Children’s social care is being pushed to breaking point,
with growing demand for support leading to 75 per cent of
councils in England overspending on their children’s services
budgets by more than half a billion pounds, council leaders
warn.
New analysis by the Local Government Association, which
represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, reveals
that in 2015/16 councils surpassed their children’s social care
budgets by £605 million in order to protect children at immediate
risk of harm.
Councils have faced an unprecedented surge in demand for
children’s social care support over recent years, which is
showing little sign of abating. More than 170,000 children were
subject to child protection enquiries in 2015/16, compared to
71,800 in 2005/06 – a 140 per cent increase in just 10
years.
The number of children on child protection plans increased
by almost 24,000 over the same period, while ongoing cuts to
local authority budgets are forcing many areas to make extremely
difficult decisions about how to allocate increasingly scarce
resources.
The LGA is warning that the pressures facing children’s
services are rapidly becoming unsustainable, with a £2
billion funding gap expected by 2020. Unless urgent action is
taken to reduce the number of families relying on the children’s
social care system for support, this gap will continue to
grow.
The huge financial pressures councils are under, coupled
with the spike in demand for child protection support, mean that
the limited money councils have available is increasingly being
taken up with the provision of urgent help for children and
families already at crisis point, leaving very little to invest
in early intervention.
LGA analysis shows that government funding for the Early
Intervention Grant has been cut by almost £500 million since
2013, and is projected to drop by a further £183 million by 2020
- representing a 40 per cent reduction by the end of the decade.
Without this funding, councils have found it increasingly
difficult to invest in the early help services that can prevent
children entering the social care system, and help to manage
needs within families to avoid them escalating.
The struggle faced by councils attempting to balance
increased demand alongside reduced funding is perhaps most
starkly illustrated by the closure of 365 children’s centres and
603 youth centres since 2012, as local authorities are forced to
make difficult decisions about the way in which they deliver
these services.
Cllr , Chair of the LGA’s
Children and Young People Board, said:
“The fact that the majority of councils are recording high
levels of children’s services overspend in their local areas
shows the sheer scale of the funding crisis we face in children’s
social care, both now and in the near future.
“Councils have done everything they can to respond to the
growing financial crisis in children’s social care, including
reducing costs where they can and finding new ways of working.
However, they are at the point where there are very few savings
left to find without having a real and lasting impact upon
crucial services that many children and families across the
country desperately rely on.
“With councils facing a £2 billion funding gap for
children’s services in just three years’ time it is more
important than ever that the Government prioritises spending in
this area.
“There is no question that early intervention can help to
limit the need for children to enter the social care system, lay
the groundwork for improved performance at school and even help
to ease future pressure on adult social care by reducing the
pressure on services for vulnerable adults.
“However, cuts to the Early Intervention Grant have
exacerbated a difficult situation where councils cannot afford to
withdraw services for children in immediate need of protection to
invest in early help instead.
“The reality is that services for the care and protection
of vulnerable children are now, in many areas, being pushed to
breaking point. Government must commit to the life chances of
children and young people by acting urgently to address the
growing funding gap.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The LGA
estimates that a minimum of £2 billion will be required by
2019/20 to fund the additional pressures on children’s services
brought about by a growing population and inflation. This figure
takes into account the Government's projections of the
unringfenced funding available for councils, including the
Education Services Grant, by the end of the decade.
2. Early
Intervention Grant statistics can be found here and
further information about the Grant can be found here.
3. Rise in
demand for children’s social care services and child protection
plan statistics can be found here and here.
4. Youth
centre closure statistics can be found here.
5. Statistics
on children’s centre closures can be found here (2012-2015)
and here (2016).
6. The
LGA’s publication, Growing Places, sets out local government’s
plan to give children the best start in life. Download a
copy here.
