Underinvestment in Children's Social Care
Historical underinvestment in children's social care, impacting family support and increasing reliance on family court interventions.
4,885 items
10 sources
5 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#19 - New investment in children's social care aims to reduce family court cases.
DfE told us its major contribution to the overall system is to reduce the flow of cases to family courts. It told us that successive governments have under-invested in children’s social care but the Spending Review in June this year announced over £2 billion of new investment in Children’s social care. This could help provide better family support...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
98match
#3 - Create dedicated roles to support parents of children from all disadvantaged groups.
Successive governments have rightly focused on targeting Family Hubs and other early year interventions on those with the greatest need. We welcome the announcement that Hubs will have staff specifically trained to support the parents of children with additional needs navigate the service. We recommend that Government consider creating similar roles to support the parents of children from...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#16 - Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care
The Department told us it wants the care system to be more flexible, and accepts the system is currently not very good at adapting to innovative or usual requests. The result is that the child will often end up in care settings that cost more than the adaptation might have done. The Department explained it wants the system...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#21 - Children's social care market is failing due to excessive profits and provider financial risk.
The children’s social care market is not delivering for children or for local authorities. We are particularly concerned at the reports of excessive profits being made by some providers and the risk of financial failure among large providers. We hope that the reforms set out in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will address this and expect the...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#16 - Produce DfE analysis of funding needed for children's social care reforms and implementation plan.
The Department for Education should produce an analysis of the level of funding that is still needed to achieve the necessary reforms to children’s social care and set out how it will work towards achieving the level of funding recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. (Recommendation, Paragraph 36) Supply of social care placements
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#15 - Additional funding for children's social care welcomed, but full implementation funding gap remains.
We warmly welcome the additional funding for children’s social care and capital investment in children’s homes announced at the recent Spending Review, which will be an important step forward in working towards the amount recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. It would now be helpful for the Department to set out the level of funding...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#2 - Require Department for Education to issue comprehensive response to Children’s Social Care Review by year-end.
By the end of this year, the Department for Education must issue a comprehensive response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care which was published over three years ago. This should set out which recommendations have already been taken forward and a timeline and funding estimate for those which have not. It must evaluate the impact of...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#1 - Children’s social care problems persist and worsen without comprehensive reform following the Independent Review.
Evidence given to the Committee during our inquiry indicates that many of the problems highlighted by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in 2022 persist, and in a significant number of cases have worsened since the Review. Increases in need coupled with stretched budgets and a lack of serious attention to reform have resulted in a system...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
95match
#24 - Some private providers of children's social care achieve unacceptably high profit margins.
We raised concerns about the high levels of profits of some private providers.64 The Competition and Markets Authority found in 2022 that the fifteen largest providers of children’s social care had average profit rates of 22.6% for children’s homes, and that their prices increased by an average of 3.5% above inflation each year.65 The Association for Directors of...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
94match
#14 - Significant geographical disparities in children's home availability lead to unsuitable placements and poor outcomes.
There are disparities in the number and types of children’s home available in different areas across the country, particularly for children with more complex needs.29 For example, there are no secure homes across all of London, while South West England has disproportionately few homes with specialist provision for children with mental health problems.30 These disparities can lead to...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
91match
#8 - Department lacks up-to-date information on children's care provision, demand, and available places.
The Children’s Commissioner told us that there needs to be a much tighter grip on the amount and type of provision needed and where.13 The Department lacks up-to-date information on the support children need, the demand for places and places available, to help local authorities make decisions.14 It recognises that many children are not in appropriate settings based...
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
90match
#17 - Inconsistent capital funding and local authority competition impede creating children's homes where needed.
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services described inconsistencies in capital funding, and competition between local authorities for funding, as barriers to creating homes where they are needed. Where one local authority might be delighted to win several million pounds to develop in-house provision, another will have lost out. It told us that it would be in the...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
90match
#12 - Commit to increasing mandatory health visitor contacts from five to six for children in England.
