Consultation on national standards for the provision of children and young people’s advocacy services

Article 39 briefing – 11 October 2023

  1. The Department for Education is consulting on a revised set of national standards for children and young people’s advocacy services, and associated statutory guidance for local authorities. The consultation was launched on 21 September 2023 and closes on 18 December 2023. The documents and online survey can be found here. Below Article 39 summarises what we consider to be the most significant developments in the revised standards, and we signpost three main areas for further improvement. 

WHAT’S NEW

Extended scope

  1. The scope of the new standards is broader and extends to: all aspects of children’s social care, including child protection; young people requiring support into adulthood including young carers; special educational needs and disability, and school exclusion; and all residential / secure settings, including residential special schools, young offender institutions and secure training centres (page 5).  

New requirements on commissioning organisations and/or service providers

  1. The new standards place a number of new responsibilities on commissioning organisations, including:
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations will have a strategy for children and young people’s advocacy (page 6).
    • An expectation that contracts and specifications for advocacy services are consistent with the legal rights of children and young people to access such help (standard 7.10).
    • A number of expectations in relation to non-instructed advocacy (standards 3.5, 3.10, 3.11 and 3.13).
    • An expectation that interpreting services are available (either directly or through provision of funding) so that children and young people can communicate in their preferred language (standard 4.5).
    • An expectation that sufficient funding is provided to meet the service specification (standard 10.2). 
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations will ensure advocacy services have arrangements in place to assist children and young people to access legal help (standard 4.9).
    • An expectation that short-term contracts are avoided in order to ensure stability for children and young people (standard 10.1).
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations will value and champion the independence of the advocacy service, and not interfere with the governance or day-to-day work of the service (standard 7.19).
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations will promote understanding of the role of advocacy services in helping children and young people use complaints procedures and access legal help (standard 7.20).
    • An expectation that  advocacy is proactively offered to children and young people in a wide range of circumstances (pages 7-8).
    • An expectation that advocacy is offered to children and young people after any use of restraint, segregation or seclusion in a residential/secure setting (page 8).
    • An expectation that advocacy is offered to children and young people who have been the subject of a full search in a residential/secure setting (page 8).
    • An expectation that children and young people are offered an advocate as soon as they are entitled to one, and that they are regularly reminded of their right to an advocate (standard 1.2).
    • An expectation that arrangements are in place to ensure children and young people living outside their home local authority can access advocacy (standard 7.2).
    • An expectation that corporate parents and others with statutory responsibilities towards children continue to inform individual children of their right to advocacy even if they have previously declined such support (standard 1.13).
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations ensure that those with a legal duty to inform children and young people of their right to advocacy – including those handling statutory complaints and independent reviewing officers – fulfil these obligations (standard 7.10).
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations and service providers ensure that all staff are aware of the role and importance of advocacy, and how to refer children and young people to such services (standard 4.1). 
    • An expectation that children and young people’s legal right to advocacy is included in staff induction, supervision and training of non-advocacy services (standard 7.10).
    • An expectation that commissioning organisations actively encourage all relevant agencies and adults to inform children and young people of the advocacy service, encourage them to use it, and help them to access it (standard 7.9). 
    • When contracts are in transition between providers, an expectation that children and young people receiving advocacy are helped to resolve their matters of concern with their existing advocate wherever possible (standard 1.17).

Proactive information about advocacy 

  1. An expectation that children and young people are offered an advocate as soon as they are entitled to one, and that they are regularly reminded of their right to an advocate (standard 1.2).
  1. An expectation that advocacy services actively encourage all relevant agencies and adults to inform children and young people of the advocacy service, encourage them to use it, and help them to access it (standard 7.9). 

Prompt assistance

  1. An expectation that advocacy services will respond to children and young people’s requests for help within 24-72 hours, and within 48 hours when the matter is urgent (standard 7.5). When delay may be detrimental, an expectation that the advocacy service makes prompt and direct contact with the child or young person (standard 1.8).
  1. When prompt help is not available for a child or young person, an expectation that the advocacy service proactively assists the child or young person to obtain assistance from elsewhere (standard 7.6).

