More than a million vulnerable children in England are being
damaged and their life chances reduced by cuts to early years and
youth support since 2010 which should be reversed, a House of
Lords committee has said.
Lack of investment in protecting children at risk of serious harm
has been felt disproportionately in the most deprived areas -
resulting in worse life chances for children, bigger bills for
taxpayers and more pressure on social services, according to a
new report – ‘Children in crisis: the role of public services in
overcoming child vulnerability’ - by the House of Lords
Public Services Committee published today (19 November).
The committee wants government to pledge to return to higher 2010
levels of investment in early help services to support children
and families. Ministers should set out urgently a national
cross-government funded strategy with a plan for a nationwide
roll-out of Family Hubs (centres where families and young people
get joined-up help with a range of problems) at its heart.
A government Spending Review commitment to fund a small number of
Family Hubs in only half of local authority areas will not
compensate for the closure of children’s centres and falls “far
short” of the vision set out in its own Early Years review,
chaired by Dame , which recommended that all
families should be able to access a Hub.
Spending on early intervention support in areas of England with
the highest levels of child poverty fell by 53 per cent between
2010 and 2019, research by Pro Bono Economics for the committee
found, including:
-
Walsall – down 81 per cent
-
Manchester – down 75 per cent
-
Liverpool – down 65 per cent
A government pledge to spend £492million on early help services
over the next three years is “welcome” says the committee but
after a decade of underinvestment this would not repair the
“creaking public services infrastructure” on which vulnerable
children rely or make up for the £1.7 billion-a-year cuts to
council services such as Sure Start centres and family support
since 2010.
A survey of almost 200 public service professionals found that
half had seen a rise since the start of the pandemic in the
number of children and families requesting help with mental
ill-health, domestic violence and addiction problems.
Lack of coordination by government and regulators has undermined
the ability of local services to work together effectively,
intervene early and share information to keep vulnerable children
safe and improve their lives, according to the committee.
And statutory agencies have failed to engage the voluntary sector
or listen to service users when designing and delivering public
services.
, chair of the committee,
said:
“We face a crisis in child vulnerability which needs urgent
action.
“Too often public services can’t help children before it’s too
late. Too many children fall through the gaps, go into care, are
excluded from school or end up in prison - all of which costs the
public purse more in the long run.
“We’re pleased that the government is supporting some areas to
develop some Family Hubs but it now needs to commit to a national
roll-out with the most deprived communities given priority to
help vulnerable children and their parents. Effective early
intervention services could reduce the role of the state in
family life by supporting parents to meet their children's needs.
“The government talks a lot about ‘levelling up’ so to start with
it should restore funding for early intervention to 2010 levels
and ministers must match their stated ambition on child
vulnerability with urgent action to improve the life chances of
disadvantaged children.”
