More than 70,000 children are in care across England. A new Social Market Foundation (SMF) report shines a light on how much better we need to do for them.

At Learning and Work Institute we do a lot of work relating to looked-after children (LAC) and care leavers. So we’re familiar with many of the statistics about their outcomes. Even so, they remain truly shocking. Only 14 per cent of care leavers get five “good” GCSEs; 40 per cent of care leavers between the ages of 17 and 19 are not in education, employment or training (Neet); and LACs are four times more likely to be involved in the youth criminal justice system.

Those statistics - and, of course, there is a person behind every one - are shameful and we really need to do far, far better as a country. Importantly, though, the SMF does state that the outcomes that LAC achieve are better than they would otherwise get. The question is how can we do better and close the gaps?

The ‘silent crisis’

To aid this, the SMF report shows how variable the support that looked-after children get is across the country. While there are many excellent examples, 65 per cent of all LAC (47,000 children) are in local authority provision rated as “requiring improvement” or “inadequate”.

Imagine the headlines is that were true of schools. You can see why the SMF call it the “silent crisis”.

If it were easy to tackle this, someone would have done it by now. Nonetheless, there are steps we can take. This includes learning from what’s happening in the local authorities where outcomes are better. I’ve heard from care leavers who got vastly different support compared with their friends from just across an administrative boundary - a postcode lottery of support.

Listening is crucial

Of course, this isn’t just about local authorities - employment and learning outcomes depend on a wide range of services and support. At Learning and Work Institute we think listening to care leavers themselves is crucial. We developed an app, Inspire Me, allowing care leavers to share their stories with each other. We’ve also put together a website bringing together a wide range of resources and links on the learning and skills options for care leavers. We’ve also produced guides to supporting care leavers for employers, colleges and learning providers.

A lot of this has been about making the existing system work as best as it can for care leavers. Beyond this, we need a system that works better.

We need a national mission to do better for looked-after children. The recent announcement of a £1,000 bursary for care leavers starting an apprenticeship (paid after three months in an apprenticeship) is a welcome start. So too the Care Leavers Covenant, asking employers and others to commit to providing opportunities for care leavers (for example, we have pledged work experience placements).

Better data needed

The SMF report also suggests better data and monitoring and targeting effort on the areas of policy with the greatest challenges. All told, we need as many people as possible shining a light on what is and isn’t working. Perhaps it is a topic for Robert Halfon’s Commons Education Select Committee, a follow-on from the previous committee’s 2016 report on the mental health and wellbeing of looked-after children.

There was controversy recently when it was suggested that Number 10 was trying to drop the prime minister’s previous rhetoric around tackling “burning injustices” in place of different language. Whatever the label, we need to do better for looked-after children.

Stephen Evans is chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute