Children’s social care services are an often hidden but critical service. When they work, they provide help to families in crisis, protect children from harm and provide fostering, residential homes and adoption for children who can no longer live with their families.
I was delighted to see that these services in Cumberland were recently praised in an Ofsted inspection. Congratulations to all of the staff and leaders who’ve made this happen.
Turning around children’s social care in Cumberland has been hard because services suffered from years of drift and neglect. Spending has ballooned, bankrupting councils, letting down families and, crucially, failing vulnerable children.
Despite consistent warnings under the previous government, the Conservatives did not act. I know this better than most, because the previous government commissioned me to chair the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care!
I know from my previous work and from speaking with constituents since being elected as your MP that young people in care are too often left feeling forgotten, powerless and invisible despite the best efforts of frontline workers..
That’s why I was so pleased to see Labour’s Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, setting a new direction for children’s social care in our country and committing the government to delivering many of the recommendations I laid out in my Independent Review in 2022.
These wide-ranging, ambitious plans will break the cycle of crisis and reform the system to put families first, at last. Labour has set out a fourfold plan to tackle this crisis which has for too long been neglected:
We will nip problems in the bud early, providing intensive help for families and diverting children from entering care. We’ll support families to keep children safe, bringing partners and agencies together to share expertise, experience and time. A new ‘Prevention Grant’ with £250m has been created so councils have funding for these services.
When children can’t remain with immediate family, we’ll take further steps to promote kinship care and fostering to reduce the number of children who are in placements away from their families. As announced in the Budget, we’re putting £44m aside for that.
We’ll reform the market by introducing new financial oversight provisions and taking action on the levels of profits being made out of children’s lives. This will reduce the risk of another Southern Cross type-collapse in residential care. .
We’ll invest in the future workforce, in data and information systems, including delivering a single identifier for children – like an NHS number – which will help services work together more efficiently.
Where the Tories sat on their hands, Labour have wasted no time. These are ambitious reforms, but this is only the start of the journey – we know there is more to do. And here in Cumberland we’re now building on solid foundations.
Josh MacAlister MP 