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When we created Empowering-Communities back in 2007 we adopted the phrase “prevention is better than a cure”. By joining up services around vulnerable people we knew we could help to identify and provide timely and effective support before their problems developed or escalated further.One of the most effective ways to do this is through Early Intervention. Early intervention is about taking action as soon as possible to tackle problems for children and families before they become more difficult to reverse. It covers a wide range of sectors including education, health and crime and involves a range of professionals from teachers, social workers,

mental health specialists and community workers.Empowering-Communities is fortunate to be working with counties across the UK who are carrying out exemplary work to improve the life chances of children and families through early intervention. Because a child or family can experience an array of problems all at once their work is truly multi-disciplinary and provides holistic joined up approaches that get to the root of problems so that they can deliver tailored support that addresses their individual needs.This issue of Partnership Breakthroughs focuses on some great examples of Early Intervention work that our customers are providing and the collaborative approaches they have put in place to provide effective support.

In this Issue • Shropshire’s ‘whole family’ approach gets to heart of early intervention service delivery - p2-4• Professionals rally round to dramatically reduce the number of children being permanently

excluded from schools - p5-6• Making maps work harder for social prescriptions - p7• How Northamptonshire Police are reducing school exclusions - p8• Equipping NPTs with improved local information - p9• Derby City Council gets to the root of people’s problems - p10-11• A multi-agency approach to Child Sexual Exploitation - p12• Empowering-Communities passes rigorous G-Cloud 9 application process - p13• Empowering-Communities awarded ISO9001 accreditation - p14

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Shropshire’s ‘whole family’ approach gets to the heart of early intervention service delivery

Across Shropshire, partners are using E-CINS to work together and share relevant information. The multi-agency approach, the training that has been undertaken, the engagement with schools and the partnership with health is assisting the process of service transformation and changing the culture of the way people work. Empowering-Communities’ Heather Ette spoke to Kay Smallbone, Troubled Families Strategic Co-ordinator at Shropshire Council about the work her team are doing with E-CINS and how they are getting partners to agree and understand how they effectively share information to better support their customers.HE: How long have you been using E-CINS for, what do you use it for and what would you say are the main benefits of using it, particularly with regards to Early Intervention? KS: E-CINS went live for partner agencies in September 2016.  We currently use E-CINS for all our Early Help and Troubled Families cases.  E-CINS was introduced in response to extensive consultation with partner agencies who, without exception, acknowledged that we needed to improve the way we communicate effectively,

hear the voice of the child/young person/family and avoid duplication of work.  Shropshire Early Help and Troubled Families is on a journey of service transformation and E-CINS is a key tool, driving a new way of working forward.  We are implementing a whole family approach across all agencies, asking agencies to work together to improve outcomes for families, especially the children.

E-CINS allows professionals to contribute to the assessment and planning process, to communicate securely with each other and to manage their workload.  We commissioned Empowering-Communities to develop an electronic Action and Support Plan which has allowed us to include the outcomes and measures from the locally developed Family Outcomes Plan. Through this, we are able to track progress of families against specific and detailed measures and going forward it will make any reporting or Payment by Results claims much easier.

E-CINS has improved our ability to draw off data and evaluate our work.  We have also set up robust audit processes which allows us to share learning with partners about quality of assessments, plans and outcomes for families.

We use E-CINS to allow professionals to request interventions from targeted Early Help Services.  As this becomes embedded into practice we are having feedback that it is improving the time it takes to get the right service delivered to a family.

HE: Shropshire has been very successful in engaging with partners to deliver joined-up support around your customers.  How have you achieved this and how have you essentially won partner’s ‘hearts and minds’?KS: Shropshire is a very large rural county and we have a history of good partnership working.  However, the service transformation is bringing together partners that might not have naturally worked together previously.  Bringing everyone on board has been a long process and the journey continues. 

Key to engagement has been a shared understanding about Information Sharing and the development of a multi agency information sharing agreement.  There is a commitment by all agencies to improve communications and provide a wrap round service for families, this does not happen without robust infrastructure support which includes training and tailored 121 support and telephone support.

Cont’d.

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HE: You have created your own training programme for partners - how does this work?KS: The process we are using on E-CINS covers all areas of our work with families, which has meant that there are a number of stages that professionals participate in, on various levels.  It is important that we have a confident skilled workforce that are not anxious about using the system when needed, know the quickest way of doing things and see the value of participation.  To achieve this we are continuously developing our package of support, which includes training and a step by step manual.

