Browse Research briefingsCDP-2026-0018

BRIEFINGCDP-2026-0018 · Commons Debate Pack · Social Policy Section

Children's services in local authorities

A debate on children's services in local authorities is scheduled to take place in Westminster Hall on 28 January 2026. The debate will be led by Will Forster MP.

Children and familiesChildren's social services

Last fetched 22 May 2026 · commonslibrary.parliament.uk

Briefing

The national framework for children’s social care, published as statutory guidance by the Department for Education in December 2023, states that children’s social care:

exists to support children, young people and families, to protect them by intervening decisively when they are at risk of harm and to provide care for those who need it so that they grow up and thrive with safety, stability and love.

As at 31 March 2025, local authorities in England were supporting around 400,000 children in need, roughly 1 in every 30 children. Of these, around 49,000 children were on a child protection plan and 82,000 were in local authority care.

As at 31 March 2025, 67% of local authority children’s services were judged to be good or outstanding by Ofsted at their most recent inspection, compared with 53% in 2024. There was “substantial variation across different regions”; 88% of local authorities in London were judged good or outstanding, compared to 46% in the North West. However, the difference between regions had narrowed compared to the previous year.

Details of improvement notices and directions issued to local authorities about children’s services are available at: Improvement notices and directions.

Performance of children’s social care

In October 2025, the Institute for Government published its annual public services performance tracker report, which included a chapter on children’s social care.

The report stated that “the cost of social care is rising, with little evidence that outcomes are improving in step.” However, it did highlight some positive signs, including kinship care becoming more common. The report suggested the government’s reforms (see below) were promising but a “lack of joined-up working across health, education, justice, immigration and social care may hinder progress.”

The report’s findings included:

Nearly all local authorities overspend on children’s social care, with spending growing faster than economy-wide inflation in every year since at least 2009/10.
The rise in spending is largely because services – particularly care placements – have become more expensive.
Per-child expenditure on care varies substantially between local authorities, with some authorities spending three and a half times more per child than others.
A shortage of foster carers is causing some children to be placed in unsuitable placements.
Between 2013 and 2024, total social care referrals kept pace with increases in the child population, meaning the rate of referrals per 10,000 children was broadly flat.
Section 47 child protection enquiries were 68% more common in 2023/24 than in 2012/13, but this has not translated into more child protection plans. The report suggested this may be because local authorities are acting more cautiously and “lowering the threshold for section 47 enquiries, perhaps under the shadow of recent high-profile child protection tragedies.”
Increasing numbers of children living in poverty could drive demand for children’s social care.
Many local authorities report that children in receipt of social care have increasingly complex needs.
Insufficient placements for children with the most complex needs has led to an increase in the number of deprivation of liberty orders.
The number of child and family social workers is at an all-time high and vacancy and turnover rates are improving.

Government reforms

The government is carrying out significant reforms to children’s social care in England, many of which build on reforms begun under the previous Conservative government.

Funding

At the local government finance settlement, the government provided an additional £270 million to local authorities in 2025/26, via a new Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. The grant is intended for “direct investment in additional prevention activity for children and families through the implementation of Family Help and Child Protection reforms.”

In addition, around £400 million of previously separate grants, including around £253 million previously for the Supporting Families Programme, have been combined into a new Children and Families Grant. The government has said the £253 million of formerly Supporting Families funding, combined with the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant (totalling £523 million), “will enable the continuation of existing preventative services and provide direct investment in additional prevention activity, through the transition to Family Help and child protection reforms” (see below).

At the Spending Review 2025, the government said it would maintain the existing £523 million per year for children’s social care prevention within the local government finance settlement up to 2028/29 (para 5.77). The Spending Review also said the government would invest £555 million from the transformation fund in children’s social care up to 2028/29. It said this would be used to “help more children stay with their families, ensuring families have timely support and fixing the broken care market” (para 3.31).

The Spending Review added that £560 million would be provided between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to “expand children’s homes and foster care placements” (para 3.31). On 30 December 2025, the government stated that reforms to accelerate foster carer recruitment would be introduced in the new year.

Families First Partnership Programme

A number of reforms to social care practice are being taken forward, through the Families First Partnership Programme, which is backed by £2.4 billion up to 2028/29. The reforms include:

more closely aligning targeted early help and support for children in need to create a “seamless” system of family help that “promotes early intervention” (p18)
creating new multi-agency child protection teams to lead on conducting child protection enquiries
making more use of family networks and including the wider family in decision making at an earlier stage

Further information is provided in guidance published by the Department for Education.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

In a policy paper published in November 2024, Keeping children safe, helping families thrive, the government set out legislative measures it expected to take to reform children’s social care in England. These are included in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in December 2024 and is currently in Report Stage in the Lords.

