced young people and representatives from partner organisations who took part in the evaluation and shared their views.
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