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The LGA is calling for the Government to provide long-term investment in essential early support and prevention services so councils can help more children to avoid reaching crisis point in the first place.

"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."

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.

​​​​​​​The Government’s plans to introduce a compulsory register for home-educated children risk failing children’s safety unless councils are given the powers to enter a premises to check on a child’s schooling, councils warn today.

"We have long raised with government that councils lack the powers to ensure that children who are missing school don’t slip through the net."

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

Figures reveal only a small number of eligible youngsters are taking part in the Government’s National Citizen Service (NCS), despite hundreds of millions of pounds of government investment.

“We really do encourage parents to check if their child needs any vaccinations to make sure they are properly protected.”

The LGA said councils are bracing themselves for a rise in referrals for support that would have normally been made when children were being seen regularly by social workers and health workers. Some children and families will need significant interventions, including child protection plans or even coming into the care system. But for many, they will just need some extra help to get through a difficult period. That could be low level mental health support, sessions with a youth worker, understanding how to support children showing difficult behaviours, or working through parental conflict. H

“Access to childcare is vital for all families, especially for those on the lowest incomes, the most disadvantaged children, women and single-parent families."