The ROI of Early Insight: Turning small changes into big wins

Local authorities are being asked to do the impossible as they must solve increasingly complex problems with finite budgets and high levels of scrutiny.  There is no silver bullet for this conundrum, but a good starting point is to be proactive and stop the problems developing and escalating in the first place. For this to happen, professionals need to be able to monitor, plan and intervene. Early. 

At Pupil Pathways, we see the difference early insight makes every day. When practitioners receive a clear, structured picture of a child before transition, support starts sooner, interventions are better matched, and crises are prevented rather than managed.  

The financial impact is real too as the huge costs associated with providing AP mean that in a mid-sized authority of ~20,000 pupils implementation costs can easily be recovered within year one. 

What early insight changes (in human terms)

Think of the first weeks in Reception or Year 7. If the receiving team knows the child, their strengths, triggers, and strategies that already work, then those first days can feel calm and predictable. Families tell their story once and see action quickly.

Practitioners plan, rather than firefight. That sense of belonging isn’t a “nice to have”; it’s the foundation for future attendance, engagement and steady progress. A combination of “a stitch in time…” for the school and “first impressions last” for the learner. 

…and what it changes in financial terms 

When we model the impact of earlier, better information-sharing, four changes are made: 

• Prevented exclusions. With earlier, joined-up planning exclusions can be prevented. Say you have five permanent exclusions in your authority each year, you will typically save around £650,000 (IPPR, 2024) in fiscal costs (Average of. £130k per case). Even a highly cautious view (£50k) still yields £250,000 in avoided spend.

• In-authority placements. Diverting three pupils from out-of-area independent special placements into suitable local provision saves roughly £114,000 per year (IFS, 2024) (typical placement differential plus transport). In stronger years this can exceed £180,000.

• Severe-absence shifts. A small 0.2 percentage-point reduction overall, coupled with ~10 fewer severe-absence days for ~40 highest-risk pupils, doesn’t unlock “cash” overnight, but it does free staff time previously tied up with crisis casework and repeat chasing. In practice, that’s ~£8k–£11k* (Uniqskills, 2024) of recoverable capacity you can redeploy to prevention. (*Calculation based on attendance officer salary data (£26,633 average, 2023) and estimated staff time allocation.) 

• CAHMS Referrals. Whilst there’s no “direct cost” for local authorities for CAHMS services, we know the system has average costs associated to authorities to fund the overall service. Anne Longfield OBE, Children’s Commissioner for England, said to Parliament:  

“Given the level of unmet need, we need seismic, not incremental, changes to the system… We need a system that provides support for all levels of mental health need with a focus on early intervention. Such an approach, if delivered well, has proven to be both clinically and cost-effective because treatment provided early is much cheaper to deliver: £2,338 – the average cost of a referral to a community CAMHS service; £61,000 – the average cost of an admission to an in-patient CAMHS unit.”  

Put together, a reasonable base-case picture looks like ~£764,000 of money saved in year one, with a very cautious low case of ~£331,000 and a strong-delivery year comfortably £800k+ (before wider societal benefits). 

The headline here isn’t the spreadsheet, it’s the timing. Savings arrive because support starts before September, not when problems surface. 

Using the costings above, and an example data set, we have put together a table showing how much money could be spent by a Local Authority to cover exclusions, alternative provisions and CAHMS referrals/admissions. 

Why early insight produces these gains 

Late, fragmented handovers create three hidden costs: duplication (retelling and re-assessing), delay (needs discovered through incident), and drift (mis-matched placements). Pupil Pathways replaces that with a single, secure learner profile called the Pupil Passport that travels with the child, covering SEND, safeguarding, attendance context, strategies that work, and pupil voice, so the receiving team can plan with confidence.

We know however that every authority is different, so we always separate spend from other benefits and plug in local unit costs:

1. Start with baselines (severe/persistent absence, exclusions/AP, placement mix and costs)
2. Apply cautious, locally-agreed unit costs
3. Track quarterly, with a sharp focus on first-term indicators (on-time profiles, time from flag → first action, first-term attendance/incidents/AP referrals) and case-level evidence of avoided escalation

A practical blueprint that builds on what you already do 

Our approach pairs naturally with StepIntoSchool (Early Years → Reception) and SixIntoSeven (Year 6 → Year 7). 

• Discovery (2–4 weeks): map current processes, find duplication and gaps, agree success measures with heads and SENDCos, and define a common learner profile.

• Build (4–6 weeks): set timelines, QA and role-based access; publish plain-English guidance; train a small network of transition champions; prepare family-meeting scripts and example adjustments.

• Launch (summer term): secure >90% participation; run pre-start family meetings for identified pupils; fund small early adjustments; hold Targeting Support Meetings for complex cases with clear owners and first actions logged.

• Review (autumn term): track early indicators, gather family/staff feedback, refine for year two.

The framing with schools and families is simple: belonging before day one; tell it once, see action quickly; a fresh start, not a blank slate. 

Where Pupil Pathways fits 

• StepIntoSchool captures developmental and contextual insight from nurseries and childminders so Reception teams can plan before a child arrives.

• SixIntoSeven transfers structured, consistent Year 6 profiles—SEND, safeguarding, pupil voice, strategies that work—so Year 7 support starts on day one.

Together, they create the early visibility and joined-up practice that reduce absence, avoid exclusions, and keep more pupils learning in local provision. 

Bottom line: when authorities see earlier, they act earlier, and when they act earlier, pupils need less crisis response later. If you’d like a quick, localised ROI view using your attendance, exclusion/AP and placement data, we can build it with you in one short session.  

We might just be the answer. One Journey. One Platform. 

• Department for Education (2024). Working together to improve school attendance (Statutory guidance). 
• Department for Education (2024/25). Pupil absence in schools in England (official statistics). 
• Department for Education (2024). EYFSP results 2023/24 (GLD by characteristic, including FSM and SEND). 
• Department for Education (2025). The impact of school absence on lifetime earnings. 
• Institute for Government (2025). School readiness – policy-making for left-behind groups. 
• Centre for Social Justice (2024–25). Absence Tracker. 
• IPPR & Pro Bono Economics (2024). Who is losing learning? (lifetime cost per permanent exclusion). 
• NAO (2024). Support for children and young people with SEND (placement cost differentials). 
• Pupil Pathways: Intervene earlier, catch up less – why early insight is the key (News blog). 
• Pupil Pathways: Why attendance data isn’t the whole story (News blog). 
• Thomson, P. et al. (2024). School attendance and complexity (peer-reviewed study).