Cafcass chief: care application rises set to continue

Anthony Douglas told CYP Now that he expects to see the “steady increase” in care applications over the past year to carry on for “the next year or two”.

Douglas’s comments come as latest Cafcass figures, published earlier today, show that it received 946 applications in April, 18 per cent higher than the same period in 2014.

The figure, while lower than the 1,066 recorded in March, is the eleventh consecutive month that applications have risen compared with the same month last year.

Douglas said that while the recent rises were “nothing like the real hike” seen between 2008 and 2012, “the last two months have been very high”.

He also warned that cuts to children’s early help services could see a fall in the level of prevention work carried out with struggling families resulting in more children being taken into care.  

“If there are fewer services the chances of robust early identification are less,” he said.

Council spending on a range of early intervention services fell £200m in 2013/14, with more anticipated over the coming years as a result of government plans to cut £13bn from government departments.

Douglas said greater awareness of neglect and improved social worker practice were other factors driving the rise in care applications – in 2014/15, Cafcass received 11,127 applications, the highest annual total for the past eight years.

Alison O’Sullivan, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), also warned that the impact of funding cuts is “putting our ability to intervene early in jeopardy”.

“Without a change in policy direction, there is a real risk that the sector will forever lose significant capacity to prevent issues escalating,” she added.

Meanwhile, Nushra Mansuri, professional officer at the British Association of Social Workers, warned that cuts to children’s services were seeing social workers “stretched beyond capacity” resulting in “increasingly reactive” practice and “much heavier intervention from the state”.

Annie Hudson, chief executive of The College of Social Work, also said the reduction in early help work is making a difference.

“Children being referred to social care teams have more intense needs as a result of not receiving that earlier help,” she added.

Ann Haigh, chair of children’s guardians body Nagalro, said another factor behind the rise in applications is a greater awareness among practitioners of the need to intervene when children are at risk from sexual exploitation.

This echoes concerns about the impact that recent child sexual exploitation scandals have had on applications raised by care experts last month.

However, Haigh also said greater investment in early support is needed: “If we want to reduce care applications we need increased investment in preventive services for vulnerable families as these have been severely hit by austerity cuts.”

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