The training is aimed at all staff/volunteers who could potentially contribute to assessing, planning, intervening and reviewing the needs of families. Including; school staff, the early years sector, residential staff, early help practitioners, midwives, school nurses, health visitors, sexual health staff, housing staff, hospital staff, social workers, youth offending staff, the police, sports development officers, disability specialists, faith groups, community young groups, those working with adults who may have children. 

Settings must be registered E-CINS Users before attending this training. All E-CINS training is free of charge.  Currently we offer a rolling programme of training which is supplemented by bespoke training delivered 121 or to specific organisations or cluster of schools.

Cont'd

E-CINS TRAINING• Introduction to E-CINS TrainingTo give attendees a broad overview of this system and how this can support multi-agency working.• Look Up and Recording on E-CINSTo give attendees an overview of the functionality of the E-CINS system.• Creating a Case on E-CINSTo show attendees how to:- add a family case to E-CINS- complete the assessment and family plan- request an intervention.

• Using the Family Action Plan Effectively & Case ClosureTo show attendees how to use the Family Action Plan effectively from outset to case closure. To complement the E-CINS specific training we offer practice sessions which also include the use of E-CINS

EARLY HELP TRAINING

• The Role of the Lead Professional

• Capturing the Voice of the Child and Family

• Assessment and Analysis Skills

• SMART Action Planning

• Information Sharing and Consent

HE: Do you think E-CINS is helping you better understand your customer’s needs?KS: It is certainly giving us a transparent insight into family cases;

• who is involved

• how quickly we are getting the right service to a family

• where we are closing too soon

• when families come back into the system

• tracking outcomes

• if the right people are involved with the family

• if the voice of the family/child/young person is clearly heard

• the impact of quality case recording

HE: Has E-CINS helped improve your relationships with your partners and if so, in what way?KS: The service transformation process has required us to have meaningful engagement with all partners.  There has been a lot of change in service over the last few years, which makes facilitating change challenging at times. 

Working in partnership on E-CINS and multi-agency recording has started to help partners understand others’ roles and the work they do.HE: Do you find that some agencies can be resistant to signing up to E-CINS and if so, what are the main reasons and how do you win them over?One of the main challenges is organisations not wanting their staff recording on two systems.  This is likely to be an ongoing problem, but the more we use the system the more evidence we

have that it saves time and ultimately provides better outcomes for families that can be clearly demonstrated.  If a member of staff is involved with one good multi-agency case, they are going back and sharing it with their organisations.

In the main if partners know about it and can see a benefit they will join the party.  Larger organisation often take longer to process the Information Sharing as they have to go through their legal departments etc.  As with all things, where so many potential partners are involved, sometimes they have not picked up on communications. 

It is just a matter of keep plugging away, attend meetings, put things in newsletter and use social media, face to face contact especially in schools.  We now have over 130 organisations and 650 users on the system, so peer pressure is beginning to result in many of the requests to be registered.

Contact:

Kay Smallbone, Troubled Families Strategic Co-ordinator, Shropshire CouncilT: +44 (0)1743 251677 E: kay.smallbone@shropshire.gov.uk

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“E-CINS has improved our ability to draw off data and evaluate our work.  We have also set up robust audit processes which allows us to share learning with partners about quality of assessments, plans and outcomes for families.”

Kay Smallbone, Troubled Families Strategic Coordinator, Shropshire Council

“Empowering Communities have been incredibly supportive throughout a

two year process, helping us to get it right and being very patient while we

trial things, add things and change our minds.  We have found the whole team

to be welcoming and helpfulwhich has made the whole process

so much easier.”

Kay Smallbone, Troubled Families Strategic Coordinator,

Shropshire Council

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Professionals Rally Round to Dramatically Reduce the Number of Children Being Permanently Excluded From Schools

A unique service in Peterborough, dedicated to reducing the number of children permanently excluded in schools, is helping to provide a range of specialist support to children with additional needs and get them and their families help to improve their lives.The Pupil Referral Service operates as a specialist setting under Peterborough City Council and has been heralded by OFSTED as a model of excellence some three times. It is the only service of its type nationally and, since inception vastly reduces cases of permanent exclusions across the city of Peterborough.

Unique Approach

The scheme was set up two years ago by Head of Service Claire George and ex-Police Officer Andy Craighead who focused their efforts on helping children of all different age ranges, from Primary to Secondary Mainstream Schools, who had either been permanently excluded from school or were at the point of being excluded. Andy embedded himself in the scheme saying “Every Friday we would get a call from a school saying that they didn’t know what to do with a specific child, that they had tried everything and that nothing was working. One of the key challenges for us was the legal requirement that legislates for a specific number of days that a local authority must deal with permanent exclusions and losing two days over a weekend meant that it was

difficult to process and comply within the timeframes. It became obvious that we needed a unique approach and one that promoted early intervention, rather than crisis intervention, to support these children, their families and their schools.”

