Dorset is a beautiful coastal county situated in the South West region of England.
Over half of Dorset is covered by the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty designation. Our children and young people recognise this as a real asset but have told us that access to this can be more difficult for those with additional needs.
Spending time in greenspace has many benefits for our health and wellbeing, and close proximity of greenspace means we can build contact into our everyday lives.
Dorset and the surrounding area has many high-quality outdoor spaces. However, accessibility can be an issue, with 43% of residents living more then 300m safe walk from a publicly accessible greenspace.
Socio-economic status, age and health can also influence ability to access nature.
The Dorset rural idyll can conceal hidden deprivation, with significant pockets found mostly in urban coastal areas as well as rural deprivation due to isolation and difficulty accessing housing, transport, and essential services. The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that 25% of Dorset’s children are living in poverty.
Earnings are below average and house prices are high with affordability issues for many young people and keyworkers. In Dorset the median house price to earnings ratio is 9.7 (7.8 England) and this one of the highest rates in the South West. Living in cold, damp, overcrowded or insecure accommodation affects our health and wellbeing.
Securing large enough high quality and affordable housing, with access to physical space can be a challenge for families across the county.
Dorset has relatively low birth rates and younger people often move away from the area. Participation of 16 and 17-year-olds in employment, education and training is relatively high, however about 5% of our young people do not and this can have long lasting economic impact into later life.
We have 159 schools in Dorset and although educational outcomes are broadly in line with national rates at most phases, the gap between the most disadvantaged students (including those eligible for free school meals) and their peers is too high and levels of employment for young people with Special Educational Needs is too low.
Social mobility in Weymouth and Portland is at one of the lowest levels in the country.
Dorset has been designated one of the 55 Education Investment Areas by the Department of Education.
There are 80 different languages spoken in Dorset schools. 8% (Jan 2021 school census) of school age children are from black and minority ethnic communities compared to 35.1% nationally.
About 18% of Dorset’s children and young people have special educational needs and disabilities.
We have approximately 3,200 children with Special Educational Needs supported through an Educational, Health and Care Plan out of a wider total of 6,500 children and young people identified with SEN Support needs in our schools.
Children, young people and their families can experience difficulties and needs support from early help or social care at different stages of their lives. At the end of December 2021 there were:
- 1100 children and young people being supported through early help
- 1,143 Children in Need supported by social workers
- 283 Children with a Child Protection Plan (at risk of or experiencing significant harm)
- 437 Children in Care
- 272 Care Leavers
Although crime overall is low in Dorset, domestic abuse, criminal exploitation, and rural crime have been identified as priorities for our partner agencies and we are increasingly worried about violence against girls and women. Some groups in our communities are more at risk of disadvantage or exploitation.
Particular issues include county lines, child sexual exploitation and practices such as Cuckooing. Local intelligence from young people have identified, through survey and feedback during participation events, that they do not always feel safe in places they frequent or in their communities.
Having the best start in life is key to avoiding poor health outcomes and health inequalities in later life and most thrive and experience good health. However, this is not the case for all children and there are some areas of concern.
Childhood obesity is considered one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Obesity in childhood is associated with a higher chance of premature death and disease such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases in adulthood.
Although our rates are good compared to England, the prevalence rate of obesity has been increasing. If Dorset had a population of 100 children, 9 would be classified as obese at 4-5 years and 17 at 10-11 years.
It is estimated that mental health problems affect about 1 in 10 children and young people.
Experiencing mental health issues in childhood can result in lower educational attainment and risky health behaviours such as smoking and substance misuse. In Dorset, hospital admissions as a result of self-harm have been increasing over the last few years and are higher than the national rate.
During Covid there has been an increase in requests for support for anxiety and depression and eating disorders.
Rates of childhood admissions to hospital in Dorset are significantly worse than national rates for some specific issues including unintentional and deliberate injuries, A&E attendances and emergency admissions and alcohol admissions.
We provide a wide range of services to children, young people and families and Children’s Services in Dorset have been evaluated by Ofsted as ‘good with outstanding leadership’.
The overall budget for delivery of children’s services in 2022/23 is £74.481million, an increase of 3.82% from the previous year.
A key aspect of financial strategy has been to establish budgets that reflect current and planned demand and practice.
Achieving this baseline means transformation and tactical service change programmes can be implemented from a stable starting position.
£8.96m of additional funding is required to do this. Children’s Services have developed an ambitious evidence-based transformation programme to deliver £14.9m cashable savings over five years, £2.2m in 2022/23.
The largest challenges facing the budget in the last year has been the cost of care placements for children and young people and loss of trading income from schools.