Priority theme 1
To make sure that we are performing against the outcomes we set out to achieve in the Corporate Plan, indicators are assessed by each priority.
This section of the Annual Performance Report provides details about what the performance data tells us this year, includes tables showing how each indicator has performed and adds some commentary about wider achievements beyond the data.
What our data shows
Improved outcomes from our Family Wellbeing Service with almost 90% of families supported achieving or partially achieving outcomes.
We saw a 7.7% reduction in referrals to Children’s Social Care this year, but a 7.4% increase in the rate of Children in Need (now higher than comparators) and a 5.7% increase in Child Protection Plans. The rate of children looked after remained similar and significantly below the national average. We maintained a high proportion of care leavers in suitable accommodation (93.9%) and a slight increase in care leavers accessing employment, education, or training (now 68.9%).
In relation to SEND we have seen the number of referrals and EHCPs continue to rise (7.6%). Latest published national figures (for January 2025) show a larger national increase of 10.8%. Timeliness of EHCPs has reduced (now 67%) but remains higher than national average (46.4% in January 2025). Audits taking place under our new quality assurance framework indicate that our EHCPs are improving in quality.
Our data shows that there have been fewer admissions to residential or nursing care this year. This reflects the wide range of work to support people living independently, prevent avoidable hospital admissions and so reduce the need for long-term residential or nursing home care. Much of this work is covered by our Better Care Fund plan. The rate of admission among working age adults decreased from 8.7 to 7.3 per 100,000 population from 2023/24 to 2024/25, while the admission rate for older people fell from 479.8 to 414.4 per 100,000 population.
We’ve sustained the outcomes for people accessing reablement services with 83.5% of clients completing reablement with increased independence and a reduction in their care needs this year and a 1.5% increase in people making no further request for support after receiving reablement.
We’ve also seen an improvement in the timeliness of planned reviews of clients care and support plans with 63% now completed within 3 months.
There’s been a small increase in the proportion of care providers rated good or outstanding by CQC this year and this now stands at 70.8%.
Furthermore, the proportion of people receiving direct payments to enable them to coordinate their care and support needs increased to 23.3%.
Unfortunately, we saw a slight decline (to 55%) in the proportion of adults aged 40 to 74 receiving their NHS health check.
Priority theme 1 data table
| Ref | Performance indicator | Frequency | Direction of travel | 2023/2024 Outturn | 2024/2025 Outturn | RAG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASCH_01 | Proportion of Section 42 safeguarding enquiries concluded where a risk was identified and the reported outcome was that this risk was reduced or removed (ASCOF 4B) | Monthly | decrease | 98.7% | 98.1% | Green |
| ASCH_02 | Proportion of Section 42 safeguarding enquiries concluded where the expressed desired outcomes of the individual at risk (or the desired outcomes of the individual’s representative) were fully or partially achieved | Monthly | decrease | 97.9% | 97.32% | Green |
| ASCH_03 | Number of adults aged 18 to 64 whose long-term support needs are met by admission to residential and nursing care homes (per 100,000 population) - ASCOF 2A1 | Monthly | decrease | 8.7 | 7.3 | Green |
| ASCH_04 | Number of adults aged 65 and over whose long-term support needs are met by admission to residential and nursing care homes (per 100,000 population) - ASCOF 2A2 | Monthly | decrease | 479.78 | 414.38 | Green |