Part one of the bill provides for several reforms to children’s social care in England, including (this list is not exhaustive):

Requiring local authorities to offer a family group decision-making meeting before applying to take a child into care.
Requiring local authorities to establish multi-agency child protection teams staffed by people from education, social work, health and the police.
Allowing for the creation of a single unique identifier for children.
Allowing the Secretary of State to direct local authorities to establish regional co-operation arrangements for planning and commissioning homes for looked after children.
Allowing the Secretary of State to cap the profits of providers of children’s homes and independent fostering agencies.

As set out above, some of the reforms in the bill are being implemented via the Families First Partnership Programme.

Further information on the bill is provided in the following Commons and Lords Library briefings:

Commons Library briefing CBP10165, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25
Commons Library briefing CBP10208: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25: progress of the bill
Lords Library briefing, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: HL Bill 84 of 2024–25

Best Start in Life strategy

On 7 July 2025, the government published a policy paper, Giving every child the best start in life. This said the government would provide £500 million between 2026 and 2029 to “rebuild crucial family services, under a ‘Best Start’ umbrella.”

Under the plans, Best Start Family Hubs will be created in every local authority area in England. The hubs will be open to all and “based in disadvantaged communities” (p8).

The policy paper stated that hubs will “work closely with other local children’s services to safeguard children and help families facing complex problems, in particular those who are supported by a dedicated family help lead practitioner” (p22). It added that they will “be integral to the reforms of the Families First Partnership programme” (see above) (p22).

Children's services in local authorities

A debate on children's services in local authorities is scheduled to take place in Westminster Hall on 28 January 2026. The debate will be led by Will Forster MP.

Children and familiesChildren's social services

Last fetched 22 May 2026 · commonslibrary.parliament.uk

Briefing

The national framework for children’s social care, published as statutory guidance by the Department for Education in December 2023, states that children’s social care:

Details of improvement notices and directions issued to local authorities about children’s services are available at: Improvement notices and directions.

Performance of children’s social care

In October 2025, the Institute for Government published its annual public services performance tracker report, which included a chapter on children’s social care.

The report’s findings included:

Nearly all local authorities overspend on children’s social care, with spending growing faster than economy-wide inflation in every year since at least 2009/10.
The rise in spending is largely because services – particularly care placements – have become more expensive.
Per-child expenditure on care varies substantially between local authorities, with some authorities spending three and a half times more per child than others.
A shortage of foster carers is causing some children to be placed in unsuitable placements.
Between 2013 and 2024, total social care referrals kept pace with increases in the child population, meaning the rate of referrals per 10,000 children was broadly flat.
Section 47 child protection enquiries were 68% more common in 2023/24 than in 2012/13, but this has not translated into more child protection plans. The report suggested this may be because local authorities are acting more cautiously and “lowering the threshold for section 47 enquiries, perhaps under the shadow of recent high-profile child protection tragedies.”
Increasing numbers of children living in poverty could drive demand for children’s social care.
Many local authorities report that children in receipt of social care have increasingly complex needs.
Insufficient placements for children with the most complex needs has led to an increase in the number of deprivation of liberty orders.
The number of child and family social workers is at an all-time high and vacancy and turnover rates are improving.

Government reforms

The government is carrying out significant reforms to children’s social care in England, many of which build on reforms begun under the previous Conservative government.

Funding

Families First Partnership Programme

A number of reforms to social care practice are being taken forward, through the Families First Partnership Programme, which is backed by £2.4 billion up to 2028/29. The reforms include:

more closely aligning targeted early help and support for children in need to create a “seamless” system of family help that “promotes early intervention” (p18)
creating new multi-agency child protection teams to lead on conducting child protection enquiries
making more use of family networks and including the wider family in decision making at an earlier stage

Further information is provided in guidance published by the Department for Education.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Part one of the bill provides for several reforms to children’s social care in England, including (this list is not exhaustive):

Requiring local authorities to offer a family group decision-making meeting before applying to take a child into care.
Requiring local authorities to establish multi-agency child protection teams staffed by people from education, social work, health and the police.
Allowing for the creation of a single unique identifier for children.
Allowing the Secretary of State to direct local authorities to establish regional co-operation arrangements for planning and commissioning homes for looked after children.
Allowing the Secretary of State to cap the profits of providers of children’s homes and independent fostering agencies.

As set out above, some of the reforms in the bill are being implemented via the Families First Partnership Programme.

Further information on the bill is provided in the following Commons and Lords Library briefings:

Commons Library briefing CBP10165, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25
Commons Library briefing CBP10208: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25: progress of the bill
Lords Library briefing, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: HL Bill 84 of 2024–25

Best Start in Life strategy

Under the plans, Best Start Family Hubs will be created in every local authority area in England. The hubs will be open to all and “based in disadvantaged communities” (p8).