CCN welcomes proposed reforms to children’s social care

Today, the government have announced its intentions to undertake the biggest reforms in a generation to the provision of children’s social care in England.

The reforms include a commitment to overhaul the placement market for looked after children, including reducing excessive profiteering and increasing financial transparency of providers, alongside wider reforms to the system of care in England.

Responding to the announcement, the County Councils Network (CCN) – which represents England’s largest social care authorities – outlines that it has been campaigning over many months for the government to undertake deep and fundamental reforms to children’s services to reduce costs to councils and improve outcomes. In particular, CCN has called for greater regulation of private providers in the face of escalating excessive fees being charged for care placements.

Cllr Roger Gough, Children’s Services Spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said:

“The CCN strongly welcomes the government’s intention to reform children’s social care.  Over a number of years our organisation has highlighted the need for the system to address market dysfunction, rebalance the system towards early help rather than late intervention, and – most importantly – improve the experiences and outcomes of the country’s most vulnerable children and families in contact with the care system.

“The government’s intention to intervene more proactively in the children’s social care placement market is particularly important. Our recent analysis showed that, unchecked, councils could be spending £12bn a year on children in care by 2030, with local authorities having to operate in a false economy of increasingly paying astronomical sums for placements and less on preventative services. Whilst it is recognised the private sector is an important partner in delivering these goals, the clear signal that excess profiteering at the expense of threadbare local authority budgets will not be tolerated is necessary and long overdue.

“It is hoped this is a first step towards embedding the recommendations of Josh McAlister’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care into policy and practice, while looking to go even further. CCN stands ready to support this agenda in any way it can, building on the recommendations of our recent report with IMPOWER on reforming children’s placement commissioning.

“However, it is vital that reforms are supported by the appropriate resources to ensure that their ambition can be delivered. While we welcome the recent increase of £600m for adult and children’s social care, our analysis suggests this additional funding will most likely be entirely consumed the increases in National Living Wage and National Insurance Contributions for employers. That’s why we have called for a further increase in funding through the social care grant to help meet immediate demand pressures next year.”

Notes to editor

• The County Councils Network (CCN) is the national voice for England’s county councils. It represents 23 county councils and 13 county unitary authorities. Collectively, they represent 25 million people, or 47% of the country’s population. For more information click here.
• CCN’s Manifesto for Counties set out its proposed reforms to children’s social care, including capping provider fees. This can be found here.
• The recent research mentioned in this press release was published last week by CCN and IMPOWER. The report can be downloaded here.