Thousands of children will be taken into care due to budget cuts, council bosses warn

Exclusive: Local authorities have been forced to reduce spending on preventative services by more that £400m since 2015

Numbers of children in care could reach nearly 100,000 by 2025, say council chiefs (Getty Images)

An estimated 15,000 more young people are set to be taken into care in the next three years as cuts eat further into council budgets, authorities have warned.

Numbers are likely to increase by a fifth to reach 95,000 within three years unless Rishi Sunak’s government acts on expert advice and puts in more cash, council bosses said.

Local authority chiefs said have been forced to reduce spending on preventive services by at least £400m since 2015 and warned of spiralling bills for children going into care as numbers soar.

It comes as official figures show the number of children in England referred to social services who are assessed as needing help is at its highest level for four years, at 404,310 – up 4.1 per cent on last year.

Referrals increased by 9 per cent in the past year, from 597,760 in 2020-21 to 650,270.

Local authorities warned children “cannot afford to keep waiting” for reform, after recommendations by an independent review of children’s social care have been on hold for five months.

The review published its suggestions five months ago but ministers have yet to act on them, promising to set out its plans by the end of the year.

Council chiefs said Rishi Sunak’s government needs to begin urgently implementing the key advice.

With dwindling funding from central government, town hall bosses have already had to cut back family-support services such as children’s centres, which help prevent more drastic social services intervention at later stages.

With demand and costs rising each year, councils overspent their looked-after children budgets by £450m last year – a 9 per cent overspend.

And they warned a failure to act on reforms and fund them could mean the tally of vulnerable children being placed in council care could reach 95,000 by 2025, up from 69,000 in 2015, and 80,000 last year.

The government says it is providing councils with £4.8bn in new grant funding over the spending review period to 2025, to help maintain frontline services, including children’s social care.

It added it is investing more than £50m every year to support councils recruit and retrain social workers in schools and safeguarding experts.

But councils say they will be forced to spend an extra £3.6bn of council-taxpayers’ money every year on young people compared with 2015.

The County Councils Network (CCN) said that left unchecked, bills for children in council care could consume 60 per cent of an average local authority’s budget by the middle of the decade.

It wants the government to invest £2.6bn in children’s services, as recommended by the review, to help reverse the steep numbers leaving their families to go into care.

The cash would be spent on measures such as recruiting more foster carers.

Keith Glazier, children’s services spokesperson for the network, said: “With many councils overspending on budgets due to the expensive nature of children in care, we need to break the cycle and reform is long overdue.

“Whilst we appreciate there is a  commitment to set out a plan by the end of the year, both councils and young people cannot afford to keep waiting.”

Separately, councils have recorded more than 10,000 cases of child criminal exploitation.

For the first time in the in the government’s annual Children in Need Census, councils this year were required to record cases in which child criminal exploitation was identified as a factor in assessments after children were referred to social care.

They include cases of criminals grooming children into county lines drug dealing, or exploiting them to commit crimes such as shoplifting, car theft or serious violence.

Child criminal exploitation was identified as a factor in 10,140 cases, but the Children’s Society says it was the tip of the iceberg.

Sarah Wayman, of the charity, said: “These statistics give a glimpse into the huge problems that exist. Behind them lie horrific stories of children groomed by criminals who use threats and violence to force them into crimes like carrying drugs in county lines operations.

“And yet, the figures do not reveal the whole picture as professionals are still failing to consistently identify and share information about risks facing young people.

“Young victims are too often treated as criminals and police may not routinely refer them to social services.”

She called for more government investment to allow councils to identify risks earlier, such as sexual abuse, mental ill health and domestic abuse.

In the long run, not funding services would cost taxpayers more, she said.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “It is vital that children are safe and supported in order for them to thrive, no matter their background.

“We are strengthening links between social care and education to keep the most vulnerable children and young people engaged in their education and providing targeted funding for pupils who are in care or who have social workers.

“These pupils also have the support of a dedicated staff member in every local area to identify and champion their needs.”