Peers brand government’s Care Review response a ‘wasted opportunity’
Megan Warren-Lister
Thursday, May 25, 2023
The government’s strategy to reform children’s social care lacks the “ambition, pace and scale” necessary to deliver change, a new report by peers finds.
The criticism comes a year after the publication of the Independent Review of Children’s Care and is based on the government’s 220-page response which set out plans for reform in February.
Today’s (25 May) report finds that “the strategy does not represent the radical reset the children’s care system needs”.
It states: “By design, the majority [of children] will see little benefit for several years. This represents a wasted opportunity.”
The House of Lords’ public services committee criticises the Department for Education’s “limited proposals and restrictive pilots” in is report.
DfE’s plan, entitled Stable Homes, Built on Love, makes “no guarantee of long-term reform”, say peers.
Government’s promised investment of £200m is described as “entirely inadequate” in comparison to the £2.6 bn called for by Care Review chair Josh MacAlister in his final report.
In addition, a plan to implement regional care cooperatives (RCCs) to boost sufficiency of children’s residential and foster care placements attracted further condemnation.
The committee’s report says there is evidence that RCCs would not boost the number of care placements available, nor improve standards or prices in the care market.
If RCCs are implemented despite these issues, the committee recommends a “strong accountability regime” to prevent any “democratic deficit”.
It also criticises the government over ignoring the need for “radical reform” of residential children’s homes, despite sector concerns about the quality and consistency of care provision.
Proposals to improve recruitment in social work are also deemed inadequate in the report.
“Without more ambitious recruitment targets, the objectives of the government's reforms will not be achieved,” the report concludes.
It adds that the strategy fails to focus on measures to recruit staff to support those who are already “performing demanding roles in difficult circumstances”.
Despite measures to boost the number of foster carers, the committee finds these to be equally “undermined by the failure to include targets or metrics in the strategy”.
While peers are optimistic about plans for an independent opt-out advocacy service for children in care, they caution that the extent of the independence offered by the proposal “remains questionable”.
“Services commissioned by a local authority could struggle to perform the function of criticising that authority when necessary,” the report warns.
Lords have urged DfE to reconsider the organisation of advocacy services to maintain the “critical” independence needed.
“The government's plan has much to recommend it, but unless the proposals go further and faster, the strategy will leave many children behind,” said chair of the public services committee, Baroness Morris of Yardley.
“While we accept that not every reform can be introduced everywhere immediately, the government must ensure that all children and families engaged in the care system see some immediate benefit and can be sure that significant improvements and reform will follow.
“We’ve made a number of recommendations which the government must follow if it wants to implement the fundamental reforms required to deliver an operationally effective system and prevent a worsening of the current crisis,” she added.