We recommend that the Government commit to increasing the number of mandatory health visitor contacts for children in England from five to six. To help it deliver this it should look at the approach that the devolved administrations have taken, where families can expect between 6 and 11 contacts with a health visitor, and set out the lessons...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
89match
#5 - Early intervention funding remains insufficient despite welcome grants, requiring urgent additional resources.
The Government’s focus on early intervention is the right one and long overdue. The additional £270 million provided through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant is welcome but falls far short of the £1.2 billion that has been removed from early intervention services since 2012, an even greater gap in the context of an increasing population. We welcome...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
89match
#1 - Family Hubs funding remains significantly below Sure Start levels despite broader remit.
We welcome the additional funding that the Government has announced for Family Hubs and its plans to open a Hub in every local authority. This is a positive step in increasing the support available to families during the critical first years of a child’s life. However, the funding available for these programmes is still significantly below the level...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
87match
#48 - Mental health support for children in care is currently falling far short of needs.
Children in care have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect, and they are over four times more likely to suffer from emotional or mental health problems than their peers. It is therefore essential that there is a strong system in place to support them. Currently, the support available is falling far short of what is needed. (Conclusion, Paragraph 120)
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
87match
#26 - Proposed timescale for adult social care commission risks insufficient and delayed reform
While we support the new independent commission into adult social care led by Baroness Casey, we are concerned that the proposed timescale means that urgent reforms to social care services will not be implemented soon enough to overcome the severity of the crisis in adult social care. If no action is taken by the time the commission concludes...
Matched on
terms: care, social
Committee recommendation
87match
#25 - Inaction on adult social care reform creates unsustainable human and financial costs
We support and echo the conclusions of the recent report Adult Social Care Reform by the Health and Social Care committee. As they have said in the summary of their report, successive Governments have not fully considered the human and financial costs of inaction on social care reform, including costs falling on local authorities and their residents. The...
Matched on
terms: care, social
Committee recommendation
86match
#10 - Rising care numbers demand cross-departmental action to address external contributing factors.
The pressure caused by rising numbers of children coming into care is putting serious strain on the system. The only way to effectively reduce these numbers is to address the factors outside the care system which are contributing to this demand, including poverty, poor parental mental health, the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and extra- 83 familial harms....
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
86match
#4 - Set out how to address barriers to increasing foster carer numbers with clear timeframe and milestones.
To reduce the demand for children’s residential care, the Department is relying on there being more foster carers, but it has yet to address the significant challenges to increase numbers. The Department sees reducing demand for residential care as key to reducing costs. To do so, it plans to work with children at an earlier stage so they...
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
85match
#2 - Set out plans to expand Family Hubs with sustained funding and issue guidance for 0-2 services.
We call on the Government to set out plans to further expand the network of Family Hubs to provide access to a Hub every community. This plan must be supported by sustained and ringfenced funding. Previous research on the benefits of the Sure Start Programme clearly set out the long-term benefits and financial returns of such an investment...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
83match
#27 - Accelerate adult social care commission timescale and fully fund sector by Parliament's end
The timescale for the commission into adult social care should be brought forward, and it must present actionable reforms to the sector as part of its interim findings in 2026. The Government must not wait for the commission to publish its final report, and treat its interim findings with due urgency. The Government must ensure that adult social...
Matched on
terms: care, social
Committee recommendation
83match
#1 - Committee took evidence on sustainability of children's residential care.
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Education (the Department) on the sustainability of children’s residential care.2 We also took evidence from the Children’s Commissioner, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (a local government membership organisation), and the Children’s Homes Association (a membership organisation for...
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
82match
#18 - Foster care households and placements have significantly decreased despite the Department's reduction goals.
The Department told us that it sees reducing the need for residential care as key to addressing some of the drivers behind the increased cost. It plans to reduce the need by preventing children becoming looked after by a local authority, and then by increasing the availability of foster care, which is eight times cheaper than residential care.47...
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
82match
#3 - Detail plans to address barriers creating children's home places, including funding and staffing.
