The West Midlands Outcomes Framework

The West Midlands Outcomes Framework aims to assist residential care, foster care and education services to meet the needs of children and young people by using records of individual outcomes and quality assurance. There was a perception that where children and young people with a statement of special educational needs were placed in residential schools, there was a lack of evidence or research to show that good outcomes were being achieved. Even where professionals involved in statutory reviews could identify outcomes being met, this was not being recorded in a format that could inform commissioning decisions and demonstrate excellent outcomes for children and young people and value for money. This Framework will ultimately link into a regional “Search and Matching Engine” system for generating placement options. To underpin this approach, a quality assurance mechanism based on outcomes and a traffic light system (RAG rating) will be used. An outcomes tracker and key performance indicators will help to evaluate whether individual children and young people are progressing towards their long-term/final outcomes of the placement and how the placement is providing quality services and value for money. Over time, individual trackers can be amalgamated to demonstrate placement strengths in meeting particular needs.

You can find the Framework in the Products/Reports section of this web-site.