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“Councils have worked closely with schools and other partners to provide support to children and young people, but have had to increasingly divert early intervention spending towards more acute services due to overstretched budgets and increasing demand."

“It is vital the Government fully funds the early years entitlements, ensuring providers get the support they need while enabling all children to have access to places.”

Over 4,500 primary school classes worth of homeless children are spending the summer holidays in temporary accommodation amid a national shortage of affordable housing, the Local Government Association warns today.

The number of children in England waiting for a place in a secure children’s home (SCH) has doubled in a year, new figures show, underlining the urgent need for the Government to tackle the severe lack of provision that supports some of the most vulnerable young people in the country.

“We urgently need to reform our children’s social care and SEND systems, including transformational investment in the services that give all children the best start in life.”

The number of children in England approaching councils for special needs support has increased by almost a quarter in a year, latest figures reveal, with 170 young people now starting support plans each day.

“Reform and investment go hand in hand – one will not be effective without the other. This is why we’re calling for a White Paper within the next six months to demonstrate the Government’s commitment to reform, and truly transformational investment by the Treasury in the services that give all children the best start in life.”

"The number of persistently absent children from school is very concerning. Good attendance at school plays a vital role in children’s development and for their wellbeing."

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, responds to the National Panel Review into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson.

"We now want to work quickly with government and partners on identifying elements of the report we can and should swiftly implement, and on planning the medium-to-long term reform process. This must include commitment from across Whitehall to tackle the issues children’s social care cannot solve alone, including access to health services and ending child poverty."