Labour wants more social workers in schools

Children’s social workers will be increasingly based in schools and colleges if Labour wins the general election.

The Labour Party manifesto, published today, sets out an ambition for children and youth services to work closely with education, “increasingly co-locating wider children’s services with schools”. The manifesto also outlines plans to expand specialised foster care for the most vulnerable children as well as the Care2Work programme for all care leavers.

Family intervention projects for the 50,000 most dysfunctional families would become compulsory while expanded street teams with youth pastors and vetted ex-offenders would help “reach out to disaffected young people”.

Other youth justice elements include the expansion of Youth Conditional Cautions focused on rehabilitation and reparation and the introduction of a preventive element for all antisocial behaviour orders for under 16s.

Labour would also make Sure Start children’s centres the “bedrock” of a national under-fives service open to all families.

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