4th Report - Children’s social care

Evidence given to the Committee during our inquiry indicates that many of the problems highlighted by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in 2022 persist, and in a significant number of cases have worsened since the Review. Increases in need coupled with stretched budgets and a lack of serious attention to reform have resulted in a system characterised by spiralling costs to local authorities and poor experiences and outcomes for children. The “once in a generation” opportunity provided by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care has not been realised, with the Department for Education focusing on small-scale pilot projects in specific areas rather than comprehensive reform. (Conclusion, Paragraph 8)

By the end of this year, the Department for Education must issue a comprehensive response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care which was published over three years ago. This should set out which recommendations have already been taken forward and a timeline and funding estimate for those which have not. It must evaluate the impact of the pilot programmes which have already taken place and set out how it plans to scale up those which prove to be effective. (Recommendation, Paragraph 9)

We were privileged to hear powerful and insightful evidence from care-experienced young people in this inquiry, and their voices have informed many of the conclusions and recommendations in this report. We are pleased that the Department is regularly hearing from care- experienced young people in its reform programme and would like this to go further to include care leavers’ voices at every level of government, including local, national, and through accountability mechanisms. (Conclusion, Paragraph 10)

The Department should ensure that it is engaging with care-experienced young people in all areas of its work on children’s social care and should encourage local authorities to do the same. The Department for Education, 82 Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission should ensure that care- experienced young people are involved in accountability mechanisms for the quality of children’s social care services and care leavers’ support. (Recommendation, Paragraph 11)

The Government’s focus on early intervention is the right one and long overdue. The additional £270 million provided through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant is welcome but falls far short of the £1.2 billion that has been removed from early intervention services since 2012, an even greater gap in the context of an increasing population. We welcome the additional funding provided through the Transformation Fund and look forward to seeing further details of the proportion of funding that will be allocated to early intervention programmes. It should be seen as a first step towards a wholesale rebalancing of the system towards early help and support for families, with an urgent need to identify further resources. (Conclusion, Paragraph 18)

The Department for Education must commit to making the Families First Partnership programme permanent if it demonstrates a positive impact. The Government must ensure that a significant majority of the new funding announced in the Spending Review is allocated to early intervention programmes and, in future, work towards bringing the level of funding back to 2010 levels, taking into account changes in the population since then. (Recommendation, Paragraph 19)

The Department for Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government should publish annual data on the proportion of children’s social care funding allocated to early intervention programmes compared with later-stage interventions so that progress on this can be monitored. (Recommendation, Paragraph 20)

We welcome the Department’s commitment to working with domestic abuse charities when developing its guidance for family group decision-making (FGDM). The Department should monitor the impact of the new requirement and, after one year, report back to this Committee as to whether FGDM should be extended to an earlier stage as well as to family reunification. (Recommendation, Paragraph 21)

The Department should clarify the specific model of FGDM in statutory guidance to ensure that best practice is followed in all local authorities. (Recommendation, Paragraph 22)

The pressure caused by rising numbers of children coming into care is putting serious strain on the system. The only way to effectively reduce these numbers is to address the factors outside the care system which are contributing to this demand, including poverty, poor parental mental health, the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and extra- 83 familial harms. This will require the Department for Education to work closely with other relevant departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions; the Department of Health and Social Care; the Home Office; and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. (Conclusion, Paragraph 26)

We are deeply concerned about the Government’s planned reforms to social security set out in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, which are set to drive up child poverty and will further increase pressure on the care system. We are also concerned that delaying the publication of the Child Poverty Strategy until the autumn of 2025 will prevent parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s welfare reforms in tandem with proposed child poverty reduction measures with an understanding of the impact of both sets of proposals in the round. (Conclusion, Paragraph 27)

The Department for Education must put in place a strategy for supporting children and young people at risk of extra-familial harm. This should include: better training for professionals to spot and respond to extra- familial risks; ensuring that young people and their families know where to go to access support; and improving approaches to ensuring that families can stay together as much as possible, for example by supporting them to move home when needed. (Recommendation, Paragraph 28)

We urge the Government to be bold in its upcoming Child Poverty Strategy and take wide-ranging action to reverse this trend and significantly reduce the number of children growing up in financial hardship. (Recommendation, Paragraph 29)

Following the changes agreed to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on 1 July 2025, we recommend that the Department for Work and Pensions ensures the involvement of organisations working with disabled children, young carers and care leavers in the co- production of the Timms Review. (Recommendation, Paragraph 30)

