Debate on the provision of children’s services - House of Commons - 12 December 2017

Key messages

• There are a wide range of care options available for children and different placements will work for different children. Adoption may provide a loving and stable home for many children and young people, but it will not be the right option for every child. The majority of looked-after children are cared for through a fostering placement, and a significant proportion of looked-after children will return to their families from care (32 per cent of care leavers in March 2017).
  
   
• Councils seek to support children to continue to live with their families where possible through family-based support and early intervention. Over the past decade, the number of children on child protection plans has increased by 83 per cent, compared to an increase of 21 per cent in the number of children in care.
  
   
• Helping children and young people to fulfil their potential is a key ambition of all councils, but our children’s services are under increasing pressure. Facing a £2 billion funding gap by 2020, demand for these services has also increased dramatically. On average, 90 children entered care every day last year, which also saw the largest annual increase in care numbers since 2010.
  
   
• Councils have worked hard to protect budgets for essential child protection services, but funding pressures have led to difficult decisions elsewhere, often leaving children and young people unable to access support until they reach crisis point. Government funding for the Early Intervention Grant has been cut by almost £500 million since 2013. It is projected to drop by a further £183 million by 2020.[1]

• Ahead of the Local Government Finance Settlement, we are asking the Government to recognise that if we truly want to get the best for children, the services that change their lives must be properly funded.