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“Councils have a crucial role to play in education, from ensuring every child has a school place to turning around struggling schools, and as they showed when providing vital support to schools during the pandemic."

More than a million additional school children could receive free school meals and be entitled to extra support funding if the sign-up process for the scheme was simplified and extended to more families.

“It is vital the Government’s SEND review urgently tackles the increasingly adversarial nature of the SEND system since the 2014 reforms and minimises the need for legal disputes and tribunal hearings, providing the support that every young person and their family needs."

“We urge the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care to consider these recommendations in their final report and are keen to work with the Government to ensure that children can live in the homes that best suit their needs and where they can thrive.”

More than 1,000 youth and community support workers could be recruited using money removed from a flagship government fund for youth services, according to new analysis by the Local Government Association.

The number of children with mental health problems seen by social workers has surged by a quarter since before the coronavirus pandemic, amounting to nearly 1,500 kids presenting to councils every week.

We have long called for a register for all home educators to ensure that children are receiving a suitable education in a safe environment."

"We fully support the investment targeted at ‘cold spot’ areas, to help provide the schooling every child deserves. However, the pandemic has hit the educational attainment of all pupils hard, particularly those from vulnerable backgrounds, and the impact of this will be felt for years to come."

Responding to the Commission on Young Lives report into children’s social care, suggesting it is potentially unfit for purpose, Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Keeping children and young people safe is one of the most important roles that councils have. However, a huge increase in demand at a time when council budgets have been significantly reduced is making it increasingly difficult to carry out this role effectively for all children. Despite increasing children’s social care budgets by over £1 billion over the

“Councils’ youth offending teams have an exceptional record of reducing youth crime and making a real difference to young people’s lives, but they are under huge pressure after seeing their government funding halved over the last decade."