Children in Care: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of changes in the level of pressure on placement availability for children in care during the covid-19 lockdown period; and what steps his Department plans to take to ensure there are enough safe and suitable places for children in care to live.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 14th January 2021

The safety and wellbeing of our most vulnerable children remains a top priority. The department collects fortnightly data from local authorities to help understand the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on vulnerable children and children in care. The most recent survey showed that the total number of children looked after was 7% higher than the same time in 2018 and that the total number of referrals was 12% lower than the usual number at that time of year. The vulnerable children and young people survey summary is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vulnerable-children-and-young-people-survey.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there is sufficient provision for their looked after children, but we recognise that COVID-19 is placing additional burdens across all placement types. This is why the government has provided £4.6 billion of additional funding to local authorities in 2021-22 to address any pressures they are facing during the COVID-19 outbreak, including children’s social care. We are also providing an additional £1.55 billion of grant funding to support local authorities with COVID-19 spending pressures next year. This funding is un-ringfenced, recognising that local authorities are best placed to decide where to allocate resources.

In addition, on 25 November 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced as part of the Spending Review that the government will provide £24 million in the financial year 2021-22 to start a new programme to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure children’s homes. This will provide high quality, safe homes for some of our most vulnerable children and will mean children can live closer to their families and support networks, in settings that meet their needs.

In November 2020 we also announced that there would be a second wave of funding for new projects to increase the availability and quality of placements through recruitment of new foster families, improving how places are commissioned and supporting foster parents to build their resilience and skills.

We continue to work closely with local authorities to ensure there is sufficient provision that meets the needs of children in their care.

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