That children's social care is set to get the ‘biggest overhaul in a generation' can only be a good thing. The soaring cost of children's services – across social care and special education needs and disabilities – has not been matched by a corresponding soar in outcomes. If anything, the reverse is true.

As education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced her revolution, the national media was overflowing with tales of vulnerable children being moved miles from home, left in inappropriate accommodation and failed by the system. As a corporate parent, local government is falling woefully short of what we would want and expect for our own kids.