Written evidence submitted by Triple P UK

(SFC0054)

1. About Triple P UK

1.1   Triple P – Positive Parenting Program® is a system of evidence-based parenting programmes from birth to age 16, that has supported families for more than forty years, across thirty-two different countries. Founded in Australia, Triple P has been delivering services in the UK since 2002 and is now embedded within two-thirds of English local authority areas, including through Family Hubs, Start for Life, Early Help, Supporting Families, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, and with Mental Health Support Teams.

1.2   Under the last Labour government, Triple P was a key part of schemes including Sure Start, the National Academy of Parenting Practitioners, and the Parenting Early Interventions Programmes. With 200 randomised control trials and over 400 evaluations worldwide, Triple P is rated by the United Nations as the world’s most robustly evidence-based parenting programme.

1.3   Through prevention and early intervention, evidence-based parenting programmes are a proven cost-effective way to transform young lives. Evaluation shows the economic benefits of £5.05 return for every £1 invested in the Triple P system. Given the findings from the NAO report around the financial sustainability of the current SEN system, the cost-effectiveness of Triple P’s programmes are of great significance to this inquiry.

1.4   Given our work to increase parental confidence in supporting children with SEN, focusing on early intervention and delivering cost-effective programmes to parents and families, we are pleased to make this submission to support the development of a sustainable SEN system that supports every child at all levels of need.

2. Performance of the SEN system

2.1   There continues to be significant challenges with the SEN system, as set out in our response to the National Audit Office inquiry. A primary concern for Triple P is the high waiting lists for assessments, highlighting the need to improve access to timely and consistent assessments for children and young people with SEN.

2.2   Waiting lists for assessments, including neurodevelopmental assessments, are contributing to parental and family stress and negatively impacting parents’ ability to parent. In the last 12 months, Triple P’s practitioner surveys of parents revealed a more than 90 percent increase in parents raising concerns about waiting lists for SEND or mental health diagnosis.

2.3   Innovative solutions such as using digital support at the start of assessment pathways has demonstrated the ability to reduce waiting times and give timely, evidence-based support to families experiencing challenges.

2.4   Triple P has worked with a local authority and the local NHS in the East of England to offer Triple P Online within a few weeks of initial referral to their Neurodevelopmental Pathway (NDP). Local services have reported a 70 percent reduction in their waitlists from 2.5 years to 40 weeks, with 25 percent of families coming off the waitlist all together before seeing a clinical professional, reporting the support they received was timely and sufficiently met their needs. This approach has also yielded significant increases in diagnostic yields, demonstrating an improvement in every aspect of the pathway.

3. The overall picture of the support available and outcomes achieved for those with SEN

3.1   Triple P’s suite of evidence-based parenting programmes offers parents simple and practical strategies to help them nurture strong, healthy relationships within the family, reduce parental stress, confidently promote their children’s development and manage their children’s behaviour. Triple P’s flexible offering adapts the type of support for parents depending on the extent of their needs and gives them the confidence to continue this approach in the home.

3.2   Triple P’s programmes have a demonstrable impact on improving the mental health and wellbeing of both children and their parents. Our programmes are currently delivered in over 65 percent of local authority areas, including national delivery of one of our programmes (Triple P for Baby) through the Family Hubs initiative.

3.3   In terms of delivery, we have trained and accredited practitioners to deliver Stepping Stones Triple P in over 65 local authority areas in England over the past three years, with an estimated 9,000 parents benefitting from delivery of the various Stepping Stones programmes during this period. However, given the prevalence of children with additional needs and disabilities, this points to significant unmet need.

3.4   Our programmes are well-placed to support parents of children with SEN and disabilities. Our Stepping Stones Triple P programmes have been developed and evaluated specifically for parents of children with additional needs, including, but not limited to, developmental disabilities, autism, intellectual disabilities (up to 12 years).

3.5   As a result, the recommendation is for services to strongly consider evidence-based parent-training programmes for parents and carers of children that have a learning disability and are at risk of developing or have emerging challenging behaviours. Stepping Stones Triple P is an effective, evidence-based parenting programme supported by a body of international research and recognised in NICE guidelines.[1]

3.6   Evidence from our work in Australia, where Stepping Stones Triple P was offered free of charge to families of children with developmental disabilities aged from 2 to 12 years in three Australian states between 2012 and 2017, demonstrated the positive impact of the programme.[2]

3.7   The evaluation of this initiative found that children’s behaviour and parents’ skills improved when they participated in a Stepping Stones programme. Significant decreases on measures of negative child behaviour were shown three months after the intervention and maintained at 12 months follow up. Parenting skills improved with reductions in dysfunctional parenting, increases in positive parenting practices, and reductions in parental stress following the programme.

4. Government action to create a sustainable SEN system and restore confidence

4.1   To ensure all children and families are consistently supported by, and have restored confidence in the SEN system, we recommend a continued wider focus beyond school to encompass family and wider support with a key solution of focusing on evidence-based parenting programmes.

4.2   Childhood is a crucial stage of development for all young people, particularly so for children with special educational needs. Research shows that among parents of children with developmental disabilities, addressing critical factors such as parental stress and behavioural problems early in life can improve the parent-child relationship including a range of parent and child outcomes in the long-term.

4.3   Strengthening parent-child relationships may mediate the relationship between parental stress and social or behavioural development. Dysfunctional parent-child relationships have the potential to negatively impact the wellbeing and mental health of children with developmental disabilities.  

4.4   Parents of children with disabilities face additional challenges. It is important to consider innovative means of addressing these challenges, specifically where there are cost effective and evidenced-based approaches that can support parents of children with disabilities.

4.5   Triple P welcomes a focus on the wellbeing and opportunities of children with disabilities, particularly around early identification and intervention, alongside a focus on mental health.  Across these areas, support for the whole family, including parents, is vital for a positive impact.

4.6   We recommend a universal deployment of digital evidence-based parenting programmes across local authorities as a cost-effective intervention to reduce waiting lists for children and young people on neurodevelopmental pathways. This can, in turn, support the financial sustainability of the SEN system by providing a strong return on investment.

4.7   Alongside this, we also recommend the continued deployment of practitioner delivered evidence-based parenting programmes like Stepping Stones Triple P to support accessibility and parental preference, as well as support parents of children with additional needs to get connected within their community.

4.8   We would welcome a genuine commitment to change within the SEN system and an integration of special educational needs and disabilities across all aspects of the Department for Education (DfE) including in schools and family support. The movement of special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision into the Schools Group is a welcome first step.

4.9   We would also welcome further positive intra-and inter- departmental working in this area by the DfE, particularly with the Department of Health and Social Care, Cabinet Office Disability Unit and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

November 2024

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