Children’s commissioner launches inquiry into school absence rates
A new inquiry into pupil absence from school has been launched by the children’s commissioner for England.
Dame Rachel de Souza said even taking disruption caused by COVID into account, there are too many children on school rolls who are persistently absent, and whose absence is insufficiently understood.
The children’s commissioner’s office will [...]
Education secretary “will not rule out legislative changes” following Arthur’s death
The education secretary has said he “will not rule out” legislative changes to The Children Act following the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Nadhim Zahawi told ministers: “No government anywhere in the world can legislate for evil, but we will take action wherever we can to stop this happening again, because we must do more.”
Responding [...]
Recruitment and retention of foster carers remains challenging
Recruiting and retaining sufficient foster carers with the right skillset to support vulnerable children continues to pose a problem for local authorities, trusts and independent fostering agencies, the State of the Nation’s Foster Care 2021 has said.
The pressures within the system, and the lack of availability of foster families, results in poorer [...]
Ofsted: Vulnerable children ‘disappeared from sight’ in lockdown
There were significantly lower levels of referrals to children’s social care this year as vulnerable children at risk of harm or neglect “disappeared from teachers’ line of sight”, Ofsted’s annual report has said.
While the long-term effects of school closures are not yet known, the Ofsted report says that nearly all children in [...]
Rainsbrook contract ends ‘by mutual agreement’
The contract between the government and MTC to run Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre has ended after a ‘mutual agreement’ was reached.
Children were removed from the privately run secure training centre in June after concerns were raised several times about the care provided to children and young people held there, including concerns from [...]
Councils predict 100,000 children in care by 2025
There could be 100,000 children in local authority care by 2025, the County Councils Network has warned.
While there were 69,000 children in care in 2015, CCN warns that number of vulnerable children being placed in council care could reach almost 100,000 by the middle of the decade.
Cllr Tim Oliver, Chairman of the [...]