Providers of children’s homes, including local authorities, are not offering the places needed locally, leading to children being placed in homes that do not meet their needs. There are disparities in the places available across the country, particularly for children with more complex needs. For example, there are currently no secure home places for children in London, and...
Matched on
terms: children, social
Committee recommendation
81match
#11 - Government's health visit ambitions are inadequate compared to other UK nations' provision.
The Government’s ambitions for the number of health visits are woefully inadequate. Children in England receive fewer mandated health visits than children in any other part of the UK. While the Government’s immediate priority must be supporting and growing the workforce to deliver the current programme of five visits, in the longer term the Government should aim to...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Inquiry recommendation
81match
WATE-(66) - Central government examine residential schools use as social services substitute
Central government should examine the extent to which residential schools are being used as a substitute for social services care and support, and identify the implications for children's long term welfare.
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
WATE-(11) - Require field social workers to visit looked after children every eight weeks
Field social workers should be required by regulation to visit any looked after child for whom they are responsible not less than once every eight weeks916. In the case of older children, they should be required also to see the child alone and at intervals away from their residential or foster home.
Matched on
terms: children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-62 - Implement single agreed guidance for hospital social workers with out-of-area children
Where hospital-based social work staff come into contact with children from other local authority areas, the directors of social services of their employing authorities must ensure that they work to a single set of guidance agreed by all the authorities concerned.
Matched on
terms: children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-60 - Line manage hospital social workers within children and families' services section
Directors of social services must ensure that hospital social workers working with children and families are line managed by the children and families’ section of their social services department.
Matched on
terms: children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-57 - Ensure social workers can access international information on vulnerable children
Directors of social services must ensure that social work staff are made aware of how to access effectively information concerning vulnerable children which may be held in other countries.
Matched on
terms: children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-54 - Allocate social workers to all children's cases or report unallocated cases monthly
Directors of social services must ensure that all cases of children assessed as needing a service have an allocated social worker. In cases where this proves to be impossible, arrangements must be made to maintain contact with the child. The number, nature and reasons for such unallocated cases must be reported to the social services committee on a...
Matched on
terms: children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-30 - Directors must ensure senior managers regularly inspect children's social services case files
Directors of social services must ensure that senior managers inspect, at least once every three months, a random selection of case files and supervision notes.
Matched on
terms: children, social
Inquiry recommendation
78match
LAMI-29 - Implement system for directors to monitor children's social services duty team data
Directors of social services must devise and implement a system which provides them with the following information about the work of the duty teams for which they are responsible: • number of children referred to the teams; • number of those children who have been assessed as requiring a service; • number of those children who have been...
Matched on
terms: children, social
Committee recommendation
78match
#21 - Third Report - Social care: funding and workforce
But we are clear that this is only a starting point. It will not provide any improvement in access to care, which is urgently needed and would be improved through introducing free personal care as recommended by previous select committee reports from both the Lords and the Commons, which we continue to endorse as worthy of consideration. The...
Matched on
terms: care, social
Committee recommendation
78match
#20 - Third Report - Social care: funding and workforce
We believe that the starting point for the social care funding increase must be an additional £7bn per year by 2023–24 to cover demographic changes, uplift staff pay in line with the National Minimum Wage and to protect people who face catastrophic social care costs. This represents a 34% increase from the 2023–24 £20.4bn adult social care baseline...
Matched on
terms: care, social
Committee recommendation
78match
#72 - Care leavers face poorest outcomes due to insufficient support and limited Bill measures.
Care leavers have some of the poorest outcomes in society across a range of measures, and the support available to them falls far short of what is needed. The state has a grave responsibility to the children it takes 93 into its care, and these outcomes are simply not good enough. We were disappointed at the limited range...
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
78match
#20 - Insufficient fees, home adaptation needs, and societal shifts create barriers to increasing foster care.
