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At 4 PM on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, in the heart of the Liverpool Experience Campus, I find myself surrounded by familiar faces—friends and colleagues alike. The momentum we are witnessing today is not a spontaneous event; it is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.
This progress has been driven by the committed individuals present in this room: social workers who tirelessly advocate for families, leaders who bear significant responsibilities often unnoticed, and countless professionals across the sector who have steadfastly refused to accept that improved outcomes for children are unattainable.
The Role of Collective Effort in Reform
This commitment resonates deeply with me. Lasting reform cannot solely emerge from central government initiatives; it relies on the experience, judgement, and determination of individuals like you, working collaboratively with the government to transform children’s social care and instigate meaningful change for families across the nation.
Recently, I have observed this collective momentum manifesting through the launch of our inaugural national campaign aimed at revolutionising children’s social care, focusing on the families we serve.
Your efforts to enhance our fostering system will soon yield an additional 10,000 homes for children in care. Reflecting on my visit last year, it is remarkable to note the absence of a fostering action plan, a campaign, or a cohesive framework for fostering at that time. Now, two-thirds of the country is engaged in Regional Care Cooperatives, marking a significant positive shift in just one year.
Seizing the Moment of Opportunity
I stand before you to highlight that, thanks to the momentum you have fostered, we are at a pivotal juncture filled with potential. The Milburn review, the ‘Rewiring the State’ framework, and the 10-Year Plan collectively chart a course for our nation.
However, I wish to share an insight with you: much of what is outlined in these documents mirrors the reforms already underway in children’s social care, driven by your leadership. Our sector may not typically lead the charge, but now we find ourselves at the forefront.
These forthcoming publications will delineate reforms in public services that embody the principles we have embraced in transforming children’s social care over the past few years:
- Empowering the public
- Transitioning from crisis management to prevention
- Fostering practitioner expertise
- Embedding collaboration among services
Having worked in accordance with these principles, we are positioned to demonstrate what is achievable when public services are effectively restructured—resulting in improved experiences for practitioners, enhanced value for taxpayers, and, most crucially, better outcomes for children and families often ensnared in crisis.
Empowering Families in Social Care
In social care, the potential to disempower families is more pronounced than in other public services. Thus, it is essential to enhance the power of children, families, and their broader networks in how children’s social care is delivered.
A significant indicator of this transformation is the substantial growth of Family Group Decision Making and Family Network Support Packages, catalysed by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act and the Families First programme.
This initiative was designed with a straightforward premise: to shift the perception of families from being viewed as a problem to being recognised as part of the solution. The implementation of Family Group Decision Making and Family Network Support Packages signifies a pivotal shift, reallocating power and resources towards those best acquainted with the child’s needs.
We have made commendable progress. For instance, in Walsall, the provision of practical support through an FNSP has enabled a child to avoid foster care and reunite with their parents. This achievement is not an isolated case; Walsall has successfully delivered over 150 Family Network Support Packages this year alone, demonstrating their potential to assist families on a larger scale.
Redefining Spending Towards Family Support
The next hurdle lies in determining what it would take to redirect hundreds of millions of pounds from the care system into family support systems under the Family Network Support Packages. We are aware of the robust family networks that exist and that our system has historically failed to support adequately. The repercussions of this disempowerment have been fractured relationships for children, which, in turn, leads to higher costs associated with crisis interventions.
This is where the principle of prevention comes into play. In children’s social care, we often find ourselves caught in a cycle of crisis spending. Breaking this cycle demands discipline, determination, and, crucially, sustained funding. This principle has shaped every action I have taken to advance the Families First initiative.
As with many public services, we cannot afford to perpetuate this cycle of escalating crisis costs. It is a financial necessity, and this year has once again seen a shift away from intensive family support towards care costs.
The Urgency of Family Support Funding
Moreover, this situation presents a moral imperative. Each pound allocated to an increasingly privatised care market detracts from essential family support services, thereby undermining a critical mechanism of social justice. This cannot continue.
Thus, the effective implementation of our £2.4 billion Families First Partnership programme holds immense significance. This funding affords us a unique opportunity to rebuild intensive family support work.
Across England, we are beginning to witness a resurgence in intensive help, notably through Family Help, which is actively reversing the crisis cycle. I recently observed this in Blackburn With Darwen, where the investment in additional specialist expertise—encompassing domestic abuse, substance misuse services, employment support, health teams, and assistance for young carers—has enabled families to receive appropriate help more swiftly.
Encouragingly, this approach has led to a decrease in the number of children entering Child Protection services. The challenge now is to ensure that your services maximise the impact of every pound from the FFP funding and that you secure the avoided care costs to sustain higher levels of Family Help spending.
Investing in Practitioner Expertise
Shifting this spending effectively hinges on enhancing the expertise of practitioners engaged with children and families. This is where the new National Professional Development Offer comes into play, representing an unprecedented investment in post-qualifying training for social workers.
This comprehensive programme aims to deepen the knowledge and skills of newly qualified professionals, those stepping into lead roles, and those managing our services. However, this initiative transcends mere training; it embodies a new commitment from central government—a genuine investment in professional development aimed at cultivating expertise and reducing the bureaucratic burden stemming from a lack of trust in practice.
We have made steady progress towards greater expertise and rigor in our work. For example, Family Finding practices have significantly benefited from models like Lifelong Links. Soon, I will outline the national campaign to ensure that this quality of Family Finding practice is standardised across the board.
Enhancing Residential Care Expertise
This effort is part of our broader Enduring Relationships Strategy, which unites our reforms around a common goal: to nurture and protect children’s relationships, allowing them to feel safe and loved. For the first time, we will assess whether children in care truly have enduring relationships in their lives.
One of our forthcoming challenges is to cultivate greater expertise within our residential care system. We require a more focused and purposeful approach to residential care in England, which can only be achieved through investment in and support for practitioners in children’s homes, enabling them to provide genuinely therapeutic experiences for those with the highest needs.
Having recently returned from Denmark, I witnessed the benefits of a more rigorous model of residential care, which will inform the blueprint for the future of residential care, as outlined in Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang’s forthcoming report.
Embedding Collaboration Across Services
Finally, for us to effectively rewire public services to meet the complexities and demands of families, we must embed collaboration across various services. I acknowledge the challenges this entails, yet I am encouraged by the progress being made.
The Department for Education’s SEND reforms place collaboration at the forefront, as will the governmental response to Milburn’s review. In children’s social care, we are making strides in establishing Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams, which unite professionals from health, policing, social work, and education, yielding positive results.
We are learning invaluable lessons from areas already implementing MACPTs, such as Gloucestershire, where local authorities, police, health, and education professionals have illustrated the impact of daily collaboration, information sharing, and trust-building across agencies. Their experiences demonstrate how shared decision-making can lead to decisive actions that enhance safety for children.
However, our work is far from complete. Last month, I announced a new collaborative initiative, Care Together, which will integrate mental health clinicians into children’s social care teams, targeting up to 7,000 young people and families in Greater Manchester. This initiative aims to eliminate gatekeeping and ensure immediate access to expert assistance.
We are also launching Home Again, a model designed to provide children at the greatest risk with a coordinated plan and package of intensive support that incorporates social care, health, education, and youth justice services.
The new Regional Care Cooperatives in Cheshire & Merseyside, the West Midlands, and Greater London will be the first to implement this approach, demonstrating that by