8. What, so far, has been the impact of Magu in terms of outcomes for the investment?
In the absence of a formal evaluation, and due to the short time the service has operated for, we cannot make conclusive judgements about the full impact of Magu. However, given the strong alignment of Magu to models of good practice delivered in other local authorities, we can reasonably assume that the service will have led to similar improvements in outcomes relating to formal involvement with Children’s Services, interactions with professionals, parenting knowledge and skills, and parent health and wellbeing. Determining the extent of these will require different types of evidence, measured across the short, medium and long-term.
Below, we describe what we do know about the impact of Magu: firstly the impact on the service user, in relation to the categories of outcomes listed above, as well as the potential financial impact for the Council.
Service user impact
There is already some evidence as to how Magu is impacting outcomes relating to formal Children’s Services involvement. As of May 2024, 41 of the 46 babies born in the first year of the service, where support was in place, remained in the care of a parent or returned to parental care following a period of separation (Evans, unpublished). As of September 2025, eight of the 46 children born in the first year of the service were receiving care and support within the CLA system. This highlights fluidity in the need for support over time and the complex implications this has on measuring impact. As the picture does not remain constant, it is therefore difficult to track both the user and financial impact. Any measure of impact will be a snapshot of a specific point in time and must be contextualised as such.
As of May 2024, there was also a decrease in parent and child placements ending with separation of parent and child, with only 1 of 9 placements ending in separation compared to previous separation rates of 30-40% (Evans, unpublished). In the second year, Magu has started to work with families with higher risk, and while we have no data for this year, professionals have informed us that these figures are likely to have reduced. In measuring formal involvement, some measures, such as the number of children taken into care, can prove misleading, meaning that care needs to be taken when determining which outcomes to use. Successful outcomes for the child provide one way in which this can be done, but this needs to be measured at a sufficient point after birth: most other services look at outcomes at the end of the intervention. In collecting data to assess this impact, this is more likely to be held by statutory services than Magu itself.
In the medium- and long-term, it is difficult to attribute outcomes directly to a single service. Nevertheless, the strength of evidence for negative impacts of statutory care on children, through to adulthood, suggests the challenge of directly attributing impacts to a single service should not reduce efforts to keep children out of care.
Testimonials from lived experience suggest that Magu effectively helps increase users’ confidence in accessing services and in the social services process more generally. There is some evidence highlighting positive impacts on parenting confidence and skills, as well as to parental health and wellbeing, but this is limited. However, given we have found that Magu aligns well with other services that do generate these outcomes, it is reasonable to assume there are likely to be similar outcomes in RCT resulting from Magu.
It should also be highlighted that the outcomes resulting from similar services were identified through examination of formal service evaluations. Magu has not been formally evaluated, so it is unreasonable to expect there to be evidence of impact across such a wide range of measures. However, the outcomes highlighted in this report could help inform focuses for a formal external evaluation, if this is desired.
Routine data collection would improve evidence around Magu’s impact on these outcomes, although it would be extremely laborious to collect the data for all outcomes highlighted in this report. As such, some outcomes will need to be prioritised: this is a subjective judgement and consideration needs to be given to what is important for service managers, senior leaders, and service users.
Financial impact
To explore the financial impact of preventing parent-baby separation from a local authority perspective, our project team conducted a financial evaluation examining the cost of care for the 46 babies born in the first year of the service. As of September 2025, eight of the 46 babies were receiving care and support within the CLA system, representing approximately 17% of the original cohort. Table 7 below summarises the care placements for these eight children, and the associated cost.
Table 7: Summary of care placements for babies born in the first year of Magu who are currently looked after
Placement type | Number of placements | Weekly cost |
Placed with Special Guardian | 2 | £393 |
Placed with Kinship Carer | 2 | £448 |
Placed with RCT Foster Carer | 3 | £1,330 |
Placed with Adoptive Parents | 1 | £0* |
Total | 8 | £2,171 |
Average weekly cost of placement | £271 |
* This case has an adoption order granted, but no ongoing adoption allowance is currently in place
Table 8 below highlights the total cost of preventative care and support relating to the 46 babies during their involvement with Children’s Services. The included costs relate only to direct service provision, and not peripheral costs relating to the support offered to the family (such as Assessment and Care Management Services, or Prevention Payments).
Table 8: Total cost of preventative support for the babies born in the first year of Magu during their involvement with Children’s Services
Interim CLA placement costs | Total cost of Magu team | Total cost of preventative intervention | ||
Support with SGO/Foster Care | Parent and Baby Placements | Total | ||
£98,543 | £343,382 | £441,926 | £420,178 | £862,104 |
Number of babies supported | 46 | 46 | 46 | |
Average cost of preventative intervention | £9,607 | £9,134 | £18,741 | |
Cost/Benefit Analysis
It is difficult to assess the longer-term costs and benefits of the preventative intervention. However, currently available information indicates that avoided cost of formal care provision has increased as a result of the additional intervention provided through Magu. As need may change of time, this analysis could be reviewed and repeated annually to determine the longevity of the investment for this cohort.
Table 9: Total cost of preventative support for the babies born in the first year of Magu during their involvement with Children’s Services
Separation rate pre-Magu† (33%) | Separation rate in September 2025 (17%) | Assumed cost avoidance | |
Ongoing weekly cost of CLA | £4,119 | £2,171 | £1,948 |
Ongoing annual cost of CLA | £214,208 | £112,889 | £101,318 |
Total cost of Magu intervention | £420, 178 | ||
Payback period (years) for total cost of Magu | 4.1 | ||
Total cost of preventative intervention (including Magu) | £862,104 | ||
Payback period (years) for total cost of preventative intervention | 8.5 | ||
† The proportion of children in RCT under one year old classified as Children Looked After, compared to those classified as receiving care and support (median over five years; Welsh Government, 2024)
Table 9 above provides additional detail, but the following key findings emerged from the cost/benefit analysis:
- The typical separation rate reduced from around 33% before Magu, to approximately 17% as of September 2025;
- The payback period for the cost of Magu alone is estimated at 4.1 years, with the payback period for the total cost of prevention, including Magu, estimated at 8.5 years; and,
- If the CLA status of the cohort from the first year of Magu remains as of September 2025 (as detailed in Table 7), with those who are currently living at home with parents and without CLA services continuing to do so for their remaining childhood, to age 18), the total cost avoided (net of the cost of Magu), would be approximately £1.3 million.
Key Points
The impact of Magu is difficult to measure due to the short time it has been operating and the difficulty of linking outcomes to a single service.
In Magu’s first year of operation, 41 out of 46 babies remained in parental care or returned following a period of separation. Lived experience testimonies have indicated increased parenting confidence, skills and wellbeing.
Magu closely aligns with similar services that have been formally evaluated; it is reasonable to assume similar outcomes could be expected.
Changes to routine data collection could help to further evidence the impact of Magu, measurement of specific outcomes would need to be prioritised.
The typical parent-baby separation rate reduced by around half, from around 33% before Magu, to approximately 17% as of September 2025. If the CLA status of the cohort from the first year of Magu remains as of September 2025, with those who are currently living at home with parents and without CLA services continuing to do so until the age of 18, the total cost avoided (net the cost of Magu) would be approximately £1.3 million.
There is potential for longer-term analysis of cost-savings for this Magu cohort to further understand the longevity of the investment, as the support needs of families may change over time.
Read the next section: Conclusion