The CEOs of NSPCC, Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, National Children’s Bureau and Action for Children have written to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. They call on whoever is the next Prime Minister to prioritise the implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
The chief executives of the major country’s leading children’s charities have called on Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to commit to a radical reform of the children’s social care system in England.
Sir Peter Wanless from the NSPCC, Lynn Perry MBE from Barnardo’s, Mark Russell from The Children’s Society, Anna Feuchtwang from the National Children’s Bureau and Melanie Armstrong from Action for Children have today written to the two candidates to be the next Prime Minister.
The letter urges them to prioritise the implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, should they make it to Number 10.
In the letter, the five chief executives emphasise how, without leadership and action from the top of Government, outcomes for vulnerable children and families will remain stubbornly poor across the country.
They say: “In the next ten years, there will be approaching 100,000 children in care, up from 80,000 today. A flawed system will cost over £15 billion per year, up from £10 billion now (Independent Review of Children's Social Care, 2022).
“Young people who grow up in care are three times less likely to be in education, employment or training by the time they reach 19.
“Our latest research, Stopping the Spiral, also shows spending on late intervention services soared by more than a third (37%) over the last decade, from £6bn to £8.2bn. This is skewing the system towards crisis intervention, and, too often, families cannot access help with problems such as mental health, domestic abuse, or drug and alcohol misuse until it is too late.”
Wanless, Perry, Russell, Feuchtwang and Armstrong also talk about how their charities have been working with care-experienced young people, listening to their experiences and insight, and supporting them in contributing to the Independent Review.
The chief executives say that their stories reflect a system that is broken, speaking to the deep trauma, heartbreak and anger, caused not just by the situation that had befallen their family, but by the system itself, with some of them resorting to running away from placements.
“Of the hundreds of young people, we, as expert organisations, have come into contact with throughout the Review process, the unifying sentiment is that the care system let them down, and badly.
“We now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to radically reform the children’s social care system in England, so that fewer children enter the system, and those who do are provided with the best possible care. Our charities stand ready to work with you to put vulnerable children at the heart of your Government.”