Children's Social Care Improvement Teams (CIT)
This grant provides funding to high performing local authorities that are leading on children's social care reform implementation, to deliver hands on operational support and intervention to other local authorities to improve their CSC services.
- Opening date: (Midnight)
- Closing date: (Midnight)
Contents
Summary
Children’s Social Care is undergoing the most significant programme of reform in a generation. The CIT programme will deliver sector-led improvement at scale, drawing on the principle that local authorities are best placed to support one another through shared expertise, proven practice and peer-led improvement. The programme aims to improve outcomes for children and families through earlier intervention, and building stronger family support, improved care experiences and more effective local services.
The programme operates as part of a wider improvement and intervention model, alongside Expert Advisers (EAs) and the Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliances (RIIAs).
The new model represents a more coordinated, reform-driven approach to improving outcomes for children and families by:
· Acting as the Department's primary sector-led improvement mechanism, providing intensive support to local authorities requiring intervention or targeted improvement support, including those judged Inadequate by Ofsted, subject to formal intervention arrangements, or where concerns about performance, practice, leadership, governance, or reform implementation indicate a need for additional support. CITs will help authorities address the root causes of underperformance, strengthen leadership and governance, improve practice quality, and secure sustainable improvement for children and families.
· A strong and enhanced focus on practical support, rather than an advisory service
· A focus on driving reform implementation (specifically the Families First Partnership and the Enduring Relationships programme)
· Ensuring there is a holistic approach to identifying needs for support, using a combination of Ofsted inspection outcomes, performance data, reform delivery and local intelligence to inform decisions on support and intervention
Eligibility
Eligibility
Further detail
Upper tier Local authority
Local authorities need to be one of the 153 upper tier local authorities
Ofsted rating
On the last day of the application window local authorities must have either:
an overall ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted rating or equivalent,
an overall ‘Good’ Ofsted rating or equivalent, and:
a lower, and reducing, rate of Children Looked After (CLA); where you are in the top 50% performers amongst their statistical neighbours (SNs).
evidence of a focus on prevention, where your proportion of children’s social care spend directed towards prevention activity is in the highest 50% amongst your SNs;
declining re-referral rates to Children’s Social Care, demonstrating more effective and better targeted support at first contact; where you are amongst the top 50% of performers amongst your SNs.
Eligibility for some Pathfinders
Families First for Children Pathfinders with either an overall ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ Ofsted rating or equivalent.
Pathfinders do not need to meet the other criteria for ‘good’ LAs as set out above.
Objectives
The CIT programme aims to improve outcomes for families and children, making sure more families stay together and receive the support they need. The programme will help to achieve this by:
· Supporting local authorities judged Inadequate, or otherwise requiring intervention, to achieve rapid and sustainable improvement.
· Improving the quality, effectiveness and impact of children's social care services, particularly where there are significant weaknesses in practice, leadership, governance or performance.
· Act as a mechanism for the Department to respond to Ofsted findings and other indicators of concern through intensive sector-led improvement support.
Supporting recipient LAs to deliver relevant national reform priorities, including the CSC National Framework, the Families First Partnership programme, Regional Care Cooperatives, fostering reforms and enduring relationships programme.
Building local improvement capability and supporting recipient LAs to embed learning and sustain improvement beyond the period of CIT support.
Ultimately, the programme seeks to improve outcomes for children by ensuring services are:
More preventative and family-centred
More consistent and high quality, with a focus on building enduring relationships
Dates
The closing date for submission of written applications is 11:59pm on Monday 7th September 2026. If successful at this stage, applicants will be invited to an interview which will take place in early-to-mid October to further discuss their application.
How to apply
To apply, eligible local authorities should contact the CIT programme team via CIT.PROGRAMME@education.gov.uk - applicant LAs will then be given an application form to complete and submit by the Tranche 3 closing deadline of 7th September 2026.