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The Child Law Advice Service will be closed from 24/12/2024 and will reopen on 02/01/2025.

Our telephone lines will close at 4pm on 20/12/2024 and reopen at 10am on 02/01/2025. Our webchat service will close at 4pm on 23/12/2024 and reopen at 8am on 02/01/2025. Any emails enquiries received over Christmas will be answered within 5 working days of our return to the office. 

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DfE merges schools and children’s social care responsibilities under new minister

The Department for Education (DfE) has merged responsibilities for children’s social care and schools under new minister Kelly Tolhurst.

The DfE confirmed this week that Tolhurst would be its sixth minister with responsibility for social care in four years, three weeks after Brendan Clark-Smith left the children’s minister post to take up a role in another department. The hiatus was caused in part by the mourning period following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

As with her social care ministerial predecessors, Tolhurst’s brief will also encompass other issues concerning disadvantaged and vulnerable children, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and early help.

Read the full article in Community Care here.