4th Report - Children’s social care

The government commits to concluding the Timms Review by autumn 2026 and to involving disabled people and their organisations. While planning how to best engage disabled children, young carers, and care leavers, the specifics of their co-production are still being designed.

The government commits to including kinship carers in its review of the parental leave system, considering whether support meets their needs, but does not commit to legislating for statutory kinship leave. They also highlight existing employer guidance and their own departmental policy for kinship carers.

The government notes that new corporate parenting responsibilities will be introduced via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to tackle stigma against care leavers. It states it will continue to monitor the impact where local authorities have adopted care experience as a protected characteristic, but does not commit to commissioning an independent evaluation.

The government acknowledges the committee's findings on the rising need, costs, and poor outcomes in children's social care. It states it is taking urgent action through substantial investment, new legislation, and the Families First Partnership Programme.

The government states its commitment to reducing children in care through investment in family help and preventative services. It also details new market management measures via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and pledges to work across government on sufficiency, with further details to be published.

The government acknowledges the concern about child poverty, confirms its Child Poverty Strategy will be published in the autumn, and explains the rationale and consultation process for the Pathways to Work proposals, stating no decisions have been made yet.

The government acknowledges the concern about out-of-area placements, outlining investments in family help and new market management measures through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with further details on sufficiency to be published.

The government is considering a national register of foster carers and will engage stakeholders, but has not committed to introducing one. They state they already annually review and uplift the National Minimum Allowance for foster carers, and do not explicitly address a national fostering strategy.

The government confirmed the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will continue for 2026-27 and will monitor the impact of recent funding limit changes. It highlighted existing investments and the rollout of an Adoption Support Plan, but provided no specific new plan for mental health support as requested.

The government stated it is already a legal requirement for children's homes to have registered managers and is improving the registration process. While acknowledging the need to raise the profile of residential care roles, it is still exploring data and considering further steps rather than committing to a recruitment campaign.

The government acknowledged the importance of the workforce and described ongoing initiatives like the Families First Partnership Programme, graduate training, and reviews of post-qualifying standards and residential care qualifications. However, it did not commit to developing an overarching workforce strategy or new measures such as increased pay or bursaries, stating pay and staffing remain local authority responsibility.

The government will continue working with ONS and other bodies to explore further opportunities to strengthen the evidence base on abuse and neglect, without committing to funding a national survey.

The government recognises the link between deprivation and neglect and states the Child Poverty Taskforce is considering parents across the UK in its child poverty strategy. It also highlights existing support through the Families First Partnership Programme and the Healthy Child programme.

The government clarifies that children’s homes regulations permit restraint only for preventing injury, damage, or absconding, and must be necessary and proportionate. While these regulations currently apply only to children's home staff, the government states it considers these principles should be adhered to across all children’s social care, but does not address concerns about Ofsted ratings penalizing providers.

The government has re-established the Care Leaver Ministerial Board to coordinate support. While mentioning a general Universal Credit increase and existing local authority schemes for financial support, it does not commit to a specific review of financial and housing support for care leavers with a 2025 publication deadline or to the recommended specific increases or schemes. It is reviewing how to ensure more care leavers can access local support.