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Children’s services improving despite systemic challenges, LGA says

Children’s services are continuing to deliver improvements and sustain strong performance despite significant national challenges, according to a new report commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA).

Local partnerships are doing ‘inspiring work’ which is ‘testament to how transformation can be achieved at a local level with the right enabling factors in place’, the report said.

boy sitting on bench while holding a book

However, the report warned that what children’s services can achieve is ‘transcended’ by bigger and wider systemic challenges.

These include policies not always being joined up at a national level, structural challenges in recruiting and retaining workforce, lack of placements for children with the most complex needs, and the need for greater investment in services.

Councils have been rising to these challenges through a ‘culture change’ in workforce and closer partnership working, the report said. The voice and lived experiences of children is also at the heart of the improvement effort.

The LGA is the representative body of councils, who commission children’s care provision and run the child protection system.

The report said the seven key enablers underpinning children’s services improvement have ‘stood the test of time’ since the research was previously carried out in 2016.

These enablers, which are essential to improving children’s services and sustaining strong performance, include having a strategic approach, leadership and governance, engaging and supporting the workforce, engaging partners, building the supporting apparatus, fostering innovation, and judicious use of resources.

The report also revealed the ‘undeniable impact’ of Covid-19, which brought new children and families to the attention of children’s services who may not have previously needed help, and intensified calls on mental health services for children and adults, along with far-reaching changes in how the children’s workforce operates.

In addition, it found the increasing complexity of the needs of young people, particularly adolescents, had been accelerated by the pandemic.

Louise Gittins, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: ‘It is very positive to see that councils are continuing to deliver improvements in children’s services, and a testament to their tireless efforts to ensure children and young people get the support they need.

‘However this report is a reminder of the much wider, systemic challenges faced by councils, including escalating funding concerns.

‘While councils have responded well to these challenges, what is clear is that we need to see a national response that provides the investment and reform that children’s services desperately need.

‘The Autumn Statement is an opportunity for the Government to provide significant additional funding for all councils that can be wisely invested in stabilising the current system to ensure strong foundations on which to build future reform.’

Image: Ben White

More on this topic:

Eight in 10 councils overspend on children’s social care

A third of children in care face school exclusion, new research shows

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