Agenda item

This agenda item will provide an update on the Post Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Support Services, following the transfer of the Post CSE Support Services from Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS) to Adult Care, Housing and Public Health (ACH&PH) on the 1^st December 2022.

This agenda item provided an update on the Post Child Sexual Exploitation          Support Services, following the transfer of the Post CSE Support Services from Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS) to Adult Care, Housing and Public Health (ACH&PH) on the 1st December 2022.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting Scott Matthewman, Assistant Director of Strategic Commissioning, Anne Charlesworth, Head of Public Health Commissioning, Lisa Elliott, Strategic Commissioning Manager and Dr Janine Cherry- Swaine, Consultant Psychotherapist and Service Lead from Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH).

The Chair invited Anne and Lisa to introduce the report and lead on the presentation, the following was noted:

The Background-

·       The Post CSE Services were transferred from CYPS to ACH&PH in December 2022, following a Cabinet Decision.

·       The Post CSE Support Services were provided by three local charities which were GROW, Rothacs and Rotherham Rise. The services were provided in collaboration with the Trauma Resilience Service (TRS). The Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) services also provided help to victims and/or survivors, to overcome the impact of the trauma. 

Since the Transfer-

·       Visits were completed to all providers and attending TRS Hubs.

·       To provide stability to the providers, the contracts were extended for an additional two-year period via an officer decision. As a result, the contracts would end in December 2025.

·       There had been updates to performance reporting systems and a Post CSE Project Board had been developed, to oversee a needs analysis which would inform recommissioning in the future. A Co-production Sub-Group was developed to oversee co-production, engage with key stakeholders and the provider market.

·       The services had also established links with Dr Rebecca Hamer at Sheffield Hallam University, who would be commencing a second project linked to trauma in relation to child exploitation.

Service Performance and activity-

·       Referrals

·       Waiting Time

·       Open Cases

·       Leavers and Length of service

·       Age and Gender

·       Outcomes for leavers

·       Service User Voice and Feedback.

Referrals in Service-

·       In the period of 2022 to 2023, there were a total of 317 referrals across GROW, Rothacs and Rise.

·       38% of these were self-referrals (Rothacs only accepted self-referrals, with the exception of TRS HUB cases).

·       15% of referrals were from the Independent Sexual Violence Advocacy (ISVA) Team.

·       36% of referrals were from Social Services.

·       16% of referrals were from Mental Health Services.

·       13% of referrals were from Post CSE Support Services.

Waiting Times (as of January 2024)-

·       Waiting times from services could fluctuate due to demand, caused by court proceedings and National Crime Agency proceedings. The waiting times provided in the report were the most recent from January 2024.

·       Rotherham Rise CSE Counselling had a waiting time of up to two months. Rotherham Rise often allocated referrals for the Trauma Stabilisation and Focussed Support at the point of the referral being received, however there could sometimes be a short waiting time.

·       Rothacs had a waiting time of nine days for CSE Counselling via the Trauma Resilience Service. The CSE general waiting time was eleven months and a pre-therapy online package was offered to referrals straight away.

·       GROW had a waiting time of one month for the Trauma Stabilisation for Stovewood cases. Non Stovewood cases had a longer waiting time.

Demographic Data-

·       In relation to age, 13% of people accessing the service were under the age of 18, 36% of people accessing the service were aged 18-30, 36% of people accessing the service were aged 31-49 and 15% of people accessing the service were aged 50 years old and over.

·       In relation to gender, 81% of people accessing the service were females, 16% of people accessing the service were males and 3% of people accessing the service were transgender.

Outcomes for Leavers-

·       The three providers alongside CYPS commissioning worked together to create measurable outcomes of the Post CSE Support Services. In relation to the leavers where outcomes were recorded in Q1 and Q2:

·       82% rated their mental health and wellbeing as maintained or improved.

·       83% rated their feelings and thoughts about themselves as maintained or improved.

·       88% rated the effect of their trauma as maintained or improved.

·       72% rated their relationship with family and or social network as maintained or improved.

·       Case studies and service user feedback was collected on a regular basis from service users.

Next Steps and Timeline-

·       The service would continue developing the Post CSE Project Board and Co Production Subgroup.

·       The service would continue co-production in relation to the needs analysis. The needs analysis would be completed by July 2024.

·       The service would continue to develop a set of proposals on the future commissioning of services, this would be reflected in a Cabinet Paper that was scheduled for Cabinet in September 2024 and would also include recommendations for the route to market.

·       The current contracts would end in December 2025 and future contracts would be ready to commence with the new service in place by January 2026.

The Chair thanked the relevant officers for the presentation and invited questions, this led to the following points being raised during discussions:

·       In relation to the outcomes measured and the 80% people who were reporting positive outcomes when exiting the service, it was clarified that this data included maintained and improved outcomes. During the development of the outcomes, the providers felt that maintained outcomes should be recorded as a positive outcome. This was because when entering a course of counselling people could leave the course with re-surfaced trauma that was not identified before entering the course. There was a lived experience project RDaSH was co-producing with the voluntary sector and survivors, in relation to outcome measures. The Project’s aim was to use ordinary language to express improvement in outcomes or not, outcomes of the project would be reported back in future.

·       The waiting times referenced in the report were in relation to waiting for the first initial appointment with a counsellor. Once the case was assessed as an active counselling case and the first appointment had been completed, there was no waiting times or delays in-between appointments. There were minimal waits for Stovewood cases.

Resolved:-

·       That members of the Improving Lives Select Committee note the update on commissioned Post CSE Support Services, following the transition to Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

·       That members of the Improving Lives Select Committee note the proposed next steps in completing a revised needs analysis in collaboration with key partners.