Government announces new Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, worth £250 million

The government has announced that the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement will include a new Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, worth £250 million.

The news was included in the recently published Local government finance policy statement 2025 to 2026 with the grant to be distributed using a new children’s needs-based formula, which will allocate funding according to estimated need for children’s social care services.

The grant will be delivered in addition to the £5.7 billion provided through the Social Care Grant, supporting both adult and children’s social care laying the groundwork for children’s social care reform and enabling direct investment in additional prevention activity through transition to Family Help.

The government says this will nearly double direct Settlement investment in preventative children’s social care services, to over half a billion in 2025-26.