CHILDREN’S SERVICES FUNDING ANALYSIS

Responding to new analysis by leading children’s charities which reveals funding available for children’s services has fallen by a third per child in England since 2010, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, said:

“Children’s social care is facing a country-wide cash crisis, with nine in 10 councils spending more than they planned to last year. While the report notes that these cuts have affected different areas in different ways, it is clear that all councils are now finding their budgets under enormous pressure as a result of the ongoing children’s care cash crisis.

“The report rightly highlights that councils have worked hard to protect vulnerable children and families from the full scale of cuts, with spending on children’s services falling far less than the funding available from government.

“But the analysis also demonstrates the real impact that these funding cuts are having on communities across the country, with councils all too often forced to cut the early intervention services which can help children avoid needing more serious and costly care later on.

“It is vital that the Government heeds the consistent and increasingly urgent warnings that children’s services are now at a tipping point, and uses the upcoming Spending Review to deliver a long-term strategy that enables councils to meet the growing need for support from some of the most vulnerable children in society.”