The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has
launched a new inquiry into funding and provision of local
authorities’ children’s services. Children’s services comprise a
range of statutory and non-statutory services for children such
as child protection, services for looked after children and
adoption. Local authorities also have a general duty to
“safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area
who are in need” under the Children Act 1989.
Spending on statutory children’s services has increased by 3.2%
between 2010/11 and 2016/17, however overall spending on
children’s services fell by 7% in the same period due to cuts for
discretionary services such as Sure Start. Children’s services
across the country are faced with significant increases in
demand. The National Audit Office calculated that the number of
looked-after children grew by 10.9% during this time, with
continued rises expected.
In the Autumn Budget, that Government announced an extra £410
million for adult and child social care services, along with £84
million over five years to fund children’s social care innovation
for up to 20 local authorities.
The inquiry will investigate what impact public spending has had
on the provision of care services, and the approaches local
authorities have taken in addressing funding constraints. It will
consider how financial support for children’s services can be
made more sustainable in the short and long term, and examine the
potential for innovative approaches to the design and delivery of
services.
Committee Chair MP said
“While funding for statutory children’s services has increased
during the period of austerity, this masks an overall drop in
real-terms spending for children’s services as a whole. Over the
last decade, services such as Sure Start and youth services have
been significantly cut back as local authorities have targeted
urgent services over long-term prevention.
“We have launched this inquiry to understand the consequences of
current funding levels. How well are local authorities able to
tackle the most urgent child safety cases, and how are they
looking at the long-term and addressing their causes. We will
also look at what innovations have been made, examining the
potential for new approaches in the face of increasing demand.”
Terms of reference
The Committee is inviting submissions on:
- Is the funding for
local authorities’ children’s services sufficient to
enable local authorities to fulfil their statutory duties?
- What are the financial
challenges for local authorities’ in providing
non-statutory services?
-
How can funding for children’s services be made
more sustainable in the short and long term?
- How can innovative
approaches to the design and delivery of children’s services
support financial sustainability?
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 18 December.
