A radical new approach to children’s services is needed to avert the growing crisis, a think tank has warned today.

In a new report, the New Local Government Network (NLGN) warns that the latest social care funding is not enough to meet rising demand.

It calls on the Government to take a radical approach to the design and delivery of children’s services by focusing on early intervention and prevention, and allowing communities to shape the future of public services.

The report calls for a new White Paper to develop a strategy for engaging the community and for the current Ofsted inspection framework to be replaced with one designed and delivered by the community.

Adam Lent, director of the NLGN, said: ‘While the Spending Round marks a supposed end to this, the short-term cash injection must be just the beginning.

‘That strategy must guarantee all government departments will drive forward an early intervention and prevention agenda. The moment to harness the power of community has to be seized. Without this, children’s services will become another item on the domestic agenda subsumed by the focus on Brexit.’

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