January 2026

We are delighted to share our first report from this project, which is available to download from the key documents section of this page.

This report focuses on one specific preventative focus within the Council, preventing parent-baby separation. We define what preventative activities are, map out how much is being spent on these and assess the potential impact of spend in terms of outcomes for residents and return on investment.

Approximately £1.17 million is spent annually on preventing parent-baby separation in RCT, with around 55% of this investment directed into tertiary prevention: intervening to stop a problem getting worse or reoccurring. We found that services in RCT align well with good practice found elsewhere, meaning they are likely to have similarly positive impacts on four main outcome groups: formal involvement with social services, trust in professionals, parental health and wellbeing and parenting confidence and skills. However, in the absence of a formal evaluation, it is not possible to make judgements about the impact of services, and while there are positive signs, the current data infrastructure makes it difficult to fully measure their impact.

You can also download our evidence summary which provides a bitesized overview of our work.