Care Matters: Time to deliver for children in care

This implementation plan, which the Government is publishing jointly with the Children’s Inter-Agency Group, marks a new phase in the Care Matters programme – a shift from developing policy nationally to delivering change locally. It aims to support local Children’s Trusts, led by Lead Members and Directors of Children’s Services, to transform outcomes for children and young people in care.

Improving the lives of children in care must involve all local partners and professionals including local authorities, Primary Care Trusts, foster carers, residential care workers, social workers, GPs and other health care practitioners and teachers.

This document sets a clear direction for improvement, outlining how the performance management framework will support this and explaining the changes being made to legislation and guidance to promote better service delivery. It guides Children’s Trust partners in implementing change locally, encouraging systematic planning and improvement led by local agencies and professionals, as well as listing the tools, resources and support available to assist delivery.

It also explains how progress will be monitored and evaluated, via feedback from children and young people, input from Ofsted, analysis of data and the evaluation of various pilots.