Case Study 01: Local Authority-Scale Safeguarding Youth Consultation
Sector: Local Government / Children’s Services
Project Type: Safeguarding Consultation, Youth Engagement, Organisational Insight & Strategic Advisory
Scale: 618 recipients of the Local Authority’s children’s services
The Challenge
A Local Authority identified a deterioration in safeguarding outcomes and practice across its children’s services, despite having previously experienced significant improvements over the preceding decade.
The initial concern was that the issue may extend beyond individual cases, teams or isolated operational failures. There was a need to understand whether wider organisational and cultural factors were contributing to the emerging safeguarding concerns.
Crucially, the Local Authority needed more than an internal review. It needed an opportunity to hear directly from people experiencing and working within its services, identify patterns within those experiences and understand what may be sitting behind the emerging concerns.
The challenge was therefore not simply to establish what was happening, but to understand why it was happening and what could be done to address it.
Our Approach
Rising Generation provided independent advice at the outset of the project, helping to establish an appropriate approach to understanding the concerns.
We designed and supported a wide-scale consultation involving 618 recipients of the Local Authority’s children’s services.
Rather than relying on a single consultation method, we used a combination of approaches to capture different forms of evidence and create opportunities for participants to communicate in ways that worked for them.
The engagement included:
Large-scale consultation and survey activity.
Direct group discussions and engagement.
Opportunities for participants to communicate experiences and concerns in greater depth.
Bringing young people, senior directors and professionals into the same wider conversation.
Analysis of consultation responses to identify recurring themes, organisational patterns and underlying concerns.
Strategic advisory discussions to consider what the findings meant for the organisation and its services.
This approach allowed the project to move beyond individual experiences and examine the relationship between those experiences and the wider organisation.
From Voice to Evidence
The consultation generated a substantial body of evidence from people connected to the Local Authority's children's services.
Rising Generation analysed the information collected to identify recurring themes and patterns rather than treating individual responses in isolation.
The analysis indicated significant concerns regarding the development of a closed organisational culture within the authority's care services.
This provided a potential explanation for why safeguarding practice appeared to have deteriorated despite previous improvements.
The findings suggested that the challenge was not simply a matter of individual performance. Instead, wider organisational behaviours, communication and culture were affecting how concerns could be identified, communicated and addressed.
The Outcome
The Local Authority acknowledged and confirmed the concerns identified through the consultation.
Rising Generation worked with the Local Authority to develop an internal plan focused on transitioning away from the identified closed culture while maintaining appropriate protections for young people and the wider children's services system.
The work therefore moved through the full RG approach: LISTEN → UNDERSTAND → ACT → ACCOUNT
The consultation did not end with a report. The evidence was used to inform organisational action and the development of a practical improvement approach.
The partnership subsequently continued, allowing Rising Generation to remain involved beyond the initial consultation.
Impact
The project resulted in:
618 recipients engaged through the consultation.
Multiple consultation and engagement methodologies used.
Young people, senior directors and professionals brought into the same wider conversation.
Identification of significant organisational and cultural concerns.
Evidence suggesting the development of a closed organisational culture within children's services.
Recognition of the identified concerns by the Local Authority.
Development of a joint internal plan to address the identified culture and associated systemic issues.
Continued partnership between Rising Generation and the Local Authority.
What This Project Demonstrates
This project demonstrates that meaningful youth and stakeholder consultation can be used for more than gathering opinions.
When designed properly, engagement can uncover systemic issues that may not be visible through conventional organisational processes.
Rising Generation's role was not simply to ask questions. It was to create the conditions for people to communicate honestly, analyse what they told us and work alongside decision-makers to determine what needed to change.
The value of consultation is not the number of responses collected. It is what an organisation understands and does differently because of them.