Children's social care and the spending review

The coronavirus crisis has hit children’s social care. The disruption caused by the lockdown and continuing restrictions has forced social workers to conduct visits with children remotely, local authorities to take a less rigid approach to procurement, and the government to temporarily remove some statutory protections for vulnerable children.

The crisis followed a decade of big increases in spending on child protection, but severe cuts to universal services such as children’s centres. Local authorities have persistently overspent on these services but the increase in spending has not kept pace with demand.

Ahead of the spending review, this event looked at what level of funding is needed for children's social care, what the right balance is between early intervention and crisis support and which of the changes made in response to the crisis should be kept.

Our panel included:

• David Simmonds MP, member of the Commons Education Select Committee
• Jenny Coles, Director of Children’s Services at Hertfordshire County Council and President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services
• Kathy Evans, Chief Executive of Children England
• Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive of CIPFA

The event was chaired by Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.

#IfGpublicservices

We would like to thank the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) for supporting this event.

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