Government pledges £18m to accelerate children’s social care reforms

The Department for Education has announced an additional £18m investment to ensure vulnerable children in England will be better protected from harm under new government plans to speed up reforms to children’s social care, focusing on early intervention and prevention.

The funding will be spent on expanding child protection reforms to local councils, aiming to strengthen leadership and reduce the number of families reaching crisis point.

Key measures include the wider rollout of Family Group Decision Making – an approach that brings extended families together to help keep children at home rather than entering care – and the recruitment of thousands of family help workers to provide early support with issues such as substance misuse and poor mental health.

Funding for these reforms has already doubled to £523m compared with last year, with a further commitment to invest at least £300m over the next two years.

Work is also under way to test the use of NHS numbers as unique identifiers to link data across health, education and police services. The aim is to detect safeguarding concerns earlier by sharing information more effectively.

A live pilot is under way between Wigan Council and NHS England, which is testing how efficiently NHS numbers can be used to share information about children at risk. Findings will inform wider rollout.

The move is part of broader efforts to ensure a more joined-up approach to safeguarding, enabling frontline professionals to build a complete picture of risk and act earlier to protect children from harm.

These updates form part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, described by the government as the most significant piece of safeguarding legislation in a generation.

Children and families minister Janet Daby said: “Time and again we’re told how failing to share information and intervene early enough means vulnerable children fall through the cracks.These deep-rooted problems are symptomatic of a children’s social care system that has clearly been stretched to breaking point.We’re putting an end to sticking plaster solutions through our Plan for Change by investing even more focus and funding into preventative services and information sharing.”

Minister of state for local government and English devolution Jim McMahon added: “Through our Plan for Change we are getting councils back on their feet, working with local leaders to fix the foundations and rebuild the sector to deliver the vital public services local people rely on.A key part of this involves reforming children’s social care to tackle problems at their root and give every child the best start in life.

“In addition to the £523m we are providing this year to the Families First Partnership Programme, this new £18m from the Transformation Fund will further support local authorities and safeguarding partners to help us achieve this.”

Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Children in care told me in my Big Ambition survey they want the same things as other children: love, safety and stability in their family life. It’s absolutely right that we prioritise supporting families earlier on when challenges arise, with the goal of keeping them together safely.

“I welcome this investment in caring for children and families but also in strengthening leadership locally, because my research has shown that decisions about children in care are too often driven by local capacity and resources, instead of what’s right for those children’s needs.The introduction of a unique ID for every child will help identify problems early on and prevent any child becoming invisible to services, so robust and effective implementation will be essential, using evidence of what does and doesn’t work through this first pilot.”

The latest announcements contribute to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill by:

• Introducing a unique number for every child – similar to national insurance numbers for adults – to link systems and ensure no child is overlooked;

• Creating a new duty to improve information sharing between safeguarding agencies;

• Expanding Family Help reforms to support families facing multiple challenges before problems escalate;

• Requiring all local authorities to offer Family Group Decision Making;

• Ensuring every council operates best practice multi-agency safeguarding panels.

These reforms coincide with the national rollout of Best Start Family Hubs across every local authority, supporting an estimated 500,000 additional children. The hubs will provide parents with access to support on issues including breastfeeding, housing and early childhood development.

They build on previous investment, including £555m from the Spending Review to support children’s social care reforms and £560m to refurbish and expand children’s homes, bringing total funding to more than £2bn.