Councils under huge pressure as number of children in care soars
I’m sorry so early into the new year to be running another story about services local authorities can’t fund – but stories like this and their implications for rural families can’t be ignored. This story tells us:
The number of children in care has gone up by 28% in the past decade with council leaders warning of unsustainable pressure being placed on support services for young people.
Official figures show there are now 78,150 children in care in England, up from 75,370 in 2018 and almost 20,000 more than in 2009 when 60,900 children were looked after.
The Local Government Association (LGA) warned the huge increase in demand, combined with funding shortages, is putting immense pressure on the ability of councils to support vulnerable young people who need help.
Judith Blake, the chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said the demands being placed on councils were “unsustainable”. “These figures show the sheer scale of the unprecedented demand pressures on children’s services and the care system this decade,” she said.
Councils were forced to overspend on their children’s social care budgets by almost £800m last year in order to try and keep children safe, the LGA said. This happened despite them allocating more money than in the previous year to try to keep up with demand.
Data shows councils have experienced a 53% increase in children on child protection plans – an additional 18,160 children – in the past decade.
There has been a 139% increase in serious cases where the local authority believes a child may be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, to 201,170 cases.