Sector slams Budget for failure to tackle funding shortage

Outlining the government's economic priorities for the coming year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond included an additional £2.8bn for the NHS up to 2020, incentives to boost house building and the creation of a homelessness taskforce to tackle rough sleeping in his autumn Budget.

However, the government's failure to address the estimated £2bn funding shortfall in council children's social care spending and significant pressures in the schools budget was criticised by charities, campaigners and sector leaders.

Richard Watts, chair of the Local Government Association children and young people board, said he was "extremely disappointing" with the lack of additional funding for children's services.

He said: "The government has been warned repeatedly that ongoing funding cuts have left councils struggling to provide the support that vulnerable children and families need.

"This vital service is rapidly becoming unsustainable. A further £2 billion funding gap will have opened up in just over two years' time, and this gap is likely to grow even larger unless immediate action is taken to address the growing demand for child protection services.

Alison Michalska, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, added: "Local authority budgets have been reduced, on average, by 40 per cent since 2010. We have worked tirelessly to protect our communities from the brunt of these cuts by reshaping our services or finding new ways of working but each budget round gets harder as local authorities look for more and more savings on top of those that have come before.

"We are forced to further reduce services in the very areas we know make an enormous difference to children and their families and can prevent them from reaching crisis point."