Led by local authorities with support from the ADCS, DfE, Ofsted, and DLUHC, we're working to help LAs make better use of data in children's services Children’s Social Care for Data People An overview of the system, stakeholders, common local practice, and necessary knowledge for data professionals working in Children’s Social Care Last updated: 21/05/2024 Contents What is Data to Insight? 3 1. Getting started 4 Upskilling new colleagues 5 Emotional demands of CSC data work 6 2. How CSC works 7 Practice partners 8 What local authorities do 9 3. How CSC data works 10 What makes CSC data different? 11 Understanding the core local data flow 12 4. Data roles and functions 13 Typical organisational structures 14 Typical performance processes 15 5. References 16 Beyond the core local data flow 17 Statutory return data process 18 Key data publications 19 Ofsted inspection process 20 Ofsted data requirements 21 Practice guidance 22 Data guidance 23 Learning opportunities 24 Networking opportunities 25 Some common abbreviations 26 Acknowledgements 27 2 What is Data to Insight? Data to Insight (D2I) is the sector-led service for children’s services data professionals. Owned by local authority data professionals, and supported by the ADCS, DfE, DLUHC and Ofsted, we are a small core team supporting a much wider network of children’s services data people, all working together to improve data use in the sector. Our original informal motto was “Build once, use 150 times”, and this still represents a core part of our ethos: there are many thing that every local authority (LA) needs to do, and many of these can be done once in a shared, standard way. Doing this can empower LA colleagues – both to benefit from good practice shared across the sector, and to maximise the value of the time 