The Association for Directors of Children’s Services explained that there are barriers to increasing foster care numbers. This includes insufficient fees and allowances for foster carers, the need for foster carers to adapt their 47 Qq 26, 59 48 C&AG’s Report, para 2.7 49 National Association of Fostering Providers (CCH0003) 50 Qq 36, 59 51 Q 59 52...
Matched on
terms: care, children
LGO / SPSO decision
76match
21-014-757 - Peterborough City Council
Summary: Mrs B complains the Council has not provided support to her disabled children and about the way it dealt with her complaint. We have found fault that has caused injustice. The Council has agreed to make payments to Mrs B and her family and review its complaints handling.
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
74match
#59 - Conduct review of disabled children’s short breaks availability and fund local authority provision.
The Department should conduct a review of the availability of short breaks, respite care and holiday provision for disabled children to understand where the shortages are most acute. It should work with the Ministry of Housing, 91 Communities and Local Government to fund local authorities to be able to offer this provision to all families who are entitled...
Matched on
terms: care, children
Committee recommendation
74match
#26 - Competition among local authorities for children's home places drives up costs significantly.
When finding children’s homes places, local authorities must often look outside of their own area, putting them in competition with each other. Local authorities also often rely on finding places just at the time children need to be housed, rather than buying in advance. which can further increase competition and therefore the prices they have to pay.73 The...
Matched on
terms: care, children
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
23-002-919 - Newcastle upon Tyne City Council
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in Miss X’s children’s case. The substantive part of the complaint is late and there is not a good reason for the delay. There is insufficient evidence of fault in more recent events, nor could we provide a meaningful outcome for Miss X as investigation by us...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
202000338 - The Moray Council
C is an independent advocate who complained on behalf of their client (A). Following social work involvement, A’s child (B) was placed with kinship carers. This was a voluntary arrangement, in terms of section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. After the relationship with kinship carers broke down, C said that A repeatedly informed social workers and...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
21-010-646 - Lincolnshire County Council
Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her son with appropriate social care support from March 2021, and failed to complete appropriate assessments of his needs. The Council was at fault as it failed to investigate Mrs X’s complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council will arrange and start a stage 2 investigation under...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
LGO / SPSO decision
72match
21-012-425 - London Borough of Newham
Summary: The complainant (Ms X) complained about the lack of children’s services support for her son (Y) despite his diagnosis of epilepsy and Occupational Therapist’s (OT) recommendations. She also said the Council failed in the way it considered her complaint. We found fault with the Council’s handling of Ms X’s complaint. The Council agreed to apologise, consider Ms...
Matched on
terms: care, children, social
Committee recommendation
70match
#19 - Departmental fostering recruitment hubs show limited immediate impact on increasing foster carer numbers.
The Department has initiatives to increase foster carer numbers. It described, for example, launching 10 fostering recruitment hubs by 2024, covering around two thirds of local authorities.50 It explained that these hubs are boosting co-ordinated recruitment of foster carers between local authorities, and offering greater support for those becoming foster carers.51 The Department’s early impact evaluation of the...
Matched on
terms: care
PFD report
69match
Brandon Singh Rayat
There is a critical lack of long-term mental health care provision for children in Leicestershire who cannot attend hospital due to anxiety, with the crisis team unable to fill this gap.
Matched on
terms: care, children
PFD report
69match
Lily-Mai George
Haringey Children's Services facilitated a child's discharge into unsupervised parental care despite professional concerns, leading to fatal injuries before a planned safe placement could occur.
Matched on
terms: care, children
PFD report
69match
Samuel Howes
Date of report: 24/04/2023 Ref: 2023-0133 Deceased name: Samuel Howes Coroner name: John Taylor Coroner Area: South London Category: Child Death (from 2015) | Suicide (from 2015) | Railway related deaths This report is being sent to: Department of Health and Social Care | NHS England REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS […]
Matched on
terms: care, social
PFD report
69match
David Hall
A lack of available and suitable emergency social care placements forced a patient into a detrimental acute hospital stay, leading to rapid deterioration, highlighting systemic social care shortages.
Matched on
terms: care, social