Newham LBC’s children’s services is rising to the demands of the third lockdown, while continuing to respond to the challenges that already existed in the London borough, says Tim Aldridge

Given this was the third lockdown, I had the desperate hope that somehow it might be easier to endure. How wrong I was, and with the benefit of hindsight, how obvious it is that this is harder than the others. Colder, darker, stuck indoors with children who have just ‘had it’ with remote working, and have an ever-decreasing attention span (maybe it’s just mine?).