Vulnerable children at risk after councils forced to halve spending on early support, warn charities

The charities - The Children's Society, Action for Children, Barnardo's, the National Children's Bureau and the NSPCC - claim that councils have struggled with the impact of funding cuts, with many of the poorest areas hardest hit, undermining the Government’s ‘Levelling-up’ agenda.

The research, ‘Stopping the Spiral’, which was carried out by Pro Bono Economics, shows funding has ‘dwindled’ for early support services including children’s centres and targeted support with issues like drug and alcohol misuse.

It finds the drop in funding for these services, has meant many councils have been forced to spend more on costly crisis support, leaving more children and young people exposed to risks such as exploitation, neglect and mental ill-health.

Between 2010/11 and 2020/21, spending on crisis and late intervention services rose by more than a third, from £6bn to £8.2bn. This was fuelled by a 24 per cent rise in the number of children in care to almost 80,000, costing an extra £1.3bn. Four-fifths (80.5 per cent) of local authority children’s social care spending went towards these services.

At the same time, the report estimates that Government funding available to council’s for children’s services fell by 22 per cent from £10.4bn to £8.1bn over the decade, with the poorest local authority areas often forced to make the biggest cuts to early support services. In these areas, early intervention spending per child was reduced by 61 per cent on average. The West Midlands and the North-East faced the biggest falls in spending on early support per child.

New PM urged to invest in children's social care

The coalition of charities are calling for the next Prime Minister to ‘urgently’ invest in £2.6bn in children’s social care, as an absolute minimum – as recommended by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. They say that there is a particular need for investment in deprived areas that should be given targeted funding with the cost-of-living crisis and increasing numbers of children and families experiencing poverty making this ‘particularly pressing.’

They also want local authorities to be awarded extra funding in the first Budget under the next Prime Minister’s leadership – including money to open more family hubs.

'If ministers are serious about Levelling Up, they must better target funding.'

Mark Russell, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said, ‘It’s a big concern that children in deprived areas, where needs may be greatest, are often among those least likely to get help before problems spiral out of control.

‘If ministers are serious about Levelling Up they must better target funding to the areas that need it most. But councils everywhere have struggled amid Government funding cuts and this is why we are calling on whoever becomes the next Prime Minister to ensure children’s services teams across the country get the extra funding they desperately need, sooner not later.’

Josh MacAlister, chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, commented, ‘These worrying figures support my call for a radical reset of the system to shift the focus towards intensive earlier support for families. It’s crucial that reform comes with the investment needed to boost support for families so that more children can grow up in loving families and that the care system can provide the same foundations.

‘Tinkering at the edges while continuing to pour money into a crumbling system is unsustainable and it’s vital that the next Prime Minister seizes this opportunity to make a difference to the lives of children and families, now and in the future.’

• The report is available here