PhD Scholarship: The Scale and Effectiveness of Parenting Interventions Delivered in Children’s Social Care in the UK: Impact, Experience of Families and Barriers to Evaluation

Please note, this is a PhD Scholarship co-funded by Foundations, the National What Works Centre for Children and Families and the biggest funder of evaluation research in early interventions services and children’s social care. Children and young people (CYP) on Child in Need (CiN) plans or Child Protection (CP) orders are amongst the most vulnerable in the country and from families with high levels of need. Children on CiN plans and CP orders constitute a large proportion of children and families seen by children’s social care services and are at high risk for out of home placements, thereby representing a very high cost to the public purse. However, little research has been conducted on what services are offered to these CYP and their families, particularly when risks have been identified in parenting and domestic violence. Evidence-based parenting interventions have become increasingly widespread in the last twenty years but are primarily used in Early Help and broader children’s services, and it is not clear the extent to which they are offered to families when there is a CiN or CP plan in place. This project aims to investigate whether parenting interventions are offered and whether they are effective in this population of CYP and their families. The project is likely to include conducting systematic reviews, secondary data analysis of social care data and obtaining access and analysing data held by organisations delivering parenting interventions. The scholar will also identify and interview key stakeholders in children’s services and children’s social care.

Bursary available (subject to satisfactory performance): From 01 October for the 2025-26 academic year this amount will be Year 1: (FT) £20,780 plus £2,000 London Weighting (where applicable) or pro-rata (PT) Year 2: In line with UKRI rate Year 3: In line with UKRI rate.

In addition, the successful candidate will receive a contribution to tuition fees equivalent to the university’s Home-student rate, currently £5,006 or pro-rata (PT), for the duration of their scholarship. International applicants will need to pay the remainder tuition fee for the duration of their scholarship. This fee is subject to an annual increase

For an informal conversation about the project, please contact Dr Sajid Humayun (s.humayun@greenwich.ac.uk) or Prof Claire Monks (c.monks@greenwich.ac.uk).

Please review carefully the following link, containing the person specification and other relevant information, before making an application:

The scale and effectiveness of parenting interventions delivered in children’s social care in the UK: impact, experience of families and barriers to evaluation | Documents | University of Greenwich

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