Measuring the true value of community transport
ECT Charity explains why community transport is worth its weight in savings.
Number of children in care nearly hits 80,000
06/12/2019 A charity has called on the next Government to invest more in the care system as new figures reveal the number of children in care has risen to nearly 80,000. |
Charity warns child cruelty is rising every year
28/11/2019 The number of child cruelty and neglect offences have risen every year for the past five years, new analysis has shown. |
Councils call for more investment in early intervention
21/11/2019 Council leaders are calling for extra funding in children’s services to ensure they can fulfil the ambitions of the Children’s Act. |
Nearly 700 children a day at risk of domestic violence
21/11/2019 Many children facing domestic abuse are failing to get the support they need because of a 'postcode lottery, a new report has warned today. |
Shropshire Council warns of £6m overspend
20/11/2019 Shropshire Council has announced a spending freeze until the end of the year after warning that it faced a multi-million pound overspend. |
Over 22,000 young people face homelessness this Christmas
18/11/2019 A charity has warned that tens of thousands of young people in England will be homeless or at risk of homelessness this Christmas. |
Policy action to secure the future health of young people
08/11/2019 We need to invest across housing, employment and transport to secure the health prospects of the next generation, argues Martina Kane. |
Family hardship drives 53% increase in children referred for ‘urgent support’
05/11/2019 A rise in family ‘conflict and hardship’ against a background of cuts to council budgets is behind the heightened pressure on child protection services, local authority leaders have revealed. |
Reading’s children’s services improvement ‘huge achievement'
30/10/2019 A council-owned company has moved Reading's children's services out of its ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating. |
Whitehall commits £19m for young people leaving care
23/10/2019 Young people leaving care have been promised better housing, healthcare and employment opportunities in a new government scheme. |
Children in care not getting their legal right to a ‘buddy’
22/10/2019 Children in the care system are not getting their legal right to an essential ‘buddy’ as more than two thirds of councils admit leaving them on waiting lists, a children’s charity reveals. |
Council to re-direct £5.5m to 'inadequate' children’s services
18/10/2019 Stoke-on-Trent City Council has approved plans to invest £5.5m into its children’s services following an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted earlier this year. |
Commissioner appointed to take control of Northants’ children’s services
18/10/2019 The Government has appointed a new commissioner to head up Northamptonshire County Council’s struggling children’s services. |
Councils warn about ‘spiralling’ rate of child modern slavery referrals
18/10/2019 Councils have warned the number of child victims of modern slavery referred for support has risen by 800% in the past five years. |
Council adopts fingerprint-based drug testing
15/10/2019 Peterborough City Council has brought in fingerprint-based drug testing as part of its family safeguarding social care initiative. |
Spending on youth services cut 73% in decade
08/10/2019 A new analysis from the Labour Party has revealed that public spending on youth services in England has been reduced by £1bn – or 73% – since 2010. |
Young offenders ‘set up to fail’, report warns
08/10/2019 Children and young people released from young offender institutions are getting too little support in the community and are being ‘set up to fail’, a new report shows. |
Children’s voices missing from care records, study warns
03/10/2019 The voices of children and young people are missing from their social care records causing significant distress and upset, research has warned today. |
Safeguarding shake-up
24/09/2019 With local safeguarding children boards being abolished, Neil Merrick finds out what new arrangements councils are setting up in their local areas. |
Kinship carers blast lack of support from children's services
24/09/2019 Local authorities should have a legal responsibility to support people looking after the children of family and friends, campaigners have argued. |
Named person scheme dropped
20/09/2019 A mandatory named person scheme for every child in Scotland – underpinned by law – will not now happen, deputy first minister John Swinney has announced. |
Repairing children’s services is an investment worth making
12/09/2019 Spending more on services to stop the rising costs of taking children into care must be worth the investment, says Heather Jameson. |
Think tank calls for radical reform of children’s services
10/09/2019 A radical new approach to children’s services is needed to avert the growing crisis, a think tank has warned today. |
Quarter of a million children ‘unhappy’, charity says
28/08/2019 Council chiefs have called for more funds for children’s services after a charity found quarter of a million teenagers in the UK are unhappy. |
Government announces over £3m to support children with mental health issues
20/08/2019 Children and young people are to benefit from a £3.3m injection of cash into local community projects, the Government has announced. |
Council considers job cuts to fund children’s services
13/08/2019 Stoke-on-Trent City Council is considering cutting 248 jobs in order to help fund a £5.5m cash boost for children’s services. |
This issue of Local Government News explores how councils can tackle modern slavery and trafficking in their supply chains, finds out more about Cambridge's first cohousing scheme and the launch of a new project to build a shared service pattern library for local government.
This issue also contains a special focus on children's services and how councils are protecting children following local safeguarding children boards being abolished.
