Children’s social care services focus increasingly on poorer households the more they intervene in family life, according to a new report which calls for fewer child protection cases and action to tackle poverty.
The social gradient in English child welfare services, a study by Kingston University academics and Ofsted analysts, said that children from the poorest neighbourhoods in England were almost fourteen times more likely to be referred to social care services than those from the richest areas.
Read the full article in Community Care here.
Hundreds of English schools still at risk from crumbling concrete
Hundreds of schools in England are still at risk of collapse from crumbling concrete, according to previously unpublished figures. Official data, which the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Thousands of young people placed in council care more than 20 miles away from home, analysis shows
A third of children in council care in 2023 lived over 20 miles away from their local area, school and family – around 4,600 people in total.
£600m boost for social care next year announced in Budget
Councils’ available spending to grow by an estimated 3.2% in real terms in 2025-26, with authorities also given £250m to test new approaches in children’s