Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act Becomes Law

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act has become law, marking a significant step forward in delivering wider children’s social care reforms, including the Families First approach that is central to frontline work with children and families.

The legislation supports a shift towards earlier intervention and prevention, aligning with reforms designed to rebalance the system towards Family Help, integrated services, and stronger multi-agency safeguarding. This includes closer working between education, social care, health and other partners to ensure children receive the right support at the right time.

Key measures include the rollout of more than 2,000 free breakfast clubs in primary schools and expanded free school meal eligibility for families on Universal Credit. The government says these changes could save some families up to £1,000 a year while improving attendance and readiness to learn.

Alongside this, the act strengthens safeguarding through improved information sharing, a planned single unique identifier for children, and new requirements for local authorities to track children not in mainstream education.

Further provisions aim to tackle illegal children’s homes, expand the powers of Ofsted, and introduce clearer expectations for schools, including guidance on mobile phone use.

The reforms also aim to reduce costs through limits on branded school uniforms. Attention now turns to how effectively these changes are implemented locally, particularly as part of the broader transformation of children’s social care towards earlier help and more joined-up support for families.