Comment on NCB early help report

Commenting on the NCB’s report on early help, Sara Tough, Chair of the ADCS Families, Communities & Young People Policy Committee said:

“This report highlights a number of issues that ADCS has been raising with Government for some time; namely the need for long-term investment in early help and prevention services and a national strategy to tackle child poverty. There is no doubt that the earlier we work with children and families to help them overcome the issues they face, the less impact these challenges will have on their lives but also on society as a whole. Local authorities are committed to supporting children and families as early as possible. However, there is simply not enough funding in the system to enable this approach in all areas. An equitable, long term, funding settlement is the obvious first step to reverse this trend.

“Before the pandemic, a decade of austerity has meant that we are having to make tough decisions about how funding is allocated. Often the services most at risk are those addressing the root causes of problems children and their families face before they reach crisis point. Covid-19 has exacerbated these cost pressures for local authorities who are now seeing greater complexity of need being presented by children and families. Added to this, we know that early help and preventative services across the country are experiencing an increase in demand. Now more than ever we need to work with children and families who are at risk of poor outcomes at the earliest possible stage, but only with adequate long-term national investment can we continue to provide this vital support.”

ENDS

---

---