Budget Holding Lead Professional Pilots in Multi-Agency Children's Services in England: National Evaluation

Walker, Janet, Donaldson, Cam, Laing, Karen, Pennington, Mark, Wilson, Graeme, Procter, Stephen, Bradley, David, Dickinson, Heather, Gray, Joanne, Thompson, Christine and Coombes, Mike (2009) Budget Holding Lead Professional Pilots in Multi-Agency Children's Services in England: National Evaluation. Project Report. Department for Children, Schools and Families, London.

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Abstract

In 2006, pilots were established in a variety of locations in England to allow lead professionals (LPs) working with children and young people with additional needs to hold budgets and commission services tailored to each child’s needs. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at Newcastle University was selected to undertake the national evaluation of the budget-holding lead professional (BHLP) pilots between 2006 and 2008.

This evaluation assessed the benefits of enabling lead professionals to control budgets for commissioning / purchasing support services for children and young people with additional needs and looks at the costs of establishing BHLP practice and its impact on resource use. The study analysed the cost-effectiveness of BHLP practice and described the operation of the programme and determined whether particular contexts influence its effectiveness.

The report is written primarily for policymakers and practitioners who are interested in the minutiae of the evaluation. It contains eleven chapters and the more technical detail is contained in Annexes 1 and 2.

The evaluation involved analysis of case level data on children and young people from 16 BHLP pilots and 2 non-BHLP LAs. E-surveys of BHLPs and managers and in-depth interviews with children, young people, parents and practitioners in 3 case study pilots were carried out. Multi-agency working in 2 BHLP pilots was examined.

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