In this article, Ben Rosie explores why it is essential to look at more than timeliness when measuring success in the family justice system. Since 2014, the family justice system has relied on the Public Law Outline’s 26‑week statutory limit as its primary indicator of success in care proceedings. While this brought a focus to streamlining processes and procedures, and ensuring cases do not drift, a system can meet the 26‑week limit and still deliver outcomes that are unstabl

The public family justice system is a complex network of professionals, legal frameworks, and administrative bodies designed to protect children and support families. Understanding how these components interact is vital for anyone working within or navigating the court ecosystem. To provide clarity on this intricate landscape, we have developed an interactive system map that visualises the connections between key stakeholders and processes. An interactive overview of the syst

This week, I welcome Dez Holmes, Director of Research in Practice and Strategic Director for Practice and Programmes at the National Children’s Bureau. We discuss the role public services can play in making growing up great again! And why so many of our systems struggle at the point young people turn 18. Dez challenges the myth of a neat shift from ‘child’ to ‘adult’ and notes that for many people adulthood arrives earlier (caring responsibilities, adversity) or later (new re

As learning from the DFJ Trailblazer Programme continues to shape thinking across the sector, many local authorities are beginning to focus on what this means for data, analysis and performance reporting. With changes on the horizon, including a new statutory pre-proceedings dataset, analysts and data leads are increasingly being asked to think ahead about how data is designed, interpreted and used across systems. To support this, Mutual Ventures and Data to Insight ran two D

In our end‑of‑programme webinar series, we took a deep dive into the most pressing family justice and children’s social care topics, sharing learning from across the programme and the wider children’s services sector, and explored what this means for professional practice, system working, and the future of the sector. Through the series we brought together practitioners, analysts, and system leaders to explore real‑world learning, share local experiences, and examine approach

Catch up with our webinar that explored inclusive change and the  Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme, and how children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) can be central to these reforms. Local authorities are leading the way in implementing the Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme reforms, transforming how support is delivered to children and families. But how do these changes impact children and young people with Special Edu

Building on the success of the DFJ Trailblazer and Guided Learning programmes, Mutual Ventures has been commissioned by the Department for Education to help all DFJ areas in England participate in the National Learning Support programme. In a series of articles, the Mutual Ventures team summarises the DFJ Area Trailblazer Pilot, sharing insights from the five pilot areas to inform others developing their own solutions. In the third article, Ross Murray, explores efforts to st

Client:  Department for Education  Date:  April 2024 – April 2025 Challenges faced by the client: Local Authorities bear a statutory responsibility to ensure there is sufficient and suitable accommodation for looked-after children. Local authorities commission services within a market that, despite its necessity, faces significant and well-documented challenges. Recent influential reviews, such as the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the Competition and Market

Following the success of the DFJ Trailblazer programme and subsequent Guided Learning programme, Mutual Ventures has been commissioned by the Department for Education to support all DFJ areas across England to take part in the National Learning Support programme. In a series of articles, Luke Bevir provides an overview of the previous DFJ Area Trailblazer Pilot, the five pilot areas’ journeys to share learning that will be relevant for other DFJ Areas beginning to develop the

Following the success of the DFJ Trailblazer programme and subsequent Guided Learning programme, Mutual Ventures has been commissioned by...

The National Audit Office’s (NAO) most recent report joins a growing number that have sounded the alarm on the crisis in children’s...

Client:  Department for Education Date:  April 2024 – June 2025 Challenges faced by the client: The Department for Education (DfE) sought...

As sufficiency challenges persist, local authorities are increasingly recognising the value of building strong, trusting relationships...

Client:  Slough Borough Council / Slough Children First Date:  May - June 2025 Challenges faced by the client: Slough Children First...