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Government delay in reforming children's social care in England will cost taxpayers £1 billion over 10 years

Alongside four other children’s charities, we’re urging the UK government to deliver its reform programme ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.

  • New analysis1 warns government delays to reform children’s social care will cost the public finances £1 billion over the next 10 years.
  • The analysis marks the anniversary of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care which called for immediate investment and urgent reform.
  • Children’s charities call on the UK government to act now to deliver its reform programme ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ across England.

Together with four other leading children’s charities – Action for Children, Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society and the National Children’s Bureau – we’re urging the UK government not to delay its reforms to children’s social care in England.

Analysis shows cost of delay to the taxpayer

The analysis warns that the government is set to spend an additional £1 billion on children's social care over 10 years unless it speeds up the implementation of its reform plan, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.

These increased costs are largely the result of a higher number of children needing to be in care, caused by a lack of comprehensive early support during the two-year delay.

The figures demonstrate the cumulative cost of the government’s confirmed two-year delay to implement the plan.

How much will the choice to delay fully implementing the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care by 2 years affect public finance? Total cumulative benefits (costs) to the taxpayer2
Over 10 years (2033/2034) -£1bn
Over 20 years (2043/2044) -£2.6bn

 

By 2027/28, it is forecast that 10,500 additional children will be in care due to the government delaying implementation for two years. Although this is expected to level out at around 4,500 assuming the government implements the’ Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy across England.

In addition, Alma’s analysis estimates that if the government’s reform plans are delayed two years, as currently proposed, there will be an additional ‘social cost’ of around £500 million per year over 30 years compared to the full and timely implementation of the care review.

The social costs stem from a greater number of children in the care system facing lower wellbeing and a loss of productivity in later life.

Sir Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC, said:

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“One year on from the publication of the Care Review, children’s social care is still in crisis. The deep problems within the system will not go away in the next year or the year after.

“While these costs cannot now be reversed, there is still time for the government to step up to avoid even bigger losses in the future.

“This government must take bold action now to tackle this and any future government must be ready to pick up the baton of long-term reform. That is why we are calling on all political parties to commit to a full reform of children’s social care. The children and families who need vital support from children’s social care deserve nothing less.”

Anna Feuchtwang, CEO at the National Children's Bureau (NCB), said:

“The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put the voices of children, families and communities at the heart of a new coordinated and fully integrated system that would step in early to protect and nurture vulnerable children before their problems escalate.

"Yet one year on from its publication there is still a lack of urgency. As this report makes clear, delays in fully implementing the review’s findings risk costing the taxpayer millions of pounds more than it should.

"Inaction in changing systems, improving outcomes and allowing more of our children to fulfil their potential, has a human and a financial cost we cannot afford to ignore.”

Paul Carberry, Chief Executive of Action for Children, said:

“Children’s social care is on its knees following a decade of cuts to council budgets. The care review has given the government a roadmap for reform, but foot-dragging and short-termism could mean the problems and the costs of the system continue to mount up.

“Our research shows how it’s short-sighted financially and deeply destructive socially not to give councils the means to properly invest in early help services that prevent problems worsening.

"Every day we delay reform, the costs for all of us will keep spiralling, but especially to the thousands and thousands of vulnerable children being needlessly failed every year.”

Barnardo’s CEO Lynn Perry MBE said:

“Without urgent action to reform children’s social care we will miss this once in a generation opportunity to address the fundamental inequalities that exist for children who can’t live with their birth parents.

"It’s simply not good enough that nearly half of children in care have a mental health disorder and four in 10 young people leaving care are not in education, employment or training by the time they reach 19.

“These figures show that the delay in implementing vital recommendations in the independent review also comes at a huge cost to the taxpayer, and we urge the government to act now to get the system right for these children and truly start to ‘level up’ their opportunities in adulthood.”

Mark Russell, CEO of The Children's Society, said:

“One year on from The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, these figures highlight the urgency for social care reform to help struggling families and children who desperately need vital support.

"Continued delays by the government will mean we are stuck with a social care system that fails to intervene before problems reach crisis point and leaves too many children and young people unprotected and exposed to unacceptable risks.

“Apart from the significant impact on children, families and society, these figures also highlight the financial burden to the taxpayer which the government simply cannot ignore. Immediate action is required to implement the Review's findings so we can see a reformed social care system fit for purpose.”

Background to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care was published in May 2022 and called for an additional £2.6bn to address the existing crisis in children’s social care.

It primarily called for a revolution in Family Help to prevent children entering care where possible, which would lead to better outcomes and allow children to stay with the families they love.

In February 2023, the government published its strategy and consultation on children’s social care, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which committed to adopting most but not all the recommendations from the Care Review.

This strategy was published against a backdrop of increasing concern about the crisis in children’s social care, particularly the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson. Since then, other devastating cases have come to light which demonstrate how crucial it is that children are protected and supported.

The government approach will also see it testing reforms in a small number of local authorities, meaning that most areas will not get the changes and investment they desperately need to support and protect children for at least two years.

Devon mother gets autism diagnosis for son, thanks to early support

Helen Baker feels very lucky to have had early help for her autistic son, Sam.

She has two older daughters and initially felt isolated when Sam, now 10, was born.

She started taking him to a parent-and-toddlers play group run by Action for Children in Paignton, Devon. When Sam was around 18 months old, a support worker noticed he was not playing with other children as expected for his age and that his speech was not developing.

Helen said: “Fortunately for me, my Action for Children support worker was very persistent as I couldn’t see Sam’s autism myself. I keep saying ‘No, no, no, there’s nothing wrong there.’”

After spotting the signs, the practitioners helped Helen get an autism diagnosis early and then secure expert support for speech and language, and paediatrics. They also helped her apply for an education, health and care plan to set out the support Sam should receive when he started primary school.

Helen continued: “If we had not had that early help then I probably wouldn’t have picked up Sam’s autism because he is high functioning. He would’ve gone off to primary school without a diagnosis or care plan and would now be really struggling.”

Photo: Action for Children

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References

  1. 1. Analysis undertaken by economics and advanced data consultants Alma Economics.

  2. 2. Positive numbers are benefits; negative numbers are costs. The figures are rounded up to the nearest 100 million and are adjusted to 2023/2024 prices.