A recent report commissioned by the Local Government Association found that Children’s Services are continuing to deliver improvements and sustain strong performance, despite significant national challenges.
Local partnerships are doing “inspiring work” which is “testament to how transformation can be achieved at a local level with the right enabling factors in place”.
However, the report, A maturing approach to children’s services improvement: updating the key enablers of progress, suggests what Children’s Services can achieve is “transcended” by bigger and wider systemic challenges.
Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said:
“It is very positive to see that councils are continuing to deliver improvements in children’s services, and a testament to their tireless efforts to ensure children and young people get the support they need.
“However this report is a reminder of the much wider, systemic challenges faced by councils, including escalating funding concerns.
“While councils have responded well to these challenges, what is clear is that we need to see a national response that provides the investment and reform that children’s services desperately need.”