Version 1.0 of Xantura’s Early Help Profiling System model is now built and is performing well. Four Local Authorities are moving into a controlled pilot phase and embedding the system within their front door processes.
The model is identifying families who urgently need support in order to stop their risk escalating to the point of needing statutory intervention and is also triggering a review for families whose risk appears to be reducing so that they can be systematically stepped down. The modelling process has identified certain combinations of risk factors are that are critical for families and that when these issues occur, a different response should be given in order to prevent escalation.
To support a controlled deployment, Xantura have built a pre-production Insight environment. This environment can be used to validate how the outputs will be used before deployment to live. Within this, Xantura have surfaced cases that have clearly shown where the existing system has not worked for families and increased the risk of failures within Children’s Services. There has already been some critical learning about the role of partners and the joint responsibility for Early Help from looking at the historic cases in the test environment and this will continue to surface as the model evolves. It is also clear from the test cases that without the whole picture of circumstances, some families will not be picked up early enough to do preventative work.
Having the ability to understand the differences between families gives a fresh direction to the Troubled Families programme where Authorities are struggling to allocate appropriate provision to such large number of families. Social Workers are excited to have a tool that strengthens their practice and has answered their cries for a joined up view of what all agencies know about a family. Managers have welcomed the strategic analysis to support their decision making about Early Help provision and help them prioritise which families to offer support to.
Xantura Insight and risk model has strengthened the triage and assessment process and is supporting the operational implementation of a step up and step down model of support across Children’s Social Care and partnership organisations. As more and more data becomes available, Xantura will be refining the model and releasing quarterly updates.