In response to the need for early help, Claire George set up a Behavioural Support Panel involving a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, tasked as a group, to individually assess and ‘wrap support’ around a child and their family. The Panel is chaired every Friday by the Pupil Referral Service’s Andy Craighead with representatives including the Peterborough City Council’s Early Help Co-ordinator, an Educational Psychologist, a Mental Health Nurse from Project for Schools which is part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and a dedicated single worker from Children and Adults Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Involvement and Engagement

Claire said “The purpose of the Behavioural Support Panel is to look at the paper evidence that has been brought by the school and present the case around the child. The majority of the children referred are at high risk of permanent exclusion and the professionals on the Panel are there to agree an action and support plan that is focused on getting the children the support they need in their school setting and reducing instances of exclusions.

“A key part of the process is the involvement and engagement of the child’s family. Andy and myself carry out a home visit on behalf of the child and we carry out a detailed assessment of the family to consider their support needs in the first instance. We allocate an Intervention Specialist Worker so the family has a dedicated point of contact and we arrange for any referrals for support required as a result of the family assessment.

It’s not just behavioural or emotional support that we can signpost to, we also offer support for issues such as drug and alcohol problems, rent arrears or mental health issues to the family unit as a whole.

Cont’d.

“We were having 1 or 2 permanent exclusions every 3 weeks but it’s fair to

say that since setting up the Behavioural Support Panels we have

only had 2 permanent exclusions in 2 years.”

Claire George, Head of Service, Peterborough Pupil Referral Service

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The Right Professionals

‘As we have the right professionals on the Panel, we arrange for a proper assessment of the child’s social, emotional, communicational and behavioural needs and arrange for specialist interventions and the provision of an Educational Health and Care Plan, if required, in order to ensure that the child’s specific and individual needs are met in the school setting.” Speaking of the success of the service Claire said, “We were having 1 or 2 permanent exclusions every 3 weeks but it’s fair to say that since setting up the Behavioural Support Panels we have only had 2 permanent exclusions in 2 years.”

Safeguarding and Compass Provision

Looking after the most vulnerable children in the City involves a range of programmes. As part of the Safeguarding Team, some of the children Claire and Andy work with are on Full Child Protection Plans. Within the City’s Learning Centre they have a Compass provision which is responsible for unaccompanied minors from Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan who have suffered extreme trauma. The Learning Centre currently have provision for up to 40 unaccompanied children.

PREVENT

They are also responsible for working with schools for the City’s PREVENT programme which Andy was also involved in formerly within his Policing role. Andy said “We had a need for and a requirement to record the information we were receiving from schools and we needed to tie it all together with the professionals on our panel. We needed a secure system that could work across all the agencies – mental health (NHS}, local authority and schools and we also needed to give the Police access to information on occasions. As Cambridgeshire were already using the multi-agency collaboration system E-CINS for a range of solutions across the county, including PREVENT, I fully understood the capabilities and benefits of the system and recognised it as being the ideal platform to fully meet a partnership approach.

“We use E-CINS very successfully to help us manage the Pupil Referral Service. It has allowed us to link the schools and the wider services to our day to day work in the Behavioural Support Panel and involve all the agencies that need to be involved. A school will send an electronic referral form through to us and an Administrator creates a profile of the family on E-CINS. After Claire and I carry out our home visit I upload the Home Visit Form onto the system, giving actions and tasks to the individuals involved in the Behavioural Support Panel for example, if I ask one of the Mental

Health Nurses to carry out a framed assessment for a neurodevelopmental report to be done they will upload the report onto E-CINS and grant access to the individuals who would need to view it. This is all automated through E-CINS which saves a considerable amount of time and effort. A Family Support Worker is tasked at the same time and they work with the family, constantly updating them with information.

Part of the review is evidence gathering and with E-CINS being a secure cloud-based system the Support Worker is able to login remotely to get up to date information in realtime and update the system whilst out on Family Home Visits. E-CINS has been absolutely central to the success of the scheme, it really is an amazing tool that has allowed us to carry out this work in a secure and efficient way and help us deliver joined up support.”

