Responding to a report by the Public Accounts Committee warning of
slow progress by the Government on children’s social care, Chair of
the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board,
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, said:
“While recent Ofsted reports have been clear that the
quality of children’s services is continuing to improve across
the country, we agree with the Committee that urgent action is
needed to make the sector financially sustainable and ensure that
all children are able to access the help they need, when they
need it.
“The LGA has long argued for a stronger cross-government
commitment to children and families, and we are pleased that the
Committee supports this. This lack of joined-up leadership within
government has contributed to a situation where councils find
themselves looking after record numbers of children in care, with
9 in 10 councils subsequently forced to overspend their
children’s social care budgets by more than £800 million in the
last year alone.
“There is no right amount for councils to spend on
children’s services, with the majority of spend variation due to
wider economic or geographic circumstances largely
outside their control. It is clear that the most urgent
and pressing issue is not variability but using the Spending
Review to tackle the country-wide funding crisis in children’s
services, which face a funding gap of £3.1 billion by
2025.”
