Overhaul of children’s social care in England urgent and unavoidable, review finds

Root-and-branch review calls for five-year, 2.6bn programme to reform a system that is under extreme stress'

An urgent multibillion-pound overhaul of children's social care in England is needed to transform the life chances of thousands of vulnerable young people and reform a system that is spiralling out of control, a government-commissioned review has concluded.

The author of the report, Josh MacAlister, said failure to tackle major problems in children's services would lead to record numbers of youngsters entering care within a decade, at huge cost to families and the taxpayer.