Reunification is moving to the heart of children’s social care reform. Families First creates an opportunity to treat returning home not as an exit from care, but as a supported permanence pathway. With 20% of reunified children historically re-entering care within a year, councils must strengthen assessment, post-return support and family networks. Success will also depend on workforce stability, multidisciplinary skills, strong supervision and strategic recruitment.

Councils hold rich data across children’s services, adult social care, health, housing and education, but rarely connect it across a person’s life. Creating a secure “golden thread” could show which early interventions prevent later crisis, strengthen invest-to-save decisions and reveal where savings emerge across different services, turning fragmented data into shared prevention infrastructure.

Discover the true financial scale of England’s care and support services. This blog explores the rising costs of adult social care (£34.5bn), children’s social services, SEND provision (£10.5bn+), and temporary accommodation (£2.8bn). With over £50bn spent annually, we unpack what’s driving these pressures, the implications for local government, and why urgent reform is needed to protect vulnerable communities and ensure sustainable public service delivery.