Cuts to family information services hit families with disabled children

Many are being merged with general council call centres, as six in ten family information services make cuts to staffing.

At least one in five FIS has already merged, or plans to merge, with local authority call centres.

The survey found that families with disabled children who often need specialist advice and support are particularly affected, because council call centres do not usually have the expertise to deal with complex queries.

The charity said that merging FIS with generic call centres was 'a short-sighted move and risks undermining high quality provision’, and says that ‘all local authorities should maintain a distinct information and advice service for parents and children.’

Family information services provide information and advice to parents on childcare and activities for children in the local area, but the survey also found that more than one in ten of FIS are failing to meet their legal obligations to broker childcare services for parents.

There are 172 FIS in England and Wales, providing website and printed information on childcare, as well as answering telephone and email queries.

They have also developed ways of working with hard-to-reach parents, such as those who do not have English as a first language or who have limited literacy.

They also visit schools, attend local events and work with Jobcentre Plus and other welfare providers.

The childcare charity is calling for local authorities to ensure that they meet their legal duties, set out in the Childcare Act 2006, by resourcing FIS properly.

Statutory guidance for the Act requires local authorities to provide childcare brokerage or extra help for parents by, for example, helping them to find affordable childcare, or in the case of specific needs, such as disability, to contact appropriate childcare providers on their behalf.

The survey found that overall 12 per cent of local authorities do not offer childcare brokerage.

Five local authorities are in England with large numbers of disadvantaged families (the others are in Wales, where statutory guidance does not require them to provide this support.)

Daycare Trust also says that Ofsted should develop a more detailed schedule for inspecting FIS when visiting local authorities in England.

The NAFIS - the National Association of Family Information Services - is managed by the Daycare Trust.

Daycare Trust chief executive Anand Shukla said, ‘The results of this survey are obviously extremely concerning, although sadly not surprising. As budget cuts continue to bite, it’s inevitable that frontline services will suffer.

‘Families with specialist needs and those with disabled children are being hit particularly hard.

'Local authorities have a legal duty to provide brokerage services, offering all families detailed advice and support. Too often this is simply not happening.

‘Our survey shows that where FIS are properly supported they often provide an excellent service.

'By investing in high quality childcare brokerage now we can not only ensure families can access the services they need but prevent poverty child poverty in the future.’