We remain concerned that additional funding for children’s social care reform is significantly lower than that recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Commenting on the Government’s announcement of the first three areas to run new Family’s First for Children programmes, Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People’s Board said:
“Today’s announcements are a helpful step forward as we continue our work to make sure that every child in need of help or protection receives the support they need, when they need it.
“We are pleased to see that the Government has listened to concerns from councils about Regional Care Cooperatives and committed to taking an incremental approach to building the evidence for these, focussing first on those areas councils have emphasised are likely to make the most difference to children most quickly.
“We remain concerned however that additional funding for children’s social care reform is significantly lower than that recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, and that this will largely benefit only the small number of areas taking part in pathfinders.
“Significant additional funding for all councils, not just those in pathfinder areas, can be wisely invested in stabilising the current system to ensure strong foundations on which to build future reform.”