WIREDGOV

Richard Watts, Vice Chair of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Board, says councils have "long recognised" the importance of investing in preventative services.

"Councils have long recognised the importance of investing in preventative services, and have strived to keep funding reductions as low as possible despite a 55 per cent cut in early intervention funding from central government since 2010/11.

"Early intervention work with children and their families can help to limit the need for children to enter the care system, lay the groundwork for improved performance at school and help avoid mental health issues in later life. However, the significant increase in demand for high end child protection services over recent years has placed a considerable strain on children's social care services, forcing councils to make difficult choices when deciding how to allocate their increasingly scarce resources.

"There needs to be an urgent reform on how funding is allocated across the range of early intervention services to encourage joint working and savings and avoid duplication.  This will allow councils to further build support around the needs of families and shift the emphasis from crisis spending towards longer term prevention services."