We warmly welcome the additional funding for children’s social care and capital investment in children’s homes announced at the recent Spending Review, which will be an important step forward in working towards the amount recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. It would now be helpful for the Department to set out the level of funding that is still required to fully implement the recommendations of the Review and how it intends to work towards achieving this level. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35) 84

The Department for Education should produce an analysis of the level of funding that is still needed to achieve the necessary reforms to children’s social care and set out how it will work towards achieving the level of funding recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. (Recommendation, Paragraph 36) Supply of social care placements

Too many children are being sent many miles from home, which has a traumatic and lasting impact on their lives. We were saddened to hear that a care-experienced young person had chosen not to pursue higher education as a direct result of being placed out of area. However, there are some strong examples of good practice and some local authorities have worked hard to limit the numbers of children placed out of area. (Conclusion, Paragraph 44)

We disagree with the Department’s view that data on the reasons for out- of-area placements are not needed. While data collection itself may not directly lead to improvements, it is essential to fully understand the nature and scale of the problem in order to effect meaningful change. (Conclusion, Paragraph 45)

The Department for Education must publish a national sufficiency strategy for children’s social care as a matter of urgency and publish data on the extent to which sufficiency requirements are being met on an annual basis. It should also require all local authorities to develop and publish strategies for reducing the number of out-of-area placements and work with local authorities to share and scale up examples of good practice. (Recommendation, Paragraph 46)

The Department for Education should collect data on the proportion of children who are placed out of area because it is in their own interests compared with those placed out of area due to capacity issues, so that the situation can be properly monitored and any improvements can be recognised. (Recommendation, Paragraph 47)

The children’s social care market is not delivering for children or for local authorities. We are particularly concerned at the reports of excessive profits being made by some providers and the risk of financial failure among large providers. We hope that the reforms set out in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will address this and expect the Department for Education to provide regular updates on progress. (Conclusion, Paragraph 56)

The proposed profit cap has the potential to be a useful tool for the Department if needed, but we do not think it is acceptable for the Department to introduce this significant intervention in the market with 85 only limited opportunities for parliamentary scrutiny and no transparency around how and when the Department will decide if it is necessary to trigger the cap. (Conclusion, Paragraph 57)

We are supportive of the move towards regional commissioning but note that the model of Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs) being implemented has yet to be evaluated or proven to work. When developing any further RCCs, the Department for Education must consult fully with the sector and pay careful attention to the geography to ensure that RCCs are working as effectively as possible. (Conclusion, Paragraph 58)

The Department for Education should set out how it will monitor the impact of its reforms to the children’s social care market and commit to updating Parliament on an annual basis on the impact they are having. (Recommendation, Paragraph 59)

If and when any further Regional Care Co-operatives are developed, the Department for Education must consult fully with relevant individuals and organisations in the region, particularly as to the areas covered by the proposed RCC. In cases where there is significant overlap in work between the areas within an RCC and the surrounding areas, the Department must ensure that there is appropriate flexibility for local authorities to work across boundaries to ensure that RCCs are delivering as effectively as possible. (Recommendation, Paragraph 60)

The Department for Education must set out how it will assess whether a profit cap on children’s social care providers is necessary. If the Department decides to introduce a profit cap, it must consult this Committee on the draft regulations before they are laid before Parliament. (Recommendation, Paragraph 61) The care system

The shortage of foster carers is a key cause in the crisis in the supply of placements for children in care, with an additional 6,500 fostering families needed. Yet too many prospective foster carers do not complete the application and approval process, and those who do find themselves left with inadequate support and undervalued for the important work they do. (Conclusion, Paragraph 71)

There are many positive examples of innovation and good practice in local authorities to support foster carers. In particular, we heard clear support for the Mockingbird model and were interested to hear of the Room Makers scheme to enable carers to renovate and expand their homes. We 86 welcome the additional funding for foster care placements announced in the Spending Review and look forward to seeing further detail as to how this funding will be spent. (Conclusion, Paragraph 72)

The Department for Education must put in place a national fostering strategy to complement the existing strategies for adoption and kinship care. As part of this, it should consult on introducing a national register of foster carers and review the financial support available to ensure that it is adequate to meet their needs. (Recommendation, Paragraph 73)

The Department for Education should fund the planned recruitment hubs to set up Mockingbird constellations in every local authority. The Department should work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that housing policy is designed to support the recruitment of foster carers. This should include: investing in and scaling up innovative housing programmes such as Room Makers; giving approved foster carers priority for a move to a larger home if needed; enabling local authorities to fund housing extensions and adaptations for foster carers; and enabling local authorities to use the planning system to secure larger social homes for allocation to eligible social housing tenants who are approved as foster carers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 74)