Andy continued “I wouldn’t say I am a confident computer-user but I do feel very much in control with the implementation of the scheme on E-CINS. The system is locked down to just the people the Panel decide we want to work with on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. 14 people have general daily access and we invite the Police in on specific cases on a day to day basis. E-CINS gives us the flexibility to involve people on a need to know basis and ensure that they only have access if we want them to.“

By working out the appropriate needs of the child and finding out what is needed for the child and the family Peterborough’s Pupil Referral Service is making a significant difference to children’s access to a full education, their health and wellbeing and the health and wellbeing of their families too.

Contact:

E: andrew.craighead@peterborough.gov.uk

More reading: Inspectors praise counselling support for SEND pupils in Cambridgeshire - http://bit.ly/2sId8Q6

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“We needed a secure system that could work across all the agencies – mental health (NHS}, local authority and schools and we also needed to give the Police access to information on occasions”

Claire George, Head of Service, Peterborough Pupil Referral Service

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Making maps work harder for social prescriptions

As a nation, we rely heavily on our NHS and we’re unique in the fact that we default to our GP with any kind of issue relating to our health. We’re reassured by the traditional model of an initial consultation followed by a referral if necessary.But often, the most useful treatments and therapies exist outside of the NHS in the form of voluntary local services. All over the country, thousands of volunteers are helping individuals to improve the quality of their lives - from art classes which promote mental wellbeing, through to animal-assisted activities for the elderly.

Many of us are unaware of the range of voluntary services on our doorsteps and unlikely to reach out to them as the first point of contact. To address this, a few years ago GPs began issuing “social prescriptions”, which essentially signpost an individual to one or more local services. Sometimes this involves a direct referral, or it may also involve a middle organisation, such as Age UK.

Intangible benefits of social prescribingMeasuring the effectiveness of social prescribing isn’t easy as many reporting techniques are based on particular conditions rather than overall health. Several reports have highlighted positive outcomes from initial pilot schemes though, including one from Age UK which uses the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well Being Scale (WEMWBS):

“A small number of older people completed the WEMWBS and reported an improvement in wellbeing - 24.5/70 at initial assessment to 36/70 when the intervention completed.”

It’s clear that many of the benefits are intangible and relate to confidence, overall happiness and

connectedness. For example, one participant at Creative Alternatives in Merseyside explained: “I am finding confidence to speak to strangers, to have opinions, and to find a little courage to face my fears. I am becoming more involved again and less withdrawn.”

Inconsistent referralsWhether or not a patient is given a social prescription seems to be a subjective decision taken by each GP. Some lack supporting information to feel informed, whereas others aren’t fully convinced that the referral will be actioned by the service.

There’s also a case to say that each individual should take more responsibility for their own wellbeing and investigate the local alternatives to their GP in the first instance. Either way, whether the onus remains on GPs or each individual, it’s clear that many regions need a simple way to discover local voluntary services.

Making better use of mappingAs I delved into social prescribing it became clear that Empowering Communities could help in three ways. Firstly, one of our products, NearMyStreet, is an online directory and mapping tool for practitioners to promote community events and services. It’s already been developed with community wellbeing in mind and it aims to keep people active and improve social connections.

Secondly, we offer a module called MyPortal, which can work alongside NearMyStreet to enable practitioners to securely communicate with each individual. Importantly, this removes any concern from GPs that referrals may not be actioned.

Thirdly, to further support GPs, E-CINS features a needs assessment form, which includes a range of questions that each trigger referrals. E-CINS is already being used in this way by practitioners at Derby City Council. They also use it to track the various tasks arising from each referral - so everything gets actioned.

Over the next few years, our tendency to rely heavily on GPs will diminish, as more of us shift towards self-initiated local support. Technology needs to underpin this by helping communities to discover the depth of assistance nearby.

For more information on NearMyStreet visit http://bit.ly/2tpHN1Q

For more information on My Portal contact: support@empowering-communities.org

How Northamptonshire Police are reducing school exclusions Every year around 5,000 young people are excluded from school. Many of these turn to crime and only 15% return to mainstream education. In an effort to intervene earlier, Northamptonshire Police are collaborating with local schools to keep young people within the education system. There’s a clear link between exclusions and criminal activity. A report by the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons discovered that 85% of boys in detention had been excluded from school and 41% were 14 or younger when they last attended. Furthermore, following the riots of 2011, the majority of those arrested had been excluded in the past.

The reasons for this are complex and include a range of factors. For example, a lack of academic support at home is likely to cause anger and frustration at school. Excluded young people may also turn to crime simply due to boredom or the perceived prestige it brings.

One of the most effective ways of tackling this problem is to get involved earlier and shape the individual before it’s too late. If a school is able to avoid an exclusion, it gives the young person more time to consider their wider aspirations.

