Newsletters
Our Regional Improvement Plan can be found here
If you would like to apply to be a SESLIP consultant you will need to register with Kent Business Portal and once you are registered, log in and navigate to “Response Manager” and the link to View Invites and Responses. The relevant Access Code is KT59CT449W which will take you to DPS – SC240046 – SESLIP – New Suppliers. Please follow the on screen instructions
Updates
Local authorities’ recoupment of the education costs of looked after children
On 6 July 2026 DfE published revised guidance on local authorities’ recoupment of the education costs of looked after children
Headlines
The revised recoupment regulations require the local authority responsible for looking after the child to pay the authority providing their education the amount that they agree.
Where the authorities cannot agree within 6 months, the costs specified must be recouped, which include home-to-school transport costs. See What the revised recoupment regulations mean for more information, including how the costs must be calculated.
The recoupment regulations do not cover looked after children receiving further education.
Children’s circumvention behaviours online
On 14 July 2026 DSIT published Children’s circumvention behaviours online
On 15 July Ofcom published Use of Age Assurance Report 2026
Details
DSIT: Research into how children aged 11 to 17 experience age assurance online, why some get around age checks, and how and why they use VPNs.
Ofcom: The Online Safety Act requires Ofcom to produce this report assessing how regulated services have used age assurance and how effective it has been for the purpose of complying with their duties.
MoJ consultation: Oversight and funding of youth justice services
On 17 July 2026 Moj published Consultation on the oversight and funding of youth justice services
Closes: 11:59pm on 11 September 2026
This consultation sets out proposals to create a more coherent approach to overseeing youth justice services, with clearer expectations, stronger partnership accountability and a more proportionate approach to reporting.
MoJ is also consulting on reforms to the way youth justice services are funded to ensure funding is allocated more fairly and reflects local need.
CSPRP: Adolescent Suicide
On 23 July 2026 CSPRP published Adolescent Suicide. The child behind the story:understanding cumulative harm through lived experience
Adolescent suicide is rarely the result of a single event.
Distress is not always expressed in expected ways. Children who are neurodivergent, disabled or living with trauma may show distress differently. Receiving support, including being looked after by the local authority, does not mean risk has reduced.
Risk is cumulative, not sudden. Evidence consistently shows that suicide is associated with multiple, interacting experiences, including abuse, neglect, bullying, mental health difficulties, family adversity and social isolation.
Most children were already known to services. Although many children in safeguarding reviews were known to children’s social careand involved with several services, involvement from multiple agencies did not always result in a shared understanding of risk or a coordinated response.
Earlier concerns often preceded the death. Suicide was frequently preceded by self-harm, overdose or suicidal thoughts. These earlier concerns were not always recognised as indicators of escalating risk, particularly where they had become familiar over time.
Reminders From Previous Weeks
Regional Improvement Plan 2026-27
On 14 July 2026 SESLIP published our regional improvement plan for 2026-27
Headlines
The regional improvement plan has 43 projects and a budget of just over £2m.
The plan incorporates our delivery plan for DfE’s RIIA grant of £1.5m to SESLIP for financial year 2026-27.
LGSC Ombudsman 2025-2026 report
On 13 July 2026 LGSCO published its annual report 205-2026 on local government (including children’s services) complaints
Headlines
Amerdeep Clarke, the LGSC Ombudsman said “This year, we welcomed the publication of independent research by the University of Manchester, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, examining how local authorities respond to our service improvement recommendations in SEND. The findings of that research, “Set Up to Fail?”, echo much of what we see in our own data.
The research confirms that many of the problems driving complaints to us are rooted in national systemic failures: inadequate funding, chronic shortages of educational psychologists, and demand that has consistently outpaced available resource. Local authority officers interviewed for the research described a SEND system that is, in their own words, “fundamentally broken” and a “national crisis”.”
Expert Adviser – Children’s Social Care
On 16 July 2026 DfE published itt_4022 – ECSC Dynamic Framework Lot 14 – Children’s Social Care Improvement and Intervention (CSCII), Expert Advisers at https://education.app.jaggaer.com/
Closes: 14 August
The EA will work with DfE to broker a suitable CSC Improvement Team (CIT) based on the diagnostics findings. Once agreed and funding signed off, the EA, CIT and intervention LA will produce a single, authoritative Central Improvement Plan (CIP), to be approved by the LA owned Improvement Board.
Law Commission Consultation on Kinship Care
On 8 July the Law Commission launched a consultation on Kinship Care
Closes: 16 October 2026
The Law Commission invites consultees to submit responses via the online response form. If possible, please use this method.
By email to: kinshipcare@lawcommission.gov.uk
OR by post to: Kinship Care Team, Law Commission, 1st Floor, Tower, 52 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9AG.
Tools & Templates
We have produced a Regional Improvement Plan (July 2025)
On 23 July 2026 CSPRP published Adolescent Suicide. The child behind the story:understanding cumulative harm through lived experience
On 17 July 2026 Moj published Consultation on the oversight and funding of youth justice services. Online response form
On 15 July Ofcom published Use of Age Assurance Report 2026
On 14 July 2026 DSIT published Children’s circumvention behaviours online
On 14 July 2026 SESLIP published our regional improvement plan for 2026-27
On 13 July 2026 LGSCO published its annual report 205-2026 on local government (including children’s services) complaints
On 9 July DfE published Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England for AY 2024-2025
On 9 July Foundations (What Works Centre for Families andChildren) published a Reunification Practice Guide
On 8 July the Law Commission launched a consultation on Kinship Care
On 7 July Become published Gone Too Far: How being moved far away puts care-experienced girls at risk
On 6 July 2026 DfE published revised guidance on local authorities’ recoupment of the education costs of looked after children
On 3 July DfE published the RISE South East Regional Plan
On 28 June The Bar Council published its Review of the minimium age of criminal responsibility
On 24 June Kinship launched its annual survey 2026
On 15 June DHSC published an update on Deprivation of Liberty following a Supreme Court judgment on 2 June 2026
On 15 June the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse published Implementing the Child Sexual Abuse Response Pathway: A guide for local safeguarding partnerships and regional safeguarding boards
On 8 June YEF published Children’s services and violence prevention – practice guidance for senior leaders in children’s services on how to protect children from involvement in violence.
On 5 June CSPRP published a suite of resources on Safeguarding children not in school
On 5 June DfE published guidance and documents setting out expectations for local authorities and integrated care boards to develop and deliver their Experts at Hand offer in year 1.
On 4 June Nuffield Foundation published Higgledy Piggledy – Systems of support for young people aged 14-24 with poor mental health
On 14 May Foundations (What works centre for children and families) published its Foster Care Practice Guide.
On 5 May Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) published its Report of the 4th Evaluation Round
On 5 May the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner published Anticipating Exploitation – a futures based analysis
On 1 May SESLIP published its Targeted Support Prospectus – updated for 2026-27
On 30 April Policy in Practice launched Linking household benefits, financial precarity and child welfare
On 27 April The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published Why did it take so long to respond?
On 22 April NAO published Responding to changing demand for school places