Commissioner guide · Outcomes
Placement stability & move-on outcomes.
What we measure, what we publish, and the national picture we measure against. Most providers publish nothing; we set out the measures, the method and the benchmarks we hold ourselves to — and our own figures will follow from our first reporting period.
By the Milestone Young People practice team · Reviewed: August 2026
The outcomes that matter for a care leaver are placement stability, planned move-on to independence, tenancy sustainment, education or work, distance travelled, wellbeing, health engagement and safety. Milestone Young People measures all of them, benchmarks them against the national picture, and publishes them — a quarterly dashboard and an annual report. This page sets out the framework and the benchmarks.
Milestone launches in August 2026. We are not going to present outcome figures we have not yet earned. What follows is the measurement framework we operate from day one and the national benchmarks we hold ourselves to; our own results will be published here from our first reporting period. Transparency means showing the method before the numbers, not inventing the numbers.
The national picture we measure against
Care leavers face a steep national gap, and the point of a good placement is to close it. The clearest single benchmark is education, employment and training: around 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are not in education, employment or training (NEET), against roughly 12% of all young people that age, on Department for Education care-leaver activity data. That gap — care leavers are two to three times more likely to be NEET than their peers — is why EET is a headline outcome, not a footnote.
Benchmark figures are drawn from the latest published DfE care-leaver outcomes statistics; we refresh them each year as new data is released.
What we measure — the outcome set
We report eight groups of measures, mapped to the Pathway Plan dimensions so they dovetail with the local authority's own review. Each is reported as change over time — distance travelled — not as a one-off snapshot, because change is what a placement is for.
| Measure | What we report |
|---|---|
| Placement stability | Unplanned placement-breakdown rate; length of stay; moves avoided |
| Planned move-on | Proportion of exits that are planned, into settled accommodation, not crisis |
| Tenancy sustainment | Sustained tenancy at 6 and 12 months; evictions and abandonments avoided; homelessness prevented |
| Education, employment & training | EET status at intake, review and exit; NEET reduction; qualifications and apprenticeships gained |
| Distance travelled | Outcomes Star change scores; independence-skills baseline re-scored at each review |
| Wellbeing | Change on a validated measure (WEMWBS or CORE-10), intake to exit |
| Health engagement | GP and dentist registration; engagement with mental-health services |
| Safety & voice | Safeguarding referrals, missing episodes, serious incidents, restrictive interventions (target: near zero); proportion contributing feedback; a "you said, we did" log |
How we measure it
Every measure comes from the same needs, risk and support assessment, re-scored on a fixed review cycle, so there is no double-keying and no cherry-picking. We take a scored independence-skills baseline and an Outcomes Star reading at intake; we re-score both, plus the wellbeing measure and the needs scale, at every formal review (at least six-monthly, aligned to the Pathway Plan review); and the exit review captures the move-on destination and whether the tenancy is then sustained at 6 and 12 months. This is the method behind the numbers — the reason a commissioner can trust the change we report.
How we report it
- A quarterly outcomes dashboard for each commissioning authority, showing the measures above with trend and benchmark commentary against the national picture.
- An annual outcomes report, published, setting out what we achieved, what we learned, and what we are changing.
- Per-young-person reporting that feeds the Pathway Plan review — a distance-travelled table against each of the eight dimensions, drafted before the review sits.
Publishing outcomes, benchmarked and dated, is the single biggest differentiator in this sector — because almost no provider does it. It is also the strongest evidence a commissioner can be handed. We would rather be held to published numbers than assert "person-centred" and show nothing.
Frequently asked questions
What outcomes should a supported accommodation provider measure?
Placement stability, planned move-on, tenancy sustainment at 6 and 12 months, education/employment/training, distance travelled on a validated tool such as the Outcomes Star, wellbeing change, health engagement, and safety. Publishing these transparently, benchmarked against the national picture, is the biggest single differentiator because most providers publish nothing.
How many care leavers are NEET?
Around 38% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 are not in education, employment or training, against roughly 12% of all young people that age, on DfE care-leaver activity data. Closing that gap is the central purpose of a good placement.
Does Milestone publish its own outcomes?
Yes — a quarterly dashboard and an annual report, benchmarked against national care-leaver outcomes. As a service launching in August 2026, our own figures will be published here from our first reporting period; until then this page sets out the measures, the method and the benchmarks we hold ourselves to.
Sources. Department for Education, Outcomes for children looked after and care leavers (care-leaver activity / NEET data), latest published edition; measurement tools referenced: the Outcomes Star (Triangle Consulting) and validated wellbeing measures (WEMWBS; CORE-10). National figures are refreshed annually as new DfE data is released. See also our approach and the accommodation duties.
Want to see how we report?
Ask us for a walkthrough of the outcomes dashboard and the measures behind it. Talk to us about placements and what we will report back to you.