| ASCH_05 | Proportion of first assessments completed in the year within 4 weeks of referral | Monthly | increase | 73.4% | 74.1% | Green |
| ASCH_06 | Proportion of planned reviews completed in the year within 3 months of the proposed start date | Monthly | increase | 56% | 63% | Red |
| ASCH_07 | Proportion of people who received short-term (Reablement) services during the year - who previously were not receiving services - where no further request was made for ongoing support - ASCOF 2A | Quarterly | increase | 68.6% | 69.9% | Amber |
| ASCH_08 | Proportion of older people (aged 65 and over) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital (ASCOF 2D) | Quarterly | no change | New indicator | 85.6% | No Target |
| ASCH_09 | Proportion of adult social care providers rated good or outstanding by CQC - ASCOF 6B | Quarterly | decrease | 70.85% | 68.55% | Red |
| ASCH_10 | Proportion of people who use services who receive direct payments (ASCOF 3D(2a)) | Quarterly | increase | 21.0% | 23.30% | Amber |
| ASCH_11 | Overall satisfaction of people who use services with their care and support (ASCOF 1D) | Yearly | decrease | 60.1% | 57.6% | Amber |
| ASCH_12 | Proportion of people who use services who report having control over their daily life (ASCOF 3A) | Yearly | decrease | 76.5% | 73.7% | Amber |
| ASCH_13 | Proportion of people and carers who use services who find it easy to find information about services and/or support (ASCOF 3C) | Yearly | increase | 62.8% | 65.9% | Amber |
| ASCH_14 | Percentage of opiate users who successfully completed treatment | Monthly | 6.65% | Not yet available | No Target | |
| ASCH_15 | Percentage of non-opiate users who successfully completed treatment | Monthly | 25.30% | Not yet available | No Target | |
| ASCH_16 | Percentage of adults (aged 40-74) invited who received an NHS health check | Quarterly | decrease | 57.63% | 54.88% | No Target |
| ASCH_17 | Percentage of people who successfully quit smoking with treatment and support from the Bexley Stop Smoking Service | Quarterly | decrease | 59.7% | 55.8% | No Target |
| ASCH_18 | Percentage of people (aged 15+) with HIV diagnoses that are made at a late stage of infection | Yearly | decrease | 71.40% | 47.40% | No Target |
| ASCH_19 | Percentage of children who received two doses of MMR by age 5 | Yearly | increase | 82.60% | 82.90% | No Target |
| ASCH_20 | Percentage of adults (aged 65+) who received the flu vaccination | Yearly | decrease | 74.30% | 73.50% | No Target |
| ASCH_21 | Percentage of children (aged 4-5) classified as obese | Yearly | increase | 9.50% | 9.80% | No Target |
| ASCH_22 | Percentage of children (aged 10-11) classified as obese | Yearly | decrease | 24.10% | 23.20% | No Target |
| ASCH_23 | Percentage of adults (aged 18+) classified as overweight or obese | Yearly | increase | 62.00% | 66.20% | No Target |
| ASCH_24 | Healthy life expectancy at birth (male) | Yearly | decrease | 64.70 | 64.20 | No Target |
| ASCH_25 | Healthy life expectancy at birth (female) | Yearly | decrease | 64.40 | 63.80 | No Target |
| ASCH_27 | Proportion of clients completing reablement with a reduction in need | Monthly | decrease | 83.90% | 83.50% | No Target |
| ASCH_28 | Proportion of long-term clients who receive community-based services (compared to permanent placements) | Quarterly | decrease | 78.70% | 78.50% | No Target |
| ASCH_30 | Proportion of adults (aged 18 to 64) with learning disabilities in paid employment | Quarterly | decrease | 15.2% | 14.6% | Amber |
| ASCH_31 | Proportion of people who receive long-term support who live in their home or with family (ASCOF 2E) | Quarterly | increase | 67.70% | 73.40% | Red |
| ASCH_32 | Proportion of carers who received a service | Quarterly | decrease | 28.40% | 22.50% | Red |
| ASCH_33 | Quality of life of people who use services - ASCOF 1A | Biennial | 18.8 | Biennial Data 2026 | Target of 18.7 | |
| ASCH_34 | Quality of life of people who use services - adjusted to account only for the additional impact of local-authority funded social care on quality of life (ASCOF 1B) | Biennial | 0.412 | Biennial Data 2026 | Target of 0.41 | |
