Case studies

Little Troopers is a cross-agency partnership between Swindon Libraries and Information Service, Family Nurse Partnership, Housing, and Care Leavers teams to support young, vulnerable families. The open, drop-in group is for parents up to 25 years, with the average age around 20, and their children up to age three.

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council provides a mentoring service for apprentices in the private or public sectors. This is part of the Council’s employment and skills team and links with wider services to support harder-to-reach young people, including care leavers and those with disabilities.

Durham County Council delivers a cross-county programme called DurhamWorks which supports unemployed 16-24 year olds to progress into employment, education or training (EET). To date, DurhamWorks has supported 8750 young people with 78 per cent progressing into EET or gaining a qualification. This provides the framework within which the Sessional Employment Programme (SEP) sits.

Inclusion is at the heart of Hampshire County Council’s strategies and planning, with recognition of the need to bolster support for those hard-to-reach groups with lower level skills. Hampshire Virtual College aims to ensure that young people have access to high quality, post 16 education, employment and training.

Youth Voice is a project taking place in East Suffolk, in the East of England. The initiative forms part of East Suffolk Council’s enabling communities strategy, and is run by the Communities Team.

The ‘Unacceptable’ project took place in Essex in the East of England. It was a response from Essex County Council to national concerns raised by Ofsted and NSPCC about sexual violence in schools.

Exeter City Council has created Wellbeing Exeter, a strategic alliance with Devon County Council and Sport England, which aims to link up community, healthcare and wellbeing services, and to reinforce local assets which might strengthen wellbeing outcomes.

Telford and Wrekin Council were faced with a challenging situation in 2019 when they commissioned an inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation. Councillors were at risk of abuse and aggression from residents and national groups interested in the inquiry. The council took this risk seriously, providing councillors with appropriate and proportionate safety measures depending on the level of risk.

This case study describes the process of resurrecting the Early Years and Childcare Strategy in Bracknell Forest. The support programme engaged a total of 12 LAs in a process to support the best coordination of services, legal compliance and improved outcomes for children and families.

Central Bedfordshire Council has been addressing a deficit in social housing by embarking on a project to increase the number of council properties available.