According to analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Guardian, 88% of councils in England overspent on children’s social care in the last financial year.
The study compared initial children’s social care budgets for the 2017-18 financial year with the final revenue outturn.
The collective overspend, at £806m, was by far the highest area of overspending in council budgets.
The LGA says the figures reflect the great pressure councils are under through their obligations towards children’s welfare.
It has previously estimated that children’s services face a £3.1bn funding gap by 2025, assuming current levels of service are maintained.
The number of children in the care of councils is now at its highest since the 1980s, at 75,420.
In addition, the number of child protection plans has risen by 84% over the past decade.
Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, said: “This should be a wake-up call to the country-wide crisis we are facing in funding services to protect vulnerable children and young people, which as these figures show is now being felt in all towns and cities across the country.
