Perth and Kinross Council Transitions within the Community Project: Evaluation Report

This document reports the findings of an evaluation of the Transitions within the Community Project in Perth and Kinross (The Project). The evaluation was commissioned by Perth and Kinross Council and conducted by researchers from CELCIS at the University of Strathclyde. The Project is a change programme designed to reshape services for children and young people with Learning Disability, Additional Support Needs and Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. The Project is a ‘preventative spend’ measure financed through around £805,000 provided through the Investment and Improvement Fund (IIF). It aims to ameliorate a projected overspend for Education and Children’s Services of around £1,000,000 per annum and annually increasing costs of around £400,000 to Housing and Community Care Services for young people transitioning to adult services. A simultaneous dual aim was to improve services by helping more young people with Learning Disability, Additional Support Needs and Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties to be part of their local community. The Evaluation is based on data and information gathered by Perth and Kinross Council over the duration of the Project; this material has been supplemented by some new interview data gathered by the researchers. As a result of this mixed approach to data collection, the evaluation has a number of strengths and limitations; these are discussed in the report.