rlier on in the system via initial contacts at the front door of children’s social care and in universal as well as targeted early help. There is also significant growth in the numbers of care experienced young people being supported up to age 25, due both to expanded entitlements for care leavers plus growing numbers of former UAS children entering the care system at age 16 or over and exiting in short order. While aggregated data show activity in children’s social care assessments, children in need, child protection planning and children in care numbers (excluding UAS children) as broadly stable in recent years, it is important to remain alert to the significant local and regional variations underpinning them. 7.1 Themes Poverty With more than one in four children in the UK living in poverty, family and community deprivation and inequality remain the most acute issues underlying safeguarding pressures and the extent of these issues are the greatest since the SP series began. It is known that 77 poverty exacerbates parental mental ill health (Elliott, 2016) and increases risks of domestic abuse (Fahmy and Williamson, 2018), harm to children (Bywaters et al., 2022) and children entering care (Bennet et al., 2022). The acute lack of affordable homes is driving family poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness. Stress and disruption contribute to the association between housing insecurity and poor health and poor developmental and educational outcomes for children. Temporary accommodation costs have escalated for local authorities, drawing money away from other service areas. As a result, families are being relocated away from support networks into areas where property is cheaper and deprivation is higher is resulting in greater demands on children’s services. The cost 