Children, Families and
Education
Improving Life Chances for Children, Young People and Families
We work to improve the life chances and futures of children, young people and families. By achieving the right outcomes, and ensuring care and support are aligned with needs, local areas can enhance financial sustainability and demonstrate better value for money. Through our partnerships with over 50 local authorities and our wider collaboration across the sector, we help identify and deliver outcomes-focused solutions to complex challenges.
Our approach is grounded in our theory of change, EDGEWORK and supported by our applied analytics team and suite of digital tools and approaches. These enable us to better understand and respond to needs across systems. Our team brings together a rich mix of experience, including practitioners, commissioners, local government leaders, transformation experts and subject matter specialists.
We work with system leaders and frontline teams to deliver sustainable change across services supporting children, young people and families – from early intervention and prevention to statutory support and into adulthood.
Our work is guided by four core principles:
Adopting a systemic focus on the needs, strengths, aspirations and voices of children and young people.
Maximising impact through applied analytics and digital innovation.
Strengthening frontline practice across practitioners, commissioners and partners.
Taking a whole-system approach across service and organisational boundaries.
Adopting a systemic focus on the needs, strengths, aspirations and voices of children and young people.
Maximising impact through applied analytics and digital innovation.
Strengthening frontline practice across practitioners, commissioners and partners.
Taking a whole-system approach across service and organisational boundaries.
What our clients say
The IMPOWER difference
Client: Ben Davies, Service Director Children and Family Services, Cornwall Council
Children’s social care
IMPOWER works with local authorities, partners and people with lived experience to improve outcomes and life chances for children and improve the financial sustainability of services. This means working across all services and sectors supporting children and families and collaborating with a wide range of frontline teams. IMPOWER’s work is focused on three areas:
- Keeping families together and preventing children from entering care
- Providing children & families with the right care for their needs
- Strengthening practice & quality across the system
“The work with IMPOWER has been really impactful and has made a positive difference for many children and young people, while also delivering £10m in cost savings, showing that if you do the right things for children, you also save money.” Ben Davies, Service Director Children and Family Services, Cornwall Council
Education and inclusion
IMPOWER partners with local authorities and frontline professionals to understand what individual and group needs reveal about the support systems in place. We help map how prepared schools are to meet these needs and identify what’s required to improve inclusive practice and build capacity. At the heart of our work is a commitment to ensuring every child is educated in an environment that suits their needs and supports the best possible future outcomes. Our work is focused in three areas:
- Strengthening inclusion
- Needs led, strengths-based support for SEND
- Travel to school
“Having been closely involved throughout the work with IMPOWER, I’ve seen the real and meaningful impact of the Early Years to Reception Pathway and the VSEND approach and how it supports settings to implement a graduated approach. The insights gained—particularly around earlier identification, and more targeted locality-based support, are already helping us make more inclusive, needs-led decisions.” Miriam Leigh, Principal Educational Psychologist, Dorset Council
Children’s social care
IMPOWER works with local authorities, partners and people with lived experience to improve outcomes and life chances for children and improve the financial sustainability of services. This means working across all services and sectors supporting children and families and collaborating with a wide range of frontline teams. IMPOWER’s work is focused on three areas:
- Keeping families together and preventing children from entering care
- Providing children & families with the right care for their needs, including by embedding the Valuing Care module of our Valuing Lives platform
- Strengthening practice & quality across the system
“The work with IMPOWER has been really impactful and has made a positive difference for many children and young people, while also delivering £10m in cost savings, showing that if you do the right things for children, you also save money.” Ben Davies, Service Director Children and Family Services, Cornwall Council
Education and inclusion
IMPOWER partners with local authorities and frontline professionals to understand what individual and group needs reveal about the support systems in place. We help map how prepared schools are to meet these needs and identify what’s required to improve inclusive practice and build capacity. At the heart of our work is a commitment to ensuring every child is educated in an environment that suits their needs and supports the best possible future outcomes. Our work is focused in three areas:
- Strengthening inclusion, making use of the valuing SEND module of our Valuing Lives platform
- Needs led strengths based support for SEND
- Travel to school
