Responding to the publication of government guidance and confirmation of over £500 million funding for family services, Andy Smith, President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: 

“This funding announced at the end of last year is a welcome recognition of the significant challenges faced by too many children and families, as well as the financial pressures in children’s services, which undermines our ability to step in early to make a difference to children’s lives and outcomes. 

“This new guidance will help those local authorities - who are not piloting or pathfinding aspects of the Government’s children’s social care reform agenda - to better understand the detail and begin to work through what this means in practice with their partners, to inform local transformation planning. 

“We will need to work through the guidance in detail, but further funding will be needed in the short and longer term to create the headroom and capacity to do the thinking about new ways of working and then new investment in rebuilding community-based support, on top of managing everyday pressures. 

“By focusing on early help and prevention, we can empower families to build resilience and address challenges before they escalate. This investment not only benefits individual children and families, but the country as a whole via improved national wellbeing and sustained progress on social injustices.”

ENDS