In December, the Government published its provisional local government finance settlement for 2020/21. It contained some good news but it didn't ease my deep concerns about the long-term funding of children's services and the danger of us becoming a ‘blue light service'.

The settlement includes £1bn of new funding for children's and adult social care, which is welcome. £1bn is a lot of money but three times this amount is needed by 2025 to plug the funding gap in children's services alone. Local government funding has halved since 2010 but need has not, so in order to meet the increasingly complex level of need in our communities we are having to cut the very services that prevent children from reaching crisis point and reduce demand. This is a false economy and is storing up huge human and financial costs.