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The government has announced an additional £18 million for councils in England to speed up reforms to children’s social care, focusing on earlier intervention to prevent families from reaching crisis point.
The funding, part of the Plan for Change, will help strengthen local leadership and expand early support services. Measures include recruiting thousands more family help workers and introducing Family Group Decision Making across all councils—an approach that brings extended family members together to help children remain safely at home rather than entering care.
The investment follows a doubling of family support funding this year to £523 million, with a further £300 million committed over the next two years.
A key element of the reforms is the introduction of a unique identifier for every child, using the NHS number to link information across health, education, and police services. A pilot project between Wigan Council and NHS England is already underway, aiming to improve the speed and accuracy of safeguarding responses by creating a more joined-up picture of risk.
Children and Families Minister Janet Daby said:
“Time and again we’re told how failing to share information and intervene early enough means vulnerable children fall through the cracks.
We’re putting an end to sticking plaster solutions through our Plan for Change by investing even more focus and funding into preventative services and information sharing.”
Minister of State for Local Government Jim McMahon OBE added:
“Through our Plan for Change we are getting councils back on their feet… reforming children’s social care to tackle problems at their root and give every child the best start in life.”
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza welcomed the plans:
“Children in care told me… they want the same things as other children: love, safety and stability in their family life. It’s absolutely right that we prioritise supporting families earlier on… The introduction of a unique ID for every child will help identify problems early on and prevent any child becoming invisible to services.”
The reforms form part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, described as the biggest safeguarding legislation in a generation. Key measures include:
A unique ID for every child to improve information sharing between agencies.
A legal duty on agencies to share safeguarding information when necessary.
Expanded Family Help services for families facing complex challenges such as substance misuse or poor mental health.
Family Group Decision Making available in all local authorities.
Best practice multi-agency safeguarding panels in every council.
The changes will be rolled out alongside the nationwide expansion of Best Start Family Hubs, which will offer wraparound support to an additional 500,000 children, and build on over £2 billion in recent investment in children’s social care, including £560 million to improve and expand children’s homes.
