Oxford University Social Policy and Intervention

03/09/2026

Are asylum-seeking children really responsible for the rise in the number of children entering care in England?

New research led by DSPI’s Dr Michelle Degli Esposti challenges this assumption, revealing a more complex picture of how and why children have entered care in England over the past five decades.

Analysing 1.7 million care entries, the study found:
▶️ Abuse and neglect are the main reasons for entering care, accounting for between 56.1% to 63.8% of new care entries from 2011 to 2024. Family-related stressors, including including family dysfunction and acute family stress, are the second most common reasons.

▶️ The rise has been greatest among boys and adolescents. Between 2011 and 2024, care entries increased an average of 1.6% each year for boys and 7.6% for adolescents.

▶️ There are persistent regional inequalities, linking child poverty with entry into care. Children living in deprived areas experienced higher rates of entering care due to maltreatment.

The findings have important implications for policy: attributing rising care numbers primarily to asylum-seeking children risks overlooking the wider structural factors affecting children’s safety and wellbeing.

The researchers call for long-term preventive policies which address structural disadvantage as well as supports a responsive child protective service.

🔗Read summary of study: https://f.mtr.cool/k5npwuh1o6
🔗Co-authors: Bridget Steele, Anders Bach-Mortensen, Benjamin Goodair

Study reveals growing numbers of children entering care since mid-2000s is mainly due to abuse and neglect.

02/09/2026

🧑‍🎓 Hear from leading researchers from across the University of Oxford and around the world as they share their research and latest thinking on some of today’s most pressing social policy issues as part of DSPI's seminar series.

You can catch up on past seminars on our YouTube channel, with topics ranging from green backlash, climate change, the four-day week and population health to research methodology and the use of AI.

🔗 Whether you missed a session or want to revisit a discussion, watch the seminar recordings: https://f.mtr.cool/ts0ov75sxx

The Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, is a multidisciplinary centre of excellence for research and teaching in social policy and the development and systematic evaluation of social interventions. We are the top-ranked Social Policy department in the UK, and third gl...

02/09/2026

Are we in a new chapter for social care reform in England?

Professor Mary Daly writes for the British Medical Journal about five problems that need to be resolved:
- The substance of the free care offer
- Funding
- Provision
- Commissioning and regulation
- The relationship with the NHS

She argues that the government must acknowledge the interconnectedness of these problems in order to implement effective change.

Read:

26/08/2026

📅 Save the date: What is violence? How should it be measured? What are the implications for policy to halve violence against women and girls in ten years?

Join us at DSPI’s annual Sidney Ball Memorial Lecture with guest speaker Professor Sylvia Walby, Professor of Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Professor Walby will examine the Government’s new metric for measuring progress and providing accountability for its strategy to halve violence against women and girls in ten years.

The lecture will explore:
▶️ Ten flaws in the current strategy
▶️ Potential remedies
▶️ The implications for how resources are prioritised

📅 Save the date: Friday 6 November 2026 (17:00-19:00)
📍St John’s College, Oxford
🎟️ Booking: opens in late Autumn
🔗 Find out more: https://f.mtr.cool/ihm40rrpgh

21/08/2026

“Sluggish economies [are] geared toward the interests of older people”

Great to see a recent article in De Groene Amsterdammer drawing on two pieces of research by Tim Vlandas, Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy at DSPI.

As populations around the world age, with more than one in ten people globally now aged 65 or over, Professor Vlandas’ research explores how ageing is reshaping not only economies but politics too.

His work examines how electoral influence of older votes can affect economic policymaking, and what this means for economic stagnation and intergenerational inequalities.

🔗 Read Get rid of those old grabbers in De Groene Amsterdammer: https://f.mtr.cool/oyigbtobqf
🔗 Read the research ‘From Gerontocracy to Gerontonomia: The Politics of Economic Stagnation in Ageing Democracies’: https://f.mtr.cool/cozioorpic
🔗 Read the research ‘Aging Advanced Capitalist Democracies: The New Electoral Politics of Economic Stagnation’: https://f.mtr.cool/dtpunctxsj

PDF | The population of advanced capitalist democracies (acds) has aged substantially in the last decades. Yet we know little about the consequences of... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

19/08/2026

ICYMI | How can we give babies a voice before they can speak? 👶

New research from DSPI’s Professor Jane Barlow and the Institute of Health Visiting(iHV) suggests that an innovative observational tool could help health visitors identify signs of psychological distress in babies earlier.

The evaluation of the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) found that it helped health visitors to:
▶️ Better recognise babies’ social and emotional cues
▶️ Identify more babies where there were concerns during routine 6–8-week reviews
▶️ Have richer, more balanced conversations with parents
▶️ Offer support earlier, reducing the need for specialist referrals

Professor Barlow, Chair in Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation at DSPI, explains:
“Babies communicate their emotional wellbeing long before they can use words. Our evaluation shows that ADBB gives practitioners the skills to recognise babies' social cues, helping to ‘give babies a voice’ and enhance conversations between health visitors and families.”

The findings add important evidence for strengthening early intervention, supporting infant mental health and helping families from the very start of life.

🔗 Read about the evaluation study:

DSPI and iHV study recommends innovative observational health visiting tool to be rolled out across UK.

14/08/2026

From flash droughts to heatwaves, the UK’s increasingly extreme weather is creating what scientists call “climate whiplash”.

In her article for The Conversation UK, DSPI’s Dr Chloe Brimicombe explores the different types of drought, explains why heatwaves are a separate hazard, and examines opportunities for change.

Read the article, ‘A rollercoaster of weather extremes: drought and heatwaves are creating UK’s climate whiplash’: https://f.mtr.cool/wcxgxwugka

12/08/2026

What makes parenting support programmes effective, and how can successful approaches be scaled to reach more families?

In this article for The Conversation UK, DSPI’s Inge Vallance and Genevieve Haupt Ronnie (University of Cape Town) examine evidence from the Parenting for Lifelong Health for Teens programme implemented across eight African countries.

Their findings highlight what works and why investing in evidence-based parenting programmes matters.

🔗Read the article, 'Better parenting starts with knowing what works. We tested a project in 8 African countries’: https://f.mtr.cool/xlfshedcnc

An eight-country study assessed whether parenting programmes that were developed through research also work when offered at a wider scale in real-life conditions.

11/08/2026

Congratulations to Professor Zachary Parolin, Professor of Social Policy, Inequality and Opportunity, on receiving two prestigious international early-career honours for his contributions to the understanding of poverty, inequality and social mobility.

Professor Parolin has been awarded the 2026 William Julius Wilson Early Career Award and received an Honorable Mention for the 2026 Henrik Enderlein Prize, recognising outstanding European researchers under 40.

His research has helped inform public policy at both national and international levels, including the European Commission’s Anti-Poverty Strategy and Minimum Wage Directive, as well as major policy debates in the United States such as the expansion of child benefits.

🔗Find out more: https://f.mtr.cool/ribgjiwizg

Nuffield College, University of Oxford INET Oxford

Professor Parolin recognised for contribution to the understanding of poverty, inequality and social mobility

10/08/2026

Are asylum-seeking children to blame for England's children's social care crisis?

In a new Expert Comment for University of Oxford, Dr Michelle Degli Esposti, Associate Professor at DSPI, examines this claim using five decades of data and reveals the factors behind the crisis.

‘England's children's social care system has reached crisis point. But if we are serious about protecting the next generation of children and building a sustainable social care system, we need to stop looking for scapegoats in asylum-seeking children and start asking why so many children are only coming to the attention of services once they require state protection.’ - Dr Michelle Degli Esposti

🔗Read the full Expert Comment: https://f.mtr.cool/rurzizbhqn

Dr Michelle Degli Esposti, Associate Professor at Oxford's Department of Social Policy and Intervention, examines the claim that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are driving England's children's social care crisis, and what five decades of data reveal about the real causes.