Councils to make £125m cut in children's centres spending

Latest data on councils' planned spending published by the Department for Education reveals a fall of £86.6m for children and young people’s services from £8.29bn to £8.20bn between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

The worst hit area will be Sure Start children’s centres, where spending is planned to fall from £985.3m in 2014/15 to £859.6m in 2015/16.

In addition, council spending on youth services is projected to fall by £59m from £621.9m to £561m, while spending on youth justice services will drop from £316.7m to £303m.

Council spending on early years education for two-year-olds will also see a cut between 2014/15 and 2015/16 of £43m. However, the latest figures show there will be a £56m increase in spending for three- and four-year-olds.

Educational support – including school welfare services, educational psychologists and school transport – will also be cut from £3bn to £2.9bn. This also includes cuts to school improvement spending, which will fall by £16.7m (7.6 per cent) this year.

In contrast, overall spending on schools has increased, with the planned spend per pupil rising from £4,361 to £4,408 between 2014/15 and 2015/16. However, this is still below 2012/13’s per pupil spend of £4,594.

Spending on children in care will also rise this year, by £62.7m.

The figures are compiled by the DfE from information provided by local authorities about their spending plans for the year ahead. Data on the amount actually spent in 2015/16 will not be published until the end of next year.

The latest figures continue the trend in spending cuts in children’s centres and youth services over the past five years.

Council spending figures released by the Department for Education in December 2014 showed a reduction in children's centres funding of £139.7m between 2012/13 and 2013/14. According to the data, council spending on youth services fell by £103m over the same period.

Earlier this month, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire councils announced plans to make deep cuts to their network of children's centres in an effort to make savings.

Barnardo’s chief executive Javed Khan said reducing spending on children’s centres will leave vulnerable families without the support they need.

“Cuts to basic early support now will result in increased costs in the future, as troubled families won’t get the help they need before they reach a crisis point," he said.

“The government and local authorities must work together to aim higher for children, ensuring funding exists to maintain centres in every community.”

Jan Leightley, managing director of operations at Action for Children, said: "Children’s centres are a valuable local service providing early help that parents rely on, from antenatal classes to parenting support.

"With councils having to make significant savings, local authorities have been creative about finding ways to enable children’s centres to deliver vital support to families, especially in the early years.

"However, we realise there is point at which cuts to local authority funding make this extremely difficult. Government needs to ensure there is adequate funding for centres to deliver programmes that make a difference to children."