| ASCH_35 | Quality of life of carers - ASCOF 1D | Biennial | no change | 7.7 | Biennial Data 2026 | No Target |
| ASCH_36 | Proportion of carers who receive direct payments (ASCOF 3D(2b)) | Yearly | no change | 100% | 100% | Green |
| ASCH_37 | Overall satisfaction of carers with social services (for them and for the person they care for) (ASCOF 1E) | Biennial | no change | 37.90% | Biennial Data 2026 | No Target |
| ASCH_38 | Proportion of carers who report that they have been included or consulted in discussion about the person they care for (ASCOF 3B) | Biennial | no change | 70.00% | Biennial Data 2026 | No Target |
| ASCH_39 | Proportion of people who use services who feel safe - ASCOF 4A | Yearly | decrease | 70.00% | 67.2% | Amber |
| ASCH_40 | Proportion of people (including carers) who use services, who reported that they had as much social contact as they would like (ASCOF 5A) | Yearly | increase | 40.7% | 41.7% | Green |
| CS_00 | Number of referrals received each month to Children’s Social Care | Monthly | decrease | 300 | 277 | No Target |
| CS_01 | Rate of Children in Need (all open cases per 10,000) | Monthly | decrease | 346.88 | 330.23 | No Target |
| CS_02 | Rate of Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan (0–17 year olds inclusive per 10,000) | Monthly | decrease | 39.63 | 34.13 | No Target |
| CS_03 | Rate of Looked After Children (0–17 year olds inclusive per 10,000) | Monthly | increase | 49.58 | 51.71 | No Target |
| CS_04 | Percentage of Looked After Children in Residential Placements | Monthly | decrease | 12.68% | 10.14% | No Target |
| CS_05 | Number of Young Adults supported by the Leaving Care Service | Monthly | decrease | 374.67 | 357.08 | Red |
| CS_06 | Percentage of Care Leavers in Suitable Accommodation (aged 19, 20 and 21) | Monthly | increase | 93.61% | 93.89% | Amber |
| CS_07 | Percentage of Care Leavers Accessing Employment, Education and Training (aged 19, 20 and 21) | Monthly | increase | 67.09% | 68.86% | Green |
| CS_08 | Percentage of Families supported by the Family Wellbeing Service who have Plan Outcomes Fully or Partially Achieved | Monthly | increase | 74.21% | 89.73% | Green |
| CS_09 | Percentage of Education, Health & Care Plans (EHCPs) Delivered within 20 Weeks (excluding exceptions) | Monthly | decrease | 80.24% | 67% | Red |
| CS_10 | Number of Children and Young people with Education, Health & Care Plans (EHCPs) | Quarterly | increase | 3159 | 3376 | No Target |
| CS_12 | Percentage of registrations at Children Centres from 50% most deprived areas | Quarterly | decrease | 71.05% | 68.85% | No Target |
| CS_13 | Percentage of those eligible accessing the 2-year-old childcare offer (15 hours) | Quarterly | decrease | 68.58% | 66.83% | Amber |
| CS_14 | Percentage of Bexley Nurseries that are Judged Good or Outstanding by Ofsted | Quarterly | increase | 96.70% | 97.80% | Green |
| CS_15 | Percentage of Bexley Schools that are Judged Good or Outstanding by Ofsted | Quarterly | increase | 91.75% | 92.80% | Amber |
| CS_16 | Rate of Permanent Exclusions in Bexley schools | Monthly | decrease | 0.04 | 0.03 | Green |
| CS_20 | Key Stage 4 Progress 8 for Bexley | Yearly | increase | -0.07 | -0.03 | No Target |
| CS_21 | Percentage of 16– and 17-Year Olds NEET or whose Activity is Not Known | Yearly | increase | 2.10% | 2.20% | Green |
| CS_22 | LECB College retention rate | Yearly | increase | 92.00% | 94.00% | No Target |
RAG: Red, Amber or Green rating comparing outturn for the year (year-to-date, latest period available) compared to target over that period. Green = equal to or better than target, Amber = within 5% off target, Red = 5% or more from meeting target.
Stepping away from the data, much has been achieved this year that furthers our Corporate Plan outcomes under priority theme 1. The following list provides a small selection of recent activity and achievements: