The government has launched a review of children’s social care in England, calling it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to overhaul a system it says is failing vulnerable young people and creaking under the strain of rising numbers of children entering care. The review, promised in the Conservative party’s 2019 general election manifesto, will examine early years help, child protection, fostering and kinship care, and care homes, as well as the family support measures needed to prevent children having to enter care. “This review will be bold, wide-ranging and will not shy away from exposing problems where they exist,” said the education secretary, Gavin Williamson. “It is part of the golden thread that runs through everything we are doing to level up society, especially for those who are too often forgotten or marginalised.” The review was broadly welcomed by social work leaders and charities, although there was concern over its independence, and fears that it will seek to water down longstanding rights and safeguards introduced by the 1989 Children’s Act, and extend the role of private firms in child protection. Children’s services have been under intense pressure for more than a decade as a result of rising numbers of children being taken into care, huge austerity cuts to local authority budgets, and deepening levels of poverty that have left many families struggling to cope. Children who have been into care are more likely to become homeless or go to prison. More than a third of care leavers (39%) are not in education, employment or training compared with 13% of all 19- to 21-year-olds. While 43% of all pupils go on to higher education by age 19, only 13% of care leavers do. The review has promised to prioritise the views of children with first-hand experience of the care system, and is setting up an Experts by Experience advisory group to ensure the voices of people who have been in care, or had a social worker, are heard. The appointment of Josh MacAlister, a social entrepreneur and chief executive of Frontline – a version of Teach First that seeks to fast-track graduates into social work – to chair the review was criticised by some who regard him as inexperienced and too close to government. MacAlister launched Frontline in 2013 with the help of a £1m government startup grant approved by the then education secretary, Michael Gove. It is chaired by Camilla Cavendish, a former head of the No 10 policy unit under David Cameron. MacAlister is stepping down from Frontline to lead the review. Carolyne Willow, the director of Article 39, a children’s rights charity, questioned the independence of the review and said the chair role should have gone to a respected retired judge or academic. She said: “Today’s announcement sounds like the government already knows what it wants to happen next in children’s social care.” MacAlister, a former teacher whose work has put him at odds with social work academics who are largely responsible for training social workers, said: “Deep down I think many of those working in the children’s social care system, and certainly many of those who have experience of it, know that radical change is needed. “My commitment is that this review will deliver a wide-ranging plan to extend the joy, growth and safety of childhood and the esteem, love and security of family life to all children.” Iryna Pona, policy manager at the Children’s Society, said the review must deliver a radical overhaul of a children’s social care. “The system is creaking under the strain of rising demand and funding cuts and too often failing to ensure vulnerable children get the help they need to stay safe and thrive.” The National Children’s Bureau chief executive, Anna Feuchtwang, said: “The review has the power to create meaningful and lasting change if it delivers on its promise to put the lived experience of children and families at its heart and if it addresses the chronic, long-term underfunding of children’s social care.”