Source: HM Treasury

Date published: 11 June 2025

The UK Government has published a policy paper setting out its spending plans for the next five years. In relation to children and families, key commitments include: investing £555 million in children’s social care over three years to promote earlier intervention and help more children stay with their families; providing £560 million between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to refurbish and expand children’s homes and foster care placements; expanding mental health support teams to all schools in England by 2029/30; expanding free school meals in England to all children with a parent receiving universal credit; and reforming the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system to improve pupil outcomes. 

Read the paper: Spending review 2025

Supporting families

Source: DfE 

Date published: 9 June 2025

The Department for Education (DfE) has published a report summarising learning from the delivery of the final year of the Supporting families programme in England. Supporting families ran from April 2012 to March 2025. The programme promoted a whole family approach to helping families with multiple needs. Data collected from English local authorities for 2024/25 reveals that: in 2024/25, 104,761 families were supported to achieve a successful family outcome; Supporting families achieved a total of 858,179 successful family outcomes between 2012-2025; and the programme delivered research and evaluation into early help, and supported local system transformation and improvements to local data systems. 

Download the report: Supporting Families programme: annual report 2024 to 2025

Source: Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel

Date published: 11 March 2025

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published a new report about race and racism in child safeguarding in England. The report examines data on 53 children from Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage backgrounds who were the subject of child safeguarding reviews between January 2022 and March 2024. Key findings reveal: a lack of focus on race, ethnicity, and culture in both safeguarding practice and reviews; silence and hesitancy to address racism and its manifestations; and missed opportunities to see the totality of children’s lives or to scrutinise how racial bias may have affected decision-making. Recommendations include: local leaders should ensure internal structures are in place to support practitioners to recognise, discuss and challenge internal and institutional racism. NSPCC Learning will publish a CASPAR briefing summarising the learning from this report. 

Read the press release: Safeguarding reviews silent on Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage children  

See also on NSPCC Learning 
> Safeguarding children who come from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities