A long-term strategy for childhood overseen by a government Department for Children is needed to mitigate the impact of political uncertainty and underfunding for children and family services, sector leaders have said.
A new policy paper by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) criticises a lack of government action on its 2017 report A county that works for all children, stating: “Sadly, all seven of the recommendations in the paper still stand and the need for action on child poverty and the crisis in workforce and funding is arguably even starker than ever before.”
It highlights that “there has not been any significant new legislation for children and young people since the passing of the Children and Social Work Act 2017, although a Schools Bill was both introduced and withdrawn in 2022”.
This is despite the publication of the government’s response to in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and its SEND and AP improvement plan last year.
