New research on children’s services spending

Chris Munday, Chair of the ADCS Resources and Strategy Policy Committee, said:

“This report shows that local authorities are spending more on children’s services, but that this is skewed towards late intervention. We are having to make increasingly counterintuitive decisions to manage rising demand whilst having to balance our budgets. These pressures are exacerbated by the exorbitant costs of some types of placements which are driven by the huge profits made by private providers backed by hedge funds. Local authorities must fund statutory child protection where need exists, but we must also balance our budgets. There is simply not enough money in the system to meet the level and complexity of need now evident in our communities, whilst also investing in earlier support to prevent children and families from reaching crisis point. When budgets are under pressure sadly non statutory parts of the system, the very services that can limit future demand, are often the first to be cut, it’s a vicious cycle. Local authorities want to support children and their families at the earliest possible opportunity because this is the right thing to do, but we need government’s support to do this.

“Care can be the right option for some children, but where we can keep families together safely, we should. The earlier we work with children and families to tackle the root causes of the problems they face, the less impact these challenges will have on their lives and on society. However, our preventative duties have never been sufficiently funded by government to enable us to work with families in this way, addressing needs as and when they arise. This is not good economic policy and it will have huge social and human costs. There are important messages here for the Treasury and for the Department for Education, as the current financial situation has significant implications for children and the Department’s children’s social care reform programme.”

ENDS

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