Across the Wellingborough area, Northamptonshire Police are doing exactly that. By collaborating with various agencies, they’re aiming to reduce exclusions to zero. Sergeant Paul Valentine, explains “Our aspiration is to have no school exclusions across

Wellingborough as we recognise the harm it causes."

The early intervention work involves three key steps:

Step 1

Young people at risk of joining gangs are identified by using data from various sources.

Step 2

Via E-CINS, schools provide information which is then used to prioritise those most at risk. This is discussed by various partners, including youth service providers, schools, housing offices, early intervention staff, school educational inclusion officers, family centres and anyone else who can add value.

Step 3

Action is taken to divert the individuals away from crime and keep them within the education system.

By sharing data, each team can get involved in the most effective way. For example, the police are able to conduct family meetings more successfully than schools can, as it’s easier to gain parental consent.

“If schools carry out an Early Help Assessment they can quite often struggle to get parental consent to have a team around the family meeting. This can be due to parent’s concerns about the involvement of social services or child protection agencies. We find that when we send a police officer to cross the threshold into their family home to hold non-confrontational, solution-seeking meetings that it is a less threatening environment,” Sergeant Valentine added. Each year we spend £17 billion trying to rectify the issues arising from late intervention. If agencies across the country took the same approach as Northamptonshire, the results could be staggering.

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Equipping NPT’sWith Improved Local Information Cleveland Police is making use of analytical mapping technology to give greater information to officers as to what is happening locally.

By combining three software programmes, IMAP, E-CINS and NICHE, Neighbourhood Police Teams are able to greatly improve their knowledge of what’s happening in a specific area and where the vulnerable members of their community are, mapping places of interest so that officers have background information ready at their fingertips if there is a need to attend a location. For example, the force now has places of worships mapped out should there be a reason to visit and give advice, say regarding a specific threat.

Historically the Force has used IMAP to look at Crime and ASB locations to determine trends and plan resources around the deployment of assets. Officers specify a geographic location, the time period they wish to examine and the type of incident they want to look at e.g. ASB, crime, public safety etc. Incidents are plotted on a map and linked through to NICHE which enables officers to receive full details of each incident by mapped location.

By introducing E-CINS into the process the force are adding a crucial layer of information that provides officers with a far greater level of knowledge. As a multi-agency case management system, E-CINS enables the Force’s partners and support providers to add information on victims, offenders, vulnerable individuals and premises that they are working with. All cases on E-CINS which have Police involvement are plotted on IMAP using a layering system so that every member of Police staff (predominantly

Neighbourhood Officers) can view where there is/has been an issue before they patrol in a particular ward.

Darren Birkett, Temporary Chief Inspector at Middlesborough NPT said ‘As far as I am aware, we are the only Force who are using mapping technology in this way. The last thing we want to happen is that PCSO’s walk past an address that is being targeted by youths and because their colleagues are owners of a case, they are unaware of that issue.

‘By logging into IMAP at the start of their shift they can see all the issues in the ward they will be patrolling in that day. We plan to add more and more to E-CINS such as Troubled Families and in turn that will increase our staff’s knowledge base of the key locations they need to look out for when in that area.’

‘As you click on each icon, there is a hyperlink that takes you into the E-CINS case so the officer can find out the full facts of the case, shown below. 

‘We have colour coded each case as red for live, black for archived and gold for “what works well”. Archived cases remain on IMAP for 1 year and we are in the process of turning more of the archived ones into “what works well” so we can share best practice across all of our local policing areas.

Darren continued ‘It has raised officer awareness in terms of which vulnerable people are residing in the area that they will be Policing and that is the main benefit of the connection between E-CINS and IMAP. It’s building that bigger picture of an area and having all the information in one place that a PC or PCSO requires for them to be more effective.’  

Contact:

Darren Birkett, Temporary Chief Inspector Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Policing TeamT: 01642 303104E: Darren.Birkett@cleveland.pnn.police.uk

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Derby City Council gets to the root of people’s problems with innovative new scheme Derby City Council is the first council to introduce a revolutionary approach to how they administer discretionary payments and awards. The Single Discretionary Award (SDA) Scheme has been introduced to combine three separate discretionary financial awards, Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP), Local Assistance Scheme (LAS) and Council Tax Hardship (CTH). This along with caseworker intervention supports customers to become more financially independent and take steps towards work.The SDA application form and EC Connect Gateway has been designed by social enterprise Empowering Communities to allow customers to quickly and easily provide the council with the information required to make decisions on the financial element of the SDA application. With a number of dynamic elements, it will give customers an instant indication on the outcome of their application.

