News

New figures show that the number of children in care has risen by 28 per cent in the past decade with the system reaching breaking point, the Local Government Association reveals today.  The LGA is warning that this huge increase in demand is combining with funding shortages to put immense pressure on the ability of councils to support vulnerable children and young people, and provide the early help that can stop children and families reaching crisis point in the first place. The figures show that 78,150 children are now in care, up from 75,370 in 2018.   The Government’s manifesto promise

“The Government’s announcement of an increase in schools budgets by £7.1 billion will help give certainty up to 2023, and an additional £780 million for council high needs budgets to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) for next year is good news."

“Alongside other partners, councils have also made good progress in improving children’s health, from health visitors supporting new parents to weight management services."

The next government needs to invest in children’s services so councils can fulfil the ambitions of the Children’s Act, the Local Government Association says as it marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark legislation. The 1989 Act puts children at the centre of any decisions made that affects them, with councils given the role of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. In the same year the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child set out the rights a child is entitled to and how adults and governments must work together to make that happen.  At the National Children and Adult

“We support the call for a joined-up, whole government approach which addresses the fragmented funding streams and helps councils to create communities in which young people thrive."

Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board Cllr Judith Blake, responds to an announcement by the Secretary of State for Education about reforms to the Adoption Support Fund.

“Unless we solve this crisis, today’s obese children will become tomorrow’s obese adults whose years of healthy life will be shortened by a whole host of health problems including diabetes, cancer and heart disease.”

Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Boards, Cllr Judith Blake, responds to a report by the Education Policy Institute on unexplained exits of pupils.

Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, responds to the Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies’ report on childhood obesity.

Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, Cllr Judith Blake, responds to a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation which says that children leaving custody are being ‘set up to fail’ through lack of support.