The government has announced an extra £18 million for councils in England to speed up reforms to children’s social care, aiming to identify and address problems earlier to protect vulnerable children from harm. The funding, part of the Plan for Change, will help roll out early intervention measures designed to prevent families from reaching crisis point. These include thousands more family help workers, a national rollout of Family Group Decision Making to keep children safely within their extended families, and stronger local leadership to ensure reforms are delivered quickly and effectively. The new investment builds on a doubling of funding for family support this year to £523 million, with a further commitment of at least £300 million over the next two years.