DfE announces regional Covid-19 recovery fund for children’s social care

The fund, named The Children’s Social Care Covid-19 Regional Recovery and Building Back Better Fund, will be distributed through nine areas in England split into Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliances.

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Each area will receive between £2m and £3m, including a flat rate of £50,000 for each region to help local authorities support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children through the National Transfer Scheme, DfE has said.

It “aims to build firm foundations for future reform” through the Care and SEND Reviews, government documents add, stating it would be used to support projects including “tackling female genital mutilation, abuse, preventing adolescents from being caught up in harms outside the home such as gangs and reducing the pressure on the system by reducing court backlogs or improving technology”.

The fund has been created through funding previously ringfenced for three DfE-funded children’s social care programmes: Partners in Practice, the Innovation Programme and Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliances.

Speaking at the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) annual conference, children’s minister Vicky Ford said: “The impact of Covid on our services, young people and workforce has been multi-faceted, adding immediate pressures on top of all the longer-term systemic issues and challenges that we face. But it has also highlighted your resilience, driven innovation and formed better, more powerful partnerships locally, despite the challenging circumstances – something in which we can all take pride. 

“I am keen that we work together to support you and your colleagues in the months ahead as we recover and build back better. Sometimes the role of central government is to lead, and sometimes our role is to facilitate and empower others to lead.”

Welcoming the announcement, ADCS president Charlotte Ramsden, said delegates were “particularly pleased” to hear about the regional roll-out of funds.

In a challenging opening speech, Ramsden questioned the government’s “disappointing” £1.4bn education catch-up fund and called for ministers to “step up” in providing support for looked-after children and those with mental health issues as well as extra funding to tackle child poverty. 

“Where is the national plan for children?” she asked, calling for an “ambitious 10-year plan that commits to supporting children to recover from the pandemic and address long-term disparities”. 

“I don’t want us to pathologise the experiences of all children and young people during the pandemic. Clearly, not everything has been bad. We do need an holistic approach backed by significant and sustainable investment which brings together the educational recovery and wider recovery needs to restore wellbeing,” Ramsden said, “if this isn’t the year to prioritise children and young people, when is?”