Labour promises protected cash for early intervention

Speaking at Labour's annual conference in Brighton today shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said her party will reverse recent cuts to children's centres.

Rayner said that since 2012, £437m pounds has been cut from Sure Start services established by the last Labour government.

"That means more children and families with less control over their lives," she added.

"So I am proud to say that we will give £500m a year directly to Sure Start, reversing those cuts in full.

"Because to give every child a fair chance to succeed, we need to give them the best possible start in life."

The promise of an extra £500m goes further than Labour's 2017 election manifesto commitment to halt Sure Start closures, and reflects growing concern among the party's shadow education team over the precarious state of children's services funding.

At a fringe meeting on Sunday, shadow children's minister Emma Lewell-Buck warned that the rise in demand for statutory care services over the past decade could be directly linked to cuts to early help services.

Lewell-Buck said Labour is committed to reinvesting in children's centres and early intervention.

"The rise in the cases coming through is because of the lack of early intervention - the closure of Sure Start, the removal of early years help and cuts to local authorities, are impacting nowhere more starkly than in the children and families social work arena," she said.

"There are things that a Labour government would do very differently. There is children's social care money being spent in the wrong places and ways by this government.

"We want to see social work back in the community, with investment in early intervention services, refocusing work with families before children become at risk of being taken into care."

DfE figures show that around 300 children's centres have closed since 2010, but Labour says hundreds more have seen services cut. CYP Now analysis published last year showed the number of children's centres that had closed or been downgraded was more than 1,000. 

Speaking at a fringe meeting arranged by the New Local Government Network, Lewell-Buck also called for the creation of a dedicated care department in Whitehall to bring together responsibilities for children and adult policy across five government ministries.

"In those five departments care issues are always sidelined because they are an add-on - it is no wonder we've got fragmentation on the ground," she said.

"There is no strategic or cohesive thinking around these issues. What I think we need is a Secretary of State for Care and ministers beneath that looking at children and adults separately so that it gets it the prominence it deserves."