ADCS responds to LGA report on ‘A child-centred...

Responding to the Local Government Association’s report on ‘A child-centred recovery’, Jenny Coles, ADCS President, said:

“There are some important messages for government in this new report from the Local Government Association, in particular the need for children to be at the heart of recovery planning. We share concerns raised about the impact of Covid-19 on children and families, particularly the most vulnerable and significant cuts to funding for early intervention and preventative services. Before the pandemic, children’s services were dangerously close to becoming a ‘blue light’ service, too many children and families were unable to get the support they needed when they needed it and were reaching crisis point as a result. Covid-19 is creating a perfect storm of extra challenges for children, families and the services supporting them, and we anticipate significant increases in demand are just around the corner, when the hidden harms of the past seven months become apparent just as the economic downturn begins to bite. This report underlines the need for government to properly resource children’s services as we gear up to support more children and families recover from the impact of the pandemic in addition to those we were already supporting. We need and want to be able to support children and families who need it but without more funding from government further cuts to vital services will be necessary. Funding children’s services on a shoestring budget is not the right thing to do, nor is it a smart economic policy. How can we ‘build back better’ as a country without investing in our future, in our children and the full range of services they rely on today.”

ENDS

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