Last week saw the 10th anniversary of the death of baby Peter Connelly – a desperately sad but seminal moment in local government history. Tragically, the death of children at risk is not as rare as it should be, but few deaths capture the hearts and attention of the public in the same way as ‘Baby P'.

While there has been a tendency to focus on the financial time bomb facing adult social care in recent years, this week comes a stark reminder, from both the LGA and iMPOWER, that children's services are equally close to breaking point.