Sibling relationships are crucial for many children in care and, for some, may be the only family relationships they have. They must be protected and supported as much as possible. The lack of any data on the extent of sibling separation makes it difficult to understand the main causes of the problem and devise effective strategies to reduce it. (Conclusion, Paragraph 75)

The Department should strengthen the legislation relating to sibling contact to ensure that children in care are placed with siblings whenever it is in their best interests, and that where they cannot be placed together, regular contact between siblings is facilitated and sustained. The Department should collect data on sibling separation in all forms of care and publish this on at least an annual basis. (Recommendation, Paragraph 76)

Kinship care is an essential part of the care system and the evidence is clear that children in kinship care have an overall better experience than children in other types of care. We welcome the Department for Education’s focus on kinship care, but this must be underpinned by the right policies to support kinship carers. In particular, kinship carers must have enough financial and employment support so that they are not left to struggle as a result of taking children into their care. (Conclusion, Paragraph 82) 87

In its upcoming pilot of a kinship allowance, the Department for Education should ensure that the financial support is on a par with that given to foster carers. It must evaluate the pilot at the earliest opportunity and roll it out across the country once it has proven to be effective. (Recommendation, Paragraph 83)

It was a missed opportunity not to include statutory kinship leave in the recent Employment Rights Bill. The Government should ensure that entitlements to kinship leave are included in its forthcoming review of the parental leave system and legislate for this at the earliest opportunity. As part of the review, the Government should critically evaluate whether kinship carers should receive the same entitlements to paid leave as adoptive parents when a child comes into their care. (Recommendation, Paragraph 84)

The Department for Education should extend Pupil Premium Plus funding and priority school admissions to all children who meet the new statutory definition of living in kinship care. (Recommendation, Paragraph 85)

There is too little recognition of the impact of the early trauma and separation experienced by adopted children, and of the support they need to thrive in education and beyond, with over half of adopted children feeling that they didn’t receive the support they needed at school. (Conclusion, Paragraph 92)

The Department for Education should review the educational support available to adopted children, assessing the impact of the extension of policies to previously looked-after children and whether any further extensions are needed. This review should include: the introduction of a statutory framework for previously looked-after children; requiring local authorities to publish a local offer for previously looked-after children; and expanding the role of Virtual School Heads to include previously looked-after children beyond the provision of information and advice. (Recommendation, Paragraph 93)

It is unacceptable that the continuation of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund was not announced until 1 April 2025, leaving families and children uncertain about the future of their support. We also note many concerns about the new funding limits and the impact this will have on children and families. We are concerned that this is an example of the Government making a consequential change in one part of the system without introducing the reforms and mitigations in other parts of the system that are urgently needed. In this case, there is an urgent need to make mental health support available for adopted children, which could reduce pressure on the ASGSF, but the Government has not laid out how this will be achieved, leaving adoptive families very anxious that they will find it harder to access support. (Conclusion, Paragraph 94) 88

The Department must end the annual cliff-edge of uncertainty faced by adoptive families and make funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund permanent. It should monitor the impact of the reduced funding limits after 12 months of the reduced personal limit and engage with organisations representing adoptive families to assess whether there have been significant negative effects and commit to increasing the limits in the future if so. The Department must also consult on introducing a support plan for adopted children with appropriate duties to ensure that support is provided. (Recommendation, Paragraph 95)

We agree that, for most children, a focus on supporting them to live in a family setting is the right one; however, this should not come at the expense of developing and maintaining high-quality residential care for children who need it. We urge the Department for Education to focus on the quality of provision as well as capacity and take steps to improve recruitment, retention and training of the children’s home workforce. (Conclusion, Paragraph 98)

The Department for Education must ensure that all children’s homes are led by a registered manager and set out the steps it intends to take to achieve this. Additionally, it should launch a recruitment campaign to raise the profile of residential care staff and encourage more entrants into the sector. (Recommendation, Paragraph 99)

The Department should use its children’s home workforce census to review the levels of qualifications currently held by residential staff. It should also consult on introducing minimum qualification standards for residential childcare workers and work with local authorities to assess what initial action can be taken to upskill the existing workforce. (Recommendation, Paragraph 100)

It is unacceptable that vulnerable children are being placed in unsuitable homes such as barges and caravans with little or no support. The new regulatory and inspection regime is an important step in the right direction, but the Department for Education needs to go further and ensure that all children under 18 receive care where they live, rather than simply support. (Conclusion, Paragraph 104)