What is a Discretionary Award?Recent welfare reform changes such as the Under-Occupancy Charge and the Benefit Cap have seen a significant increase in the number of customers presenting to the council in need of financial help.

In response to this, Derby City Council developed a welfare strategy for Derby to implement

innovative service interventions and partnership models to help address those impacted within the context of reducing budgets.

Customers applying to the scheme can have underlying, additional issues that are barriers to financial independence and ultimately work. These discretionary awards assist people with their rent payments, council tax payments and emergency awards for food, gas, electricity and assistance with furniture and white goods. Awards can also be made for people leaving long term hospital care or prison, people resettling after homelessness or disaster and domestic violence survivors.

Once customers have completed the SDA form, successful applicants in need of specialist support are allocated a trained caseworker who will develop their individual support plan. This plan is managed in the multi-agency case management system – E-CINS.

The introduction of a Single Discretionary Award has enabled the council to highlight where people have vulnerabilities in a number of different areas.

Cllr Baggy Shanker, Cabinet Member for Governance and Finance, said “Our Welfare Reform Team carry out need assessments to identify the customer’s priority needs and refer them to a wide range of specialist agencies such as counselling, money advice, alcohol and drug dependency support, housing, digital skills, banking, welfare rights and employment support. Our focus is to work with customers to support them in becoming more financially independent and removing barriers to employment.

“With individual discretionary awards we were less able to identify the underlying challenges that resulted in customers regularly using these short awards instead of a longer term more sustainable plan.

“We are currently preparing for the full roll-out of Universal Credit and other associated welfare reforms and by introducing this service we are helping customers be better prepared.”

Cont’d.

“We are currently preparing for the full roll-out of Universal Credit and other

associated welfare reforms and by introducing this service we are helping

customers be better prepared.”

Cllr Baggy Shanker, Cabinet Member for Governance and Finance

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How does it work?The SDA form, EC Connect Gateway and E-CINS case Management system are used to help manage the delivery of this service. The SDA form contains a range of in-depth questions which help the council to identify the customer’s financial needs.

The process:1. The customer accesses and completes the

SDA form online.

2. The council processes the application, makes a decision and reports it in the SDA Gateway. If the council identify that a customer is in need of additional support their details are “pushed through” to E-CINS where a caseworker will assess their needs and explore which agencies are best placed to support them.

3. The council generates an Excel spreadsheet from E-CINS which provides data that can be imported into the E-CINS Data Visualisation Tool to show emerging trends and how people have been supported to move on. This is used for evaluation purposes and to monitor success.

Gary Pettengell, CEO of Empowering Communities, explained that the new process could also help to identify fraudulent claims. “The combination of these three forms into a single application reduces the number of times that

people have to apply for separate awards, helps to maximise and coordinate support and makes it easier to identify discrepancies. This, in turn, could potentially reduce fraud by stopping applicants putting different information on each separate form.

“It also enables councils to properly understand the issues each customer is facing and ensure that they are receiving all the support they’re entitled to. On an individual basis, this gets to the very heart of the problems they’re encountering.”

Derby City Council’s Director of Finance, Martyn Marples, added “The work we have achieved with Empowering Communities in piloting the SDA Gateway could pave the way for lots of other local authorities to rethink how they administer discretionary awards. With budget cuts across all local authorities and constant pressure to reduce expenditure but increase support, the Single Discretionary Award Scheme and SDA Gateway provides us with an opportunity to help manage demand, make best use of limited funding and deliver a service to customers that helps make a difference.”

Contacts:

Kate Green, Welfare Reform Manager, Derby City CouncilT: +44 (0)1332 640560 E: Kate.Green@derby.gcsx.gov.uk

Gary Pettengell, CEO, Empowering-Communities

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A Multi-Agency Approach to Child Sexual Exploitation by Gary Pettengell, CEO and Founder, Empowering-Communities

5% of 11–17 year olds have experienced Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). This equates to around 50 children in every secondary school in England and Wales. To combat this, the Government recently published its “Tackling CSE Progress Report”, which sets out a range of measures introduced since 2015.Statistics are encouraging:

• 1000 more offenders were convicted in 2015 compared with 2014.

• Recordings of sexual abuse offences increased by 24% in 2015/16 compared with 2014/15 (a 130% increase from 2011/12).

Even though recorded offences actually increased, this is seen as a positive step forward due to the underreported nature of CSE.

The report explains that “Local partnerships are now consistently prioritising CSE and are empowered to radically improve their practice.” It also refers to reducing “the risk of children falling through the gaps between services.”

