The Local Government Association has called for a long-term funding solution for children’s services after Department for Education figures revealed that the number of looked after children in England rose to 75,000 by March 2018.
Released last week, the DfE figures represent a 4% increase on the total recorded last year.
Anntoinette Bramble, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: “With the number of children in the care of local authorities increasing even further over the past year, this shows the huge demand on councils to provide vital care and support for children and young people.
“This reinforces the need for new and long-term significant funding for children’s services, which are fast approaching a tipping point and face a funding gap of £3bn by 2025 just to keep services running at current levels.”
Bramble said that additional funding for children’s services announced in the Budget was a “small step in the right direction” but added that it will not alleviate immediate and future pressures.
Previous analysis by the LGA found that social services in England take, on average, 1,000 new child cases every day.