The Department for Education must follow the recommendation of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and develop universal standards of care that apply to all homes, including supported accommodation, ensuring that children in all settings receive care where they live. (Recommendation, Paragraph 105)

There is a serious problem with recruitment and retention in the social care workforce. High turnover and overstretched staff are exacerbating the instability experienced by children in care and increase the risk of 89 safeguarding concerns being overlooked. The Department for Education has begun to address this with the planned induction programme and regulations on the use of agency workers, but a wholesale review of the workforce is needed. (Conclusion, Paragraph 112)

The Department for Education should develop a workforce strategy for children’s social care setting out how it will improve recruitment, retention and training across the children’s social care workforce, including social workers, residential care workers, personal advisers, educational psychologists, health visitors, and personal assistants. This should include measures such as increased pay, bursaries for studying and training, and improving awareness of the different roles within children’s social care. (Recommendation, Paragraph 113)

Children in care have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect, and they are over four times more likely to suffer from emotional or mental health problems than their peers. It is therefore essential that there is a strong system in place to support them. Currently, the support available is falling far short of what is needed. (Conclusion, Paragraph 120)

The Department for Education should work with the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that children in care and care leavers are prioritised for mental health support and improve training for mental health practitioners on the impact of trauma. This could be achieved by setting up co-located mental health services between children’s social care and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the Department should work with the Department for Health and Social Care to pilot this approach. (Recommendation, Paragraph 121)

The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care should take forward this Committee’s recommendation to strengthen the role of mental health and emotional wellbeing in health assessments of children in care, ensuring that there is proper, effective accountability for meeting the current requirements. (Recommendation, Paragraph 122)

It is essential that children in care have a voice when important decisions are being made about their lives. Currently, too few children are accessing the advocacy support they are entitled to, with an average referral rate of just 5% across local authorities. It is also essential that disabled children and children with special educational needs, particularly those in residential care, have access to this support. (Conclusion, Paragraph 126)

The Department for Education must take forward the recommendation of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care to introduce an opt-out model of independent advocacy for all children in care. It must also act 90 on the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s recommendation for all children with disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings to have access to independent advocacy. (Recommendation, Paragraph 127)

When done carefully and effectively, reunification of children with their birth families can be a positive way of supporting children to leave care. (Conclusion, Paragraph 132)

The Department for Education should evaluate existing reunification practice and publish national guidance on reunification, drawing on the good practice that already exists in many local authorities. (Recommendation, Paragraph 133) Disabled children’s care

Too often, disabled children are overlooked in the social care system. Parents struggle to understand and access the support available and face a confusing “postcode lottery” of support between local authorities. There is an urgent need to improve access to short breaks, respite care and holiday provision; it is unacceptable that over half of parents are unable to access the short breaks and respite services that they need. (Conclusion, Paragraph 141)

It is deeply concerning to hear that parents of disabled children are being treated with suspicion and undergoing inappropriate assessment processes when reaching out for help. The Department for Education must address this as an urgent priority and ensure that it fully implements the Law Commission’s proposals relating to assessment processes once they have been published. (Conclusion, Paragraph 142)

The Department for Education must set out how it will implement the proposals in the Law Commission’s review of disabled children’s social care no later than two months following the publication of the review, which is expected shortly. This should include a clear timeframe and assessment of any spending required to implement the proposals. (Recommendation, Paragraph 143)

The Department should introduce national eligibility criteria for disabled children’s social care and ensure that local authorities are clearly communicating these to families. (Recommendation, Paragraph 144)

The Department should conduct a review of the availability of short breaks, respite care and holiday provision for disabled children to understand where the shortages are most acute. It should work with the Ministry of Housing, 91 Communities and Local Government to fund local authorities to be able to offer this provision to all families who are entitled to it. (Recommendation, Paragraph 145)

The Department should ensure that the specialist workforce for disabled children is included in the children’s social care workforce strategy that we have recommended. The Department must review the training provided to children and families social workers and ensure that social workers are being adequately trained in the specific needs of disabled children and their families and the distinct type of assessment processes that are needed for this group. (Recommendation, Paragraph 146) Keeping children safe

The Department for Education’s reforms to child protection through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill are welcome and go some way towards alleviating many of the concerns we have heard in this inquiry. There will be a need for careful testing and monitoring to assess the impact they are having and make any necessary changes as they are rolled out. However, there is a need for better data to fully understand the true prevalence of child abuse and neglect. (Conclusion, Paragraph 154)