I’ve witnessed these improvements first-hand while working alongside the Reducing Incidents of Sexual Exploitation (RISE) unit in Northamptonshire. RISE is a multi-agency team that prevents and protects young people from CSE. It includes youth workers, police officers, social care workers and various professionals within health and education.

The RISE team meet daily to discuss recent CSE-related crimes, current missing children and specific concerns raised by other professionals. Each month, RISE assesses around 20 referrals to identify which are high risk.

When RISE accepts an individual, a family support worker will contact them and look to reduce their vulnerability. Any subsequent criminal investigations are then handled by the unit’s police officers.

Closing the gaps with E-CINSThere’s a colossal amount of activity and administration surrounding each case. Without the right technology, there’s a risk that individuals can “fall through the gaps between services” as highlighted by the Government’s report.

Through Empowering Communities, we provided the RISE team with our E-CINS system. The simple SaaS platform enables the various practitioners to securely share information, regardless of its original source. It also allows the police to search a national database containing profiles from several different agencies — many of which are not available on traditional police databases. E-CINS also records various trigger factors for each offender and sends automatic notifications on important CSE issues.

But critically, it helps the broader community in Northamptonshire to safeguard its most vulnerable children by providing a means for external organisations to check whether a child is already known to agencies. Configurable permissions allow specific groups to access particular information without comprising any sensitive material.

It’s reassuring that the Government advocates a multi-agency approach to tackling CSE. The ongoing work by the RISE team is further proof that collaboration is vital to overcome the considerable challenges associated with this hidden crime.

“E-CINS helps the broader community in Northamptonshire to safeguard

its most vulnerable children by providing a means for external

organisations to check whether a child is already known to agencies.”

Gary Pettengell, CEO,

Empowering-Communities

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Empowering-Communities Passes Rigorous G-Cloud 9 Application Process Empowering Communities has been accepted onto the government’s latest G-Cloud 9 framework. Following a meticulous application process, five products are now available to procure directly.G-Cloud 9 makes it simpler and safer for the public sector to adopt leading cloud technology. By using the Digital Marketplace, organisations can find a range of services matching their specific requirements.

All suppliers are legally required to meet a challenging set of minimum standards relating to security, privacy, cost and data storage. There are hundreds of stipulations, including:• Compliance with the Official Secrets Act 1911 to

1989• Compliance with the Data Protection Act• Employer’s liability insurance of at least

£5,000,000• Working according to the digital-by-default

service standard✴Understanding user needs✴Doing ongoing user research✴Having a multidisciplinary team✴Using agile methods✴Iterating and improving frequently✴Using open standards and common

platforms✴Making a plan for being offline

• Agreeing to the government’s technology code of practice

✴Making software interoperable✴Making data open by default, while

minimising and securing personal data, or data restricted for national security reasons

✴Following the principles set out in the Security policy framework and Security Classification Policy

✴Making services and systems compliant with EN 301 549 and following accessibility guidance

✴Helping to promote good practice and avoiding duplicate efforts by sharing and reusing.

✴Meeting the Digital Service Standard for digital services

✴Complying with the Greening Government ICT strategy

A full list of criteria can be found here. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-digital-marketplace-suppliers-have-been-evaluatedAfter suppliers have been accepted onto the framework, the Crown Commercial Service performs a number of ongoing checks, such as monitoring supplier credit scores and investigating specific queries.Gary Pettengell, Empowering Communities’ CEO, said: “We’re working hard to create leading cloud products that help public sector teams collaborate for the greater good. Our acceptance on to G-Cloud 9 validates the continued efforts of everyone at Empowering Communities.”Five products are now available to buy through the government’s digital marketplace.E-CINSEnables practitioners to securely share information individually, locally, across borders and nationally. It can be used as a standalone case management system or a multi-agency sharing/search tool to complement legacy software. http://bit.ly/2sZuolyEC ConnectA multi-channel CRM and community engagement framework that gives organisations their own secure private cloud. It enables optional communication with the public, practitioners and other organisations as well as an interface with E-CINS. http://bit.ly/2v7BnWfEC MARACCreates a secure single point of access to a range of services allowing providers to escalate the support they offer to vulnerable victims and those with complex needs. http://bit.ly/2uMFCXZEC MASHA secure multi-channel MASH solution that gives teams and whole organisations the ability to communicate with their clients. It records every interaction, including emails, letters sent, phone calls, meetings and visits. http://bit.ly/2udGCHhINVICTUSA secure, private cloud-based system for the management of victims of crime. It automatically imports data from other systems and it’s designed to help organisations meet their obligations under the Victim Code. Features include encrypted public-facing self-referral forms. http://bit.ly/2t02VQF

Empowering Communities helps organisations to collaborate beyond traditional boundaries. To find out more, call Gary Pettengell on 01493 858768 or email gary@empowering-communities.org.

