It's hardly news that local authority children's services are under strain. Children's social care demand and cost pressures are now officially the top concern for council chief executives.

The think-tank reports pile high on desks setting out a growing raft of statistics – 29% rise in numbers of children at risk of harm over the past four years: the court system is in meltdown, with most failing to achieve government targets; some councils with agency staff representing up to 40% of the workforce; a child at risk being referred every 49 seconds into a local authority somewhere in England and Wales, over 13,000 children are looked after in the North West – a 20-year high.