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<p>The government wants every child to be in the stable, loving home that is right
for them. One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins England’s child
protection system is that children are best looked after within their families. However,
as a last resort, local authorities may apply to the independent courts for a decision
about removing a child from his or her family – for the child’s safety. In making
these decisions, the courts must be satisfied that the threshold for significant harm
has been met and that taking the child from his or her family’s care will be in the
child’s best interests.</p><p>The government set out its vision for delivering excellent
children’s social care in ‘Putting Children First’. This outlines our reform programme
which seeks to: improve the quality of social work practice; create systems and environments
where great social work can flourish; promote learning and multi-agency working where
all involved in supporting children and families can work together; and support children
who both enter and leave the care system.</p><p>The 2015 Spending Review made available
more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver the local services their
communities want to see, including children’s services. In February, Parliament confirmed
the 2018-19 settlement for local government, which has provided a £1.3 billion increase
in resources to local government over the next two years, from £44.3 billion in 2017-18
to £45.6 billion in 2019-20. In addition, the current business rates retention scheme
is yielding strong results. Local authorities estimate that in 2018-19 they will keep
around £2.4 billion in business rates growth. This is on top of the core settlement
funding. Funding for children’s services is an un-ring fenced part of the wider local
government finance settlement. Local authorities have used this flexibility to increase
spending on the most vulnerable children by around a £1 billion since 2010.</p>
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