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Successful ISO9001 Surveillance Audit for Empowering-Communities

Empowering-Communities are pleased to announce that we have successfully completed an annual surveillance audit for BS EN ISO 9001:2015

Quality Management System in relation to our ISO 9001:2015 Certification which was awarded on 25th July 2016 for a 3 year period. The quality management system is internally audited and externally assessed by an independent assessor (The Certification Group Limited (TCG).

ISO 9001:2015 is an internationally recognised quality standard which requires an organisation to have a strictly defined quality management system, including documented procedures for workflow management, issue resolution, continuous improvement and customer service, among other procedures.

Benefits of ISO 9001 include the ability to demonstrate that we:

• Work in a more efficient way as all processes are aligned and understood by everyone in the organisation. This increases productivity and efficiency, bringing internal costs down.

• Meet the necessary statutory and regulatory requirements.

• Are able to expand into new markets, as some sectors and clients require ISO 9001 before doing business.

• Identify and address the risks associated with our organisation.

Gary Pettengell, CEO Empowering-Communities said “ISO 9001:2015 is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement.

We are delighted to have successfully met the requirements of this standard again and to evidence that we are working hard to ensure that our customers get consistent, good quality products and services, that their needs are consistently met and their satisfaction enhanced”.

National E-CINS Forumand Working Groups Launched

by Gary Pettengell, CEO Empowering-Communities and Founder E-CINS

Several schemes and users have identified the need for a National E-CINS Forum and I am pleased to announce that this will

take place on 20th September 2017 and will be kindly hosted by Solihull Council. E-CINS is being used for a large range of business areas and, to represent these, we will be setting up a number of Working Groups under the Forum umbrella. Each working group will cover an area of business such as Gangs, Offender Management, Linking E-CINS to other systems, and Early Intervention etc. The E-CINS Security Working Group will also come under the Forum umbrella. 

Having a National E-CINS Forum and structured working groups will make it easier to disseminate information to key stakeholders within schemes and make sure that everyone can participate in the software design and development process.If you would like to participate or nominate people to be part of the Forum please email your contact details to team@empowering-communities.org. Please note that places are limited.

We will set up a section within the E-CINS Support Centre for the National Forum and each of the Working Groups. This will enable us to share ideas, list projects, ask questions and post comments.  

If you would like to be part of a working group please email your contact details to team@empowering-communities.org and include the area or areas of business that are of interest to you.

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Contact UsEmpowering-Communities, Riverside Business Centre, Riverside Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0TQ

+44(0)1493 858768 EMPWCommunities support@empowering-communities.org

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Partners across the UK We have created a level playing field for organisations through E-CINS. We have given all organisations no matter what their size or financial budget the opportunity to use a very powerful, national, multi-agency case management system, communication tool and information hub. E-CINS has enhanced the working lives of practitioners and even

saved the lives of the people they work so hard to help and support .Gary Pettengell, CEO & Founder, Empowering-Communities

STAFFORDSHIRENORFOLK

E-CINS provides solutions for the following areas of business:• Community Triggers• Modern Slavery• Integrated Offender Management (IOM) plus

fifteen prisons access E-CINS in Staffordshire• Child Sexual Exploitation• Anti Social Behaviour• Vulnerable persons• Victims and Offenders• Family Intervention Programmes• Troubled Families’• Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s)• Street Drinkers• Dementia Project• Licensed premises• Hate Crime• Domestic Abuse• Restorative Justice• Acquisitive Crime• Gangs and Gang Violence• Environmental Health• MASH, MARACs, Safeguarding• Early Help & Early Intervention• Unauthorised Encampments• Missing Persons• Youth Crime and Youth Violence• Rough Sleepers• Prostitution • Vulnerable NHS Patients • Multi-Agency Operations• Community Link Alarm Scheme• PACT (Prison Advisory Service)• Stalking (Paladin National Stalking Advocacy

Programme)• National Scrap Metal Dealers and Collectors

Database (To be accessed by British Transport Police, Environment Agency and every Local Authority and police force in England and Wales) 

• Management of Taxi and Private Hire licences and vehicles 

• Prevent Channel Panels• Trading Standards• Fuel Poverty• Street Pastors• Social Prescribing• Welfare Reform and Employability

Our Partners cont’d…

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