Highland Region Streamlined Reaction
Highland Region in Scotland has set up a streamlined reaction system which ensures that the situations for at risk children are dealt with effectively, and in a streamlined manner, the first time they show up on the radar, thus saving the costs and consequences of children remaining in the system for years to come. It is a particularly innovative and interesting model of effective multi-agency working. Senior staff in Highland claim that the streamlined reaction approach has led to greater cost efficiency, lower juvenile crime and less child abuse. A comparison is made with the Croydon Total Place approach, with which there are some similarities.
We identified from Scotland a local authority approach to child protection and children’s and social services which could be a blueprint for more efficient (and possibly cheaper) delivery of these services in local authorities in England. The Scottish (Highland Region) approach is particularly interesting because it has been running for ten years and so there has been time to assess its impact in practice.
The interest in this model is heightened by the fact that it has many similarities to the approach proposed in the recent Croydon Total Place report on Early Intervention. Although the Croydon approach is preventive while the Scottish approach is reactive, in other respects they have striking similarities. The Croydon Total Place report concluded that very significant cost savings could be made by a switch to their intended model of working, while at the same time delivering better outcomes for children. The Scottish experience lends credibility to the Croydon conclusions and while both models lack the inclusion of an array of specific, proven early intervention projects (and both could be strengthened by this) a fusion of the Highland and Croydon models could be a powerful blueprint for local authorities in England.
Results
Senior staff in Highland, who have been in place for the 10 years of their revised approach, report that the streamlined reaction methodology has led to greater cost efficiency, reductions in juvenile crime and child abuse – further that the trend in these figures is improving at a time when some are worsening for Scotland as a whole. Some hard data have been obtained in support of these claims, but not as much as we would wish, and we would like to be able to investigate the underlying data in more depth. However, the claims do have similarities to the projected benefits from the similar Croydon Total Place approach.
