WIREDGOV

Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, responded to a warning by The Children’s Society, Action for Children and the National Children’s Bureau, that government funding cuts are leaving councils with no option but to only help children in crisis

“This report highlights the scale of government reductions to local authority children’s services funding in recent years, with £2.4 billion lost since 2010 and a further £2 billion shortfall expected over the next three years.

“Councils have worked hard to minimise the impact of these cuts, making savings wherever possible and providing an extra £900 million from reductions to other valuable services such as parks, libraries and street lighting to try and plug the gap as best they can.

“But with the number of children on child protection plans almost doubling over the past decade, councils are having to support tens of thousands of additional children each year while simultaneously managing significant reductions in central government funding. Last year saw the biggest annual increase in children in care since 2010, and councils simply cannot continue to provide the level of support that these children and young people need without urgent action to provide the funding necessary to do so.

“With such high demand for child protection services, councils have been forced to scale back the early help that can make such a difference in reducing the need for this support in the first place. This report suggests that government funding for early intervention has fallen by £1.7 billion since 2010, leaving local councils with the impossible task of attempting to continue delivering these services while also providing help and protection to the growing number of children at immediate risk of harm.

“We are calling on the Government to use the Autumn Budget to commit to fully funding children’s services and invest in improving services to ensure vulnerable children get the appropriate support and protection they need.”

Bright Futures