Challenges in next parliament

Analysis of the most-read articles on www.cypnow.co.uk over the past 12 months reveals some of the most pressing challenges facing children’s services, including prioritising investment in early help, creating a better functioning support system for children with special educational needs, shoring up local government finances and improving council commissioning of care services.

Former children’s minister and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children, Tim Loughton – who is standing down at the forthcoming general election – reflects on the challenges and sets out what the priorities should be for the new parliament, where cross-party support – a hallmark of his time in Westminster – can make a difference to young lives.

Those challenges are taken up by Cllr Louise Gittens, chair of the children and young people’s board at the Local Government Association.

Together, they put forward the case for national policy and local delivery of children’s services.

Tim Loughton and Cllr Louise Gittens: 

Councils have long highlighted the challenges in providing universal and early help services in the context of increasing need and over-stretched funding.

At the heart of reforms is the recognition that the system must be rebalanced away from cost-intensive late intervention and towards earlier support for children and families.

There is nothing new in that, yet the frustration is that many of the problems and potential solutions highlighted in last year’s MacAlister Report echoed those in the Munro Review commissioned in 2010.

Many of these problems pass from generation to generation. To help break that cycle means starting at the earliest possible time, from childbirth. The importance of supporting the first 1,001 days from conception can contribute significantly to reduce major social harms and latter mental health problems. More needs to be done to build on The Best Start for Life, the cross-government strategy published in 2020.

Its recommendations for a joined-up offer and services gained support from across the main parties and children’s sector. Equitable access to family hubs, learning from and improving on the earlier incarnation of Sure Start centres, builds in the economic case to ensure leadership for change.

Preventative measures

A cross-government mission, delivered locally with councils and partners, not only seeks to increase school attendance which harms their life chances and exposes vulnerable children to crime, violence and exploitation, but includes mental health support in schools and community hubs.

Such preventative measures support children who don’t meet the high thresholds of specialist services and early intervention to help secure appropriate mental health care.

When crisis points are reached, councils are corporate parents to children in care, to shape overall provision while working with partners to build support around the child. There is a corollary to improve the sufficiency and stability of homes for children in care, improved help for kinship families and better support for care leavers.

Fundamentally, local areas should have the freedom and flexibility to decide on the best way to respond to local needs, with a focus on effective partnership working with schools, police, health, and the private and voluntary sectors. With the financial crisis in local authorities and spending on public services restricted into the next parliament, we need to see well-evidenced interventions funded to help reduce crisis interventions.

This is not a cheap option, but will help to ensure effective joined-up funding from across government departments and pooled funding for devolved responsibilities locally. It will ensure all partners respond to children’s needs collectively, rather than individually moving in separate directions.

From better start partnerships in early years to children’s zone and youth work, collaboration with partners reduces the risks of social isolation, low attainment in school, poor mental health and unemployment. The involvement of non-statutory services is key to helping gain the trust of marginalised communities and families most in need.

With demand and costs intensifying, children’s services have consumed a growing proportion of government budgets. With spending on children’s social care rising by hundreds of millions of pounds annually, greater investment is needed to transform the system.

Going forward, with spending on public services constrained, it requires innovation around prevention to reduce spending elsewhere in the system now, as well as to achieve long-term savings.

Workforce development

A clear plan with short-, medium- and long-term goals must include developing the workforce, from social workers to health professionals.

Fundamentally, how services can work alongside families so we have a more collaborative way of helping children to flourish, and to ensure a child and family can access support where they need it.

There will be different approaches and views on ways forward over the next parliament. But, what drives us forward with cross-party support nationally and locally is a shared aim of keeping more children safely with their families, promoting reunification, ending repeat and intergenerational cycles of care, reducing occurrences of significant harm, removing disparities and countering the impact of deprivation across communities.