 help space, DCSs suggested that additional funding to local authorities to lead on the provision of earlier help to support positive mental health and wellbeing will be required to meet the exponential increase being seen in terms of both need and demand. The SP9 data elucidates the insufficiency of appropriate, therapeutic provision for the small but worrying cohort of children with significant needs requiring high-cost, intensive placements at the point of crisis. Individuals in this group have often experienced significant abuse, trauma and loss, and present a high risk to themselves or to others. On health partnership working for children more broadly, this generation of children are the first in 200 years not guaranteed to live longer, healthier lives than those who came before them (Thomas et al., 2024). And yet, DCSs in many parts of the country expressed growing frustration at the failure of integrated care boards to prioritise children and young people’s needs and to support place-based partnership working. Long-term and sustainable funding for child and family services Recent funding commitments for children’s social care, for SEND and new capital investments in children’s homes and schools are welcomed, as is the new government’s 79 increased regulation of agency social work and the moves to stem the profiteering in the care market. However, the hollowing out of local public and voluntary services over decades, outlined in Section 1 of this report, requires a great deal more time and investment to place child and family services on a sustainable financial footing. SP9 data show initial contacts with children’s social care topping three million, the highest since the SP data series began. National data show the number of children on child protection plans on 