Multi-agency working is crucial in child safeguarding processes. Where there is disagreement between children’s social care and other agencies such as health, police and education on a safeguarding matter, there must be clear processes in place to review and escalate concerns providing a clear line of accountability and decision-making. (Recommendation, Paragraph 155)

The Department for Education should make funding available for a national survey on the prevalence of the different types of abuse and neglect, to improve its understanding of these issues and inform the development of future policy interventions. (Recommendation, Paragraph 156)

Neglect is sadly on the rise in England and is clearly linked to poverty and poor parental mental health. The Department for Education does not appear to have a clear strategy for addressing neglect and there are concerns that the social care system is not set up well to respond to neglect referrals. (Conclusion, Paragraph 160)

The Department for Education must put in place a national neglect strategy to set out how it will reduce the incidence of neglect. (Recommendation, Paragraph 161) 92

The Department should ensure that measures to reduce neglect and support parents with poor mental health and drug and alcohol addictions are considered as part of its Child Poverty Strategy and recognise that poverty is not the only circumstance in which neglect takes place and take a broader approach to tackling neglect. (Recommendation, Paragraph 162)

There is an urgent need to take forward the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The introduction of the mandatory reporting duty is an important step forward, but it is limited in scope to instances of a disclosure or witnessing abuse, which are rare occurrences. We were concerned that, when asked, Minister Daby was unaware of this despite the significant implications it will have for the social care sector and child protection. (Conclusion, Paragraph 169)

The Department for Education should improve training and guidance around reporting of child sexual abuse and work jointly with the Home Office towards implementing the more robust mandatory reporting duty recommended by IICSA, ensuring that the sector is well-prepared for this. (Recommendation, Paragraph 170)

The Department for Education has made some welcome steps towards increasing Ofsted’s powers of intervention in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. However, some key gaps in regulation remain, most notably the worrying practice of using handcuffs to transport children between settings. We are also concerned that fear of negative Ofsted ratings is causing providers to refuse children with complex needs, putting more pressure on an already overstretched sector. (Conclusion, Paragraph 175)

The Department for Education must act to strictly limit the use of handcuffs to those cases where it is otherwise unavoidable or necessary for the child’s own safety, and work with Ofsted to ensure that local authorities and transport providers are held accountable on this. (Recommendation, Paragraph 176)

Ofsted and the Department for Education should ensure that the inspection system that replaces single-word judgements does not penalise providers who take on children with complex needs, while also ensuring that children with complex needs are placed in settings with the appropriate skills to provide a high quality of care and support, and that guidance is clearly communicated to providers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 177) Leaving care

Care leavers have some of the poorest outcomes in society across a range of measures, and the support available to them falls far short of what is needed. The state has a grave responsibility to the children it takes 93 into its care, and these outcomes are simply not good enough. We were disappointed at the limited range of measures regarding care leavers in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and urge the Department for Education to prioritise this in its work. (Conclusion, Paragraph 191)

It is unacceptable that young people are left to support themselves financially on turning 18 while still in full-time education and face having to reduce time spent in education or drop out completely to support themselves. No responsible parent would allow this and the state in its role as parent should be no different. All care leavers deserve to have the same opportunities to stay in education as their peers without enduring financial hardship as a result. (Conclusion, Paragraph 192)

We welcome the new Youth Guarantee and the focus on supporting young people to access employment, education and training. However, we are deeply concerned about the proposal to reduce support through Universal Credit for those aged under 22. This is likely to have a disproportionate impact on care leavers, who already face significant financial hardship. (Conclusion, Paragraph 193)

As a priority, the Department for Education must develop a National Care Offer to harmonise the postcode lottery in entitlements and ensure that care leavers receive a minimum level of support, wherever they live. (Recommendation, Paragraph 194)

The Department for Education should work with other relevant departments, including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions, to review the financial and housing support available to care leavers and improve it where needed to ensure that care leavers are not left to struggle financially after turning 18. This should be published by the end of 2025 and include: increasing the levels of Universal Credit for care leavers aged under 25; increasing education bursaries; council tax exemptions; and introducing rent guarantor schemes. There should be no cliff-edge on turning 18. (Recommendation, Paragraph 195)

The Department for Work and Pensions must exempt care leavers from its proposed plans to reduce Universal Credit support for those aged under 22, if these reforms go ahead, and ensure that care leavers are prioritised for access to support through the Youth Guarantee. (Recommendation, Paragraph 196)

The Department for Education should commission an independent evaluation of the impact of designating care experience a protected characteristic in those areas where local authorities have adopted this, to assess the impact of this on the extent and quality of support for care leavers in those areas. (Recommendation, Paragraph 197) 94