Cuts to children's services budgets for family support and youth work represent a "false economy", simply leading to greater pressure on safeguarding provision, Ofsted has warned. The inspectorate's annual report noted that while the overall effectiveness of children's services provision is continuing to improve, the impact of ongoing financial restrictions risks jeopardising progress. Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman said that local authority social care budgets have experienced the...

All children and young people in the UK should be kept safe and have equal access to justice, regardless of where they were born. However, sweeping changes made to legal aid provision for immigration cases have put some of the most vulnerable children in this country at serious risk and unable to get the help they need. This report, written in partnership with Dr Helen Connolly, University of Bedfordshire, highlights the needs of unaccompanied and separated children in a system that often...