Updated publications including Working Together 2023

Date: Wednesday, 20th Dec 2023 | Category: Uncategorised

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated several publications in order to meet commitments in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.

The announcements mark another significant step towards wide-reaching reform and provide an opportunity to progress towards supporting families earlier (including those families that provide Kinship care), having a decisive child protection system, and promoting stronger use of data and evidence across children’s social care.

The announcements include:

• The first national kinship strategy, ‘Championing Kinship Care’ outlines support for kinship carers providing loving and stable homes to children. It sets out the practical and financial support we will provide kinship families, including but not limited to a financial allowance pathfinder and plans to expand the role of Virtual School Heads.
• A new Children’s Social Care National Framework which brings together the purpose, principles, enablers, and outcomes that should be achieved in children’s social care.
• Updated statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ which sets out new child protection standards and advocates for a multi-disciplinary workforce to support the diverse needs of children and families when safeguarding children.
• A data and digital strategy which outlines plans to transform children’s social care data and digital services, including improved information sharing through research and evaluation, and the publishing of a Children’s Social Care Dashboard to consolidate data in one place.

Additionally, DfE have announced an increased budget of up to £8.5 million for fostering reforms, bringing the total investment to £36 million, the largest ever in England. The department has also issued a reform statement offering a high-level overview of the documents