Two thirds of vulnerable families 'struggling more than a year ago'

The study, by Action for Children, argues that cuts to early intervention services are costing society £1.3bn a year, and calls on government to consider the long-term impact of its spending plans.

The findings are published in the charity’s second Red Book – an investigation into the lives of more than 46,000 children supported by the organisation in 150 communities across the UK.

In-depth interviews with more than 150 frontline children’s services practitioners revealed that 64 per cent of the families they work with are struggling more than in the previous year – a rise of 13 percentage points last year’s results.

More than half of the practitioners said they had seen demand for their services rise, which they are increasingly having to focus on children in most need rather than broader preventative action. And more than one in ten cannot guarantee funding beyond the current spending review