-
3 Feb 21
A report showing healthy profits for independent providers of children’s residential care while councils struggle underlines the need for reform, says Judith Blake chair of the Local Government...
-
3 Dec 20
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has provided more clarity on funding but Covid-19 has left local authorities with inadequate funds to actively promote the welfare of children, says Jenny Coles.
-
24 Aug 20
Three decades after the Children Act was introduced, the Covid-19 pandemic presents the chance to properly fulfil its aims
-
24 Aug 20
The impact of the pandemic will only escalate the long-overdue need for a change in approach to funding children’s services
-
24 Aug 20
Rebuilding a sustainable post-coronavirus economy requires an incresase in spending on improving the health of our poorest children
-
24 Aug 20
Councils across the UK are reaping benefits from collaborating with children and families in designing service provision
-
24 Aug 20
A tiered, whole-system approach is required to make the most of scarce resources in the face of acute service pressures
-
24 Aug 20
Commissioners of children’s services need to anticipate future demand to ensure ongoing resilience
-
7 May 20
The Department for Education is damaging the wellbeing and life chances of children with special educational needs and disabilities, according to a report from the Public Accounts Committee.
-
31 Mar 20
An ambitious plan to expand early learning and childcare in Scotland has been halted to allow councils to focus on tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
-
4 Mar 20
The Royal College of Paediatric and Children’s Health has called for the reversal of £1bn of real term cuts to the public health grant for local authorities.
-
3 Mar 20
Ambitious plans to expand early learning and childcare in Scotland could be undermined by risks around infrastructure and workforce, auditors have warned.
-
27 Feb 20
The Local Government Association (LGA) has warned growing debt in private care providers is putting children at risk, after finding that six out of 10 of the largest providers had more debts and...
-
21 Feb 20
Local authorities have overspent on children’s social care by £3.2bn in the last five years as the try to offset cuts from central government, analysis has found.
-
11 Feb 20
Government must support families – including ‘corporate’ ones – instead of heaping scorn on them when low income leaves them struggling to cope, writes Kathy Evans of Children England.
-
31 Jan 20
Blackpool Council has announced that it will cut 75 jobs in order to pump £14m into its strained children’s services.
-
29 Jan 20
The recovery of crisis-hit Northamptonshire County Council will depend on the authority’s ability to improve its children’s services which still pose a risk to the council’s finances, commissioners...
-
9 Jan 20
One in four children in England referred to mental health services last year was rejected while some waited more than two months for treatment, analysis has found.
-
8 Jan 20
The number of children in care has increased by nearly a third in the last decade leaving the system under pressure, the Local Government Association has said.
-
6 Jan 20
The government has confirmed a one-year extension of its Troubled Families programme with a £165m funding package for 2020-21.
-
6 Dec 19
The three main parties are unlikely to deliver on their manifesto pledges to reduce the education opportunity gap, according to think-tank analysis.
-
3 Dec 19
The competitive market place in children’s services has brought the system “close to collapse”, a charity leader has warned.
-
2 Dec 19
Louise Tickle looks at why, when the The Children Act 1989 continues to be described as visionary, so many children are still waiting for the protections it prescribed three decades ago.
-
13 Nov 19
Our education system is failing pupils on an unprecedented scale as teaching to the test turns education into a ‘slow-motion car crash for our young people’, writes the National Education Union’...
-
18 Oct 19
Council referrals of potential child victims of modern slavery have exploded by more than 800% in the last five years, analysis has shown.