57: What's next for children's social care in England? A practical perspective

NSPCC Learning Podcast

This is the second in a two-part series looking at the future of children’s social care in England. Listen to the first episode, an interview with Josh MacAlister, here.
Earlier this year, the UK government published its vision for the reform of children's social care in England: Stable homes built on love.
The strategy sets out a number of proposals to family support and early help services, including the rollout of new multi-disciplinary family help teams to provide earlier support to families so they don't reach crisis point.
In this podcast episode three experts from the NSPCC consider what the government’s proposals might look like in practice.
The discussion covered:
- the planned reforms to family support and early help services
- what new multi-disciplinary family help teams might look like
- the benefits and challenges of taking a family-first approach to social care
- the importance of developing meaningful relationships with families and considering lived experience
- changes to social care workforce roles, including the introduction of a new lead child protection practitioner role
- barriers to implementing reform, and how they might affect the day-to-day work of social care professionals.
Related resources
> NSPCC Learning: Early help and early intervention
> Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy and Consultation
> News: The government’s plans to reform children’s social care in England
> Government plans to reform children's social care in England: CASPAR briefing
> The independent review of children’s social care final report: CASPAR briefing