Impact Bond: Essex County Council Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST)
Stage of development: Complete
Policy sector: Child and family welfare
Intervention: The intervention used Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) which involves an intensive evidence-based therapeutic treatment model that aims to promote positive social behaviours by breaking negative cycles and removing specific problems in the young person’s life. Young people in Essex demonstrating anti-social or offending behaviours were assigned a therapist who worked with them in their home, school, and community, and with family and peers. This therapist was available 24/7 and worked with the young person for an average of 4-5 months to change their social behaviours.
Classification notes: Referral Route: Referrals to the Essex SIB can come either directly from Social Workers, Youth Offending Services (YOS), D-BIT or other services. Referrals are reviewed by Essex Children's Social are Quadrant Panels, which have responsibility for allocating resources to meet the needs of the young people referred. As the gatekeepers to the service, the Quadrant Panels provide an independent assessment of which cases are suitable for MST. The MST supervisors have final responsibility for discussing and accepting referrals endorsed by the Quadrant Panels.
Start of service provision: 2013-04
Total investment commitment currency: GBP
Total investment commitment: 3130000
Total investment commitment (USD): 4893220.107
Target population: Adolescents aged 11–17 who display anti-social or offending behaviour or other conduct disorders that put them at risk of an out-of-home placement. Individuals referred to the MST service in Essex typically exhibit multiple high risk characteristics such as aggression, criminal behaviour, violence, and imminent risk of care entry. 
Actual number of service users or beneficiaries engaged: 335
Actual unit type: Individual
Notes: An additional dataset is available to researchers for this project that is held under different terms and conditions to the data made available by the INDIGO initiative. The Government Outcomes Lab at the University of Oxford hosts an anonymised interim dataset relating to outcomes achieved by young people who participated in the ‘Essex Edge of Care Social Impact Bond Programme’. This additional dataset is made available by the Government Outcomes Lab for the purposes of academic or non-commercial research. Researchers interested in accessing the data should write to golab@bsg.ox.ac.uk