Goodwill: Children's leaders must make better use of existing resources

Goodwill told CYP Now that while he recognised calls for more money from local government leaders in order to address a projected £2bn spending gap in children's services by 2020, he said more evidence is needed to show that councils are making the most effective use of existing budgets.

Earlier this week local government leaders called on the Chancellor to prioritise additional funding for cash-strapped children's services at next month's Budget.

And the Association of Directors of Children's Services has said it wants greater investment in early help services in order to reduce demand on statutory child protection services.

But Goodwill said additional resources are unlikely until councils make better use of what they already have.

"We're hearing around the country that more money is needed but we need to ensure [existing] money is being deployed effectively," he said.

"We need to get as much evidence as we can to make the case to Treasury. The words the Treasury like to hear is ‘invest to save'.

"If we can demonstrate we can invest in better commissioning and the way we deliver services in the long-term will be more effective, we are more likely to make a case to the Treasury."

Goodwill said that this approach had worked in the summer when getting more money for schools, "which demonstrates if you make a good case you can be successful".

He also confirmed that the Department for Education had not lobbied the Chancellor over the need for more money for children's social care in next month's Budget.

Goodwill added that examples of local authorities spending "large amounts of money and not getting results" is hindering children's leaders' case.

To illustrate this, he cited Local Government Association analysis that shows some councils rated "good" by Ofsted for children's services spent half that of other authorities, on a per child basis, to achieve the same result.

"There's not a direct correlation between what you spend on children's services and what you deliver," he said. "Some authorities delivering the best children's services are doing it in a very cost effective way - these lessons need to be shared."

The minister highlighted particular concerns over councils spending too much on agency staff, out of area care placements and last minute foster care placements. He said the DfE is doing "forensic accountancy work" to assess the cost of some of these services.