“Having been closely involved throughout the work with IMPOWER, I’ve seen the real and meaningful impact of the Early Years to Reception Pathway and the VSEND approach and how it supports settings to implement a graduated approach. The insights gained—particularly around earlier identification, and more targeted locality-based support, are already helping us make more inclusive, needs-led decisions.” Miriam Leigh, Principal Educational Psychologist, Dorset Council
Our Impact
savings
in Northamptonshire Children’s Trust over three years
local areas supported
via national DfE SEND AP programme
Over
in cost reduction
within children’s social care
children and young people's needs
assessed and profiled with Valuing Care
Preparing for adulthood
At IMPOWER, we bring local systems together to build a shared vision to better prepare young people for adulthood. Through evidence-based design and a ‘test and learn’ approach, we help systems understand where they currently are, set achievable ambitions aligned with local aspiration, and co-design practical, person-centred interventions that make an immediate difference. Our work is focused in three areas:
- Supporting children living in care to plan for the future
- Strengthening transition to adult social care
- Embedding strengths based practice
Too often, we’re delivering poor outcomes for our older children and young adults as they move through our services. Even when there’s a straight transition from social care to social care, we struggle to get it right.” Melanie Williams, ADASS and Care Quality Commission’s board member
Preparing for adulthood
At IMPOWER, we bring local systems together to build a shared vision to better prepare young people for adulthood. Through evidence-based design and a ‘test and learn’ approach, we help systems understand where they currently are, set achievable ambitions aligned with local aspiration, and co-design practical, person-centred interventions that make an immediate difference. Our work is focused in three areas:
- Supporting children living in care to plan for the future
- Strengthening transition to adult social care
- Embedding strengths based practice
Too often, we’re delivering poor outcomes for our older children and young adults as they move through our services. Even when there’s a straight transition from social care to social care, we struggle to get it right.” Melanie Williams, ADASS and Care Quality Commission’s board member
Reports
Preparing for Adulthood Report ADASS 2026
Key challenges, emerging best practice and recommendations for local, regional and national change.
Preparing for Adulthood Report ADASS
Key challenges, best practice and recommendation for local and national change.
Improving parent carer confidence and co-production in High Needs
How Valuing SEND is supporting children and their families throughout their education journey.
Travel to School Report CCN Bulletin
A whole system approach to delivering change.
The Way We Care
Responding to challenges within the care market for children and young people.
High Needs Impact Report 2023
Valuing Care: Focusing on needs, strengths and aspirations
The work with IMPOWER has been really impactful and has made a positive difference for many children and young people, while also delivering £10m in cost savings, showing that if you do the right things for children, you also save money.
Our partnership with IMPOWER over the last 15 months has delivered on our objective to improve outcomes for children and young people. The partnership has also significantly reduced costs and strengthened our financial sustainability. The impact achieved means better outcomes for our children and young people and to enable us to continue to deliver outstanding services while balancing our budget. I have been really impressed with the IMPOWER team’s continued grip on delivery and impact.
It has given confidence to the team in being able to discuss travel with information at hand to make suggestions as to what can be tried next.
IMPOWER’s support over the last two years has helped us to improve life chances for many children and young people in Northamptonshire. Last year they supported the delivery of over £7m cost savings in FY24/25, and we continue to improve. I’ve really appreciated how the IMPOWER team have worked with frontline teams and partners to embed new ways of working, and their constant focus on children’s needs and strengths.
Having been closely involved throughout the work with IMPOWER, I’ve seen the real and meaningful impact of the Early Years to Reception Pathway and the VSEND approach and how it supports settings to implement a graduated approach. The insights gained—particularly around earlier identification, and more targeted locality-based support, are already helping us make more inclusive, needs-led decisions.
Case Studies
How Valuing SEND can support school readiness for children with complex needs in Dorset
Linking spend with outcomes to improve children’s lives in Northamptonshire
Cornwall Better Homes Programme
How Valuing SEND supported Akram make key decisions about his future.
How using Valuing SEND within annual reviews can support meaningful transitions
IMPOWER in partnership
with the Council for
Disabled Children.
We are committed to improving the experiences and outcomes for children, young people, and their families.
Talk to one of our team to see how
we can help [email protected]
Applied analytics practice
Our applied analytics team helps public sector leaders make better decisions using clear, practical evidence. We work alongside delivery teams to understand demand, capacity, cost and outcomes, translating complex data into insight that leaders can use with confidence.
Applied analytics practice
Our applied analytics team helps public sector leaders make better decisions using clear, practical evidence. We work alongside delivery teams to understand demand, capacity, cost and outcomes, translating complex data into insight that leaders can use with confidence.
STRENGTHS-BASED PRACTICE
Valuing lives