Local authorities will share a £300m funding pot over the next three years, in a bid to give children in care a better start to life.

This was one announcement from under secretary for children, young people and families, Kevin Brennan, after the Children and Young Persons Bill was published in Parliament last week.

The Bill aims to improve the lives of the 60,000 children currently in care, and has urged councils to improve their role as ‘parent' to ensure this happens.

A pilot testing out a new model for social care provision will be launched allowing councils to test social work practices. The council, which will retain full accountability, will commission social care workers to work with children in care.

Mr Brennan described the social work practices as ‘genuine pilots', which would be assessed after three years. Councils would also be handed responsibility for individual funding packages. These would comprise of an increase to child trust funds of £100 a year for children in care, £500 for children in care who had fallen behind with their education, and £2,000 bursaries for children in care who went on to university.

Local authorities will also be urged to ensure children in care are not forced to move from school to school, and guarantee that effective contact with children in care is maintained for those in children's homes and youth custody.
‘We have a genuine moral obligation to tend to children's needs, said Mr Brennan.

‘As the state, we are trying to be better parents to children in care and are also setting higher ambitions for them,' he said.

‘We must make sure we listen and act on what they want, and try to provide better stability in their lives.'