Availability and comfort of service

  1. An expectation that advocacy services monitor who is using their service against who is eligible to use their service, and take action to ensure equality of access (standard 6.3).
  1. An expectation that the place where advocacy is provided is inviting (as well as convenient, safe and private) (standard 7.7).
  1. Where advocacy is not provided at the advocacy service’s premises, an expectation that the advocate arranges a comfortable and private meeting space (standard 7.7).
  1. An expectation that when advocacy is delivered online, that the child or young person has the space and privacy to talk freely (standard 7.7).

Children and young people’s advocacy goals and measuring outcomes

  1. Advocates are clear about what children and young people want to stop, start or change; it is recommended that these advocacy goals are written down in a way that the child or young person understands, and that a new agreement is made between the child or young person and their advocate if the child or young person’s advocacy goals change (standards 1.6 and 1.7).
  1. Advocacy services have robust outcome measurements in place, based on children and young people’s advocacy goals (standard 10.3).

Continuity of advocacy relationship

  1. An expectation that the advocacy service ensures continuity in a child or young person’s advocate (unless the child or young person requests a change) (standard 1.16).

Non-instructed advocacy

  1. A whole new standard on non-instructed advocacy is included (standard 3, pages 15-17). There is an expectation that every advocacy service has at least one advocate who is trained and able to undertake non-instructed advocacy (standard 3.3). There are also specific expectations on commissioning bodies in relation to the provision of non-instructed advocacy, as set out above. 

Safeguarding and action against human rights breaches 

  1. A whole new standard on safeguarding and whistleblowing is included (standard 9, pages 31-33).
  1. There’s an explicit acknowledgement of the increased risk of harm within institutional settings and the role of advocates in this context (standard 9.9). 
  1. An expectation that children and young people using advocacy services are given information about their right to protection (standard 9.2).
  1. An expectation that advocacy services have policies and procedures setting out when they will alert regulatory and other bodies of safeguarding and human rights concerns, and that this information is available to children and young people and other members of the public (standard 9.8).
  1. An expectation that advocacy services make direct referrals to the local authority designated officer / statutory agencies and escalate concerns when necessary (standard 9.6). 
  1. An expectation that advocacy services identify thematic issues of concern and communicate these (without identifying individuals) to local authorities, local safeguarding partners / safeguarding adult boards and, where appropriate, to other bodies such as inspectorates and the Children’s Commissioner for England (standard 9.8).

Legal advice and use of statutory complaints procedures

  1. An expectation that advocacy services have links with a variety of solicitors so they can signpost children and young people who require legal advice and representation (standard 4.10).
  1. An expectation that advocates have the confidence to use a range of complaints procedures including those operated by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (standard 4.8).

Independence of advocacy service

  1. The revised standards contain new (additional) provisions in respect of the independence of advocates and advocacy services (see also new provisions in respect of commissioning organisations above), including:
    • Advocacy services are, as far as possible, funded and managed independently from related services (as well as the commissioning organisations) (standard 7.16).
    • Advocates recognise that regular contact with settings and services may lead to relationships forming which compromise independence, or the appearance of independence. They receive supervision and other support to ensure independence is maintained at all times (standard 7.22).
    • An expectation that advocates have the confidence to challenge professionals when necessary(standard 7.17).
    • An expectation around continuity in the relationship between a child or young person and their advocate (standard 1.16): this should help to prevent the actual or threatened removal of an advocate from a particular child or young person because they are perceived to be too challenging.

Service improvement, annual evaluation and annual report

  1. An expectation that advocacy services routinely seek children and young people’s views, advice and partnership to ensure they are providing the best possible help (standard 2.1).
  1. An expectation that the work and effectiveness of the service is evaluated at least once a year in partnership with children and young people (standard 10.4). The service tries to ensure a representative balance of views and feedback from children and young people using the service (standard 6.6).
  1. When future service specifications are being developed, an expectation that advocacy services obtain a representative balance of views from children and young people who have previously used the service (standard 2.1).
  1. An expectation that annual reports will be sent to managers, the commissioning organisation, children in care councils and other relevant self-advocacy groups and organisations, and to elected members and local safeguarding partners / safeguarding adult boards (standard 10.6).
  1. There are new (additional) expectations about what should be included in the annual reports of advocacy services, including:
    • A description of the backgrounds and circumstances of the children and young people using the advocacy service across the year (standard 10.6).
    • A description of the matters of concern raised by children and young people across the year, and how these were resolved, including by use of complaints procedures and litigation when this was necessary (standard 10.6).
    • A summary of the thematic issues raised by children and young people across the year (standard 9.8).
    • The number of complaints the advocacy service received from children and young people about the advocacy service, and how these were resolved (standard 8.6).
    • Any learning from serious incidents where a child or young person the advocacy service was working with was harmed (standard 9.11).
    • A description of any capacity or resource issues experienced by the advocacy service (standard 10.4).
    • A description of any gaps for improvement within the commissioning organisation or the advocacy service (standard 10.6).

Professional standing and training of advocates

  1. There is recognition that advocates require appropriate training and must have the expertise to provide professional advice and support (page 6).
  1. There are new (additional) expectations around the training of advocates, including in respect of:
    • An explicit expectation that advocates can work to children and young people’s instructions.
    • Knowledge about the legal and human rights of children and young people.
    • Recognising children with mental health needs and signposting to relevant services.
    • Ability to carry out non-instructed advocacy.
      (standard 5.5)

Line managers

  1. An expectation that advocates are supported by suitably experienced and trained line managers (standard 5.4).

Use of volunteers

  1. An expectation that volunteers do not have lead responsibility for statutory advocacy functions (standard 5.7).

WHAT’S MISSING OR PROBLEMATIC

  1. Article 39 would like to see the standards applied to all advocacy services, including those helping children and young people to make complaints about health services, and those providing assistance to children and young people in mental health inpatient units.
  1. We strongly recommend a standalone new standard around visiting advocacy services in residential/secure settings.
  1. We would also like to see standard 9.10, on whistleblowing, expanded.
  1. New standard 7.23 prevents advocacy services from seeking to influence parliament and government and the work of regulators. We consider this to directly contradict a number of requirements in the standards themselves, and to be inconsistent with the values and purpose of advocacy services. We will press for this standard to be removed from the final version.

ANNEX: Current standard headings compared to revised standard headings

Current standards (November 2002)Draft revised standards (September 2023)
Standard 1: Advocacy is led by the views and wishes of children and young people.  

Standard 2: Advocacy champions the rights and needs of children and young people.  

Standard 3: All Advocacy Services have clear policies to promote equalities issues and monitor services to ensure that no young person is discriminated against due to age, gender, race, culture, religion, language, disability or sexual orientation. 

Standard 4: Advocacy is well-publicised, accessible and easy to use. 

Standard 5: Advocacy gives help and advice quickly when they are requested. 

Standard 6: Advocacy works exclusively for children and young people. 

Standard 7: The Advocacy Service operates to a high level of confidentiality and ensures that children, young people and other agencies are aware of its confidentiality policies. 

Standard 8: Advocacy listens to the views and ideas of children and young people in order to improve the service provided. 

Standard 9: The advocacy service has an effective and easy to use complaints procedure.  

Standard 10: Advocacy is well managed and gives value for money. 






Standard 1: Advocacy is led by the views, wishes and feelings of children and young people.  

Standard 2: Children and young people are active partners in the design, delivery and evaluation of advocacy services.  

Standard 3: Children and young people who may be unable to give instructions on a specific issue have their rights articulated and championed through non- instructed advocacy.  

Standard 4: Advocates ensure children and young people’s views, wishes and feelings are known, understood and considered in decisions. They champion and protect the rights of children and young people.  

Standard 5: Advocates have the values, knowledge, skills, experience and training to meet these standards. Their conditions of employment, including supervision and continuing professional development, support high quality professional practice.  

Standard 6: Advocacy services are committed to equality of opportunity and inclusion and advocates are recruited from a wide range of backgrounds.  

Standard 7: Advocacy services are independent and accessible. They operate to the highest level of confidentiality and ethical practice.  

Standard 8: Advocacy services have an easy-to-use complaints procedure which ensures children and young people are listened to, their concerns are taken seriously and they understand the outcome. Advocacy services are transparent and open when things go wrong.

Standard 9: Advocacy services have effective safeguarding and whistleblowing arrangements. 

Standard 10: Advocacy services are well-managed and effective. They have sufficient resources to meet the needs of children and young people and are used effectively.