Funding for preventative services has been announced as part of the Spring Budget in an attempt to relieve local government’s demand pressures.

In his speech, chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced £105m would go towards creating 15 new special free schools, with locations to be confirmed by May.

Another £45m of match funding will also be provided to local authorities to provide 200 open children’s home placements, alongside £120m for maintenance of the secure children’s home estate.

Hunt said: ‘The way to improve public services is not always more money or more people.

‘We need a more productive state, not a bigger state.’

Budget documents added the Government will also work with the Local Government Pension Scheme in an effort to ‘unlock investment in new children’s homes’.

The investment was aimed at ‘strengthening preventative action to reduce demand on public services’.

It added: ‘This extra capacity will reduce local government reliance on costly emergency provision and improve outcomes for children by providing them with more suitable placements.’

Further proposals to ‘combat profiteering, bring down costs and create a more sustainable market’ for residential placements will be drawn up and published later this year.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will create a panel to ‘discuss key themes emerging’ from previously-announced productivity plans submitted by councils, and to ‘offer advice to both councils and Government’.

The County Councils Network’s finance spokesperson, Barry Lewis, said: ‘While we welcome today’s announcements on supporting councils to reduce costs in children’s care placements and investment in more special school places, there is no more fat to cut and productivity gains can only get us so far.’