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<p>We are providing local authorities with more money to support vulnerable children,
with an additional £410 million invested this year across adults’ and children’s social
care. Separately, we are investing £84 million over 5 years to drive improvements
in children’s services across local authorities, especially through early intervention.</p><p>In
2018, the department introduced a new, tougher Ofsted inspection framework to drive
improvement in children’s services. The department intervenes robustly in every local
authority judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, bringing in experts to assess which improvements
will ensure better services. This might include removing service delivery from the
council’s control by establishing a trust, giving children’s services a fresh start.</p><p>Since
May 2010, 46 local authorities have been lifted out of intervention and have not returned,
and the number of inadequate local authorities has reduced from 30 to 19 since July
2017. We aim to continue making these improvements at pace so that, by 2022, less
than 10% of local authorities are rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, halving failure rates
within 5 years and providing consistently better services for thousands of children
and families across the country.</p><p>To get ahead of failure, we are investing an
additional £20 million in our regional improvement strategy, working collaboratively
with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, Local Government Association,
Solace and the rest of the sector to identify local authorities that need additional
support. Our Regional Improvement Alliances and high-performing ‘Partners in Practice’
local authorities support those at risk of failure, embedding a system of sector-led
improvement with more than 70 local authorities receiving support to date.</p>
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