Rees Centre welcomed Dr Calum Webb, Webinar Lunchtime Series: Does investing in prevention reduce rates of entering care?

Rees Centre welcomed Dr Calum Webb, Lecturer in Quantitative Social Science at the University of Sheffield to the Department of Education on March 4^th to present his latest research at the Webinar Lunchtime Series. His research explores socioeconomic inequalities in the child welfare system and their relationship to fiscal and social policy using novel quantitative research methods.

It has historically proven difficult to establish a population-level impact of investing in preventative services designed to support children and families, with analyses often showing now association between spending and rates of child welfare interventions.

Dr Calum Webb explored this challenge and presented new evidence from a three-year British Academy funded study that aimed to establish the impact that changes in spending on children’s services has had on rates of children in care or placed on child protection plans in England between 2009-10 and 2021-22.

The study investigated to what extent:

• does the effectiveness of spending on preventative services for reducing rates of child welfare interventions vary between local authorities and over time?
• is the effectiveness of spending on preventative services for reducing child welfare interventions equitable across different age groups, genders, and ethnic groups?
• is the effectiveness of spending on preventative services for reducing child welfare interventions equitable across different age groups, genders, and ethnic groups?

The research project used a Bayesian approach to statistical modelling, examining same year effect and previous year effect, among other comparisons. All data were drawn from population-level statistical releases published by government departments, rather than individual level data. Data from 2009-10 to 2021-22 were collated to construct a novel authoritative longitudinal dataset.

Dr Webb reported that his findings suggest that greater spending on preventative children’s services, such as  family support, children’s centres, youth services, and other non-child protection social work and children in care services, was associated with decreased rates of children in care, however, effectiveness was linked to their capacity to reduce rates of children in poverty, particularly for ethnic minority populations.

Dr Webb’s hybrid presentation generated a robust Q&A on the underpinning methods, and suggestions for future work to explore spend on a wider range of family interventions such as drug and alcohol services. There was much appreciation to Dr Webb for visiting the Department of Education in person

• Details of this complex and very informative study can be found here: https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/report/Investing_in_Prevention_and_Support_Spending_on_family_support_children_s_centres_young_peoples_services_and_other_forms_of_help_and_child_welfare_interventions_in_England_2009-10_to_2021-22_Final_Report_/26364292?file=52058129
• Calum Webb Profile: Dr Calum Webb | Education | The University of Sheffield The research article can be accessed here.

Written by Doctoral Research Fellow, Ellen Froustis.