Charities and councils are being invited to apply for £200m worth of investment in children’s social care, the education secretary has announced.

The funding comes from the government’s Children’s Social Care Innovation programme. The government is calling on councils and charities to come forward with bids for “innovative and creative ideas to improve life chances for young people in their local area”.

Announcing the fund, education secretary Nicky Morgan said that it remains a fact that “we don’t yet have excellent children’s social services everywhere”.

She said: “Where there is failure, we can no longer sit by and watch. We know children flourish when they are supported by leaders who have been given the freedom to translate their expertise, passion and drive into providing life-changing support.

“And that’s why today we’re inviting charities and councils to come forward with their most creative ideas to transform the lives of those most in need, because no ambition can be too great when it comes to transforming children’s life chances. We’ve already seen how local services are ready to innovate and come up with new ideas to tackle entrenched problems.”

More information on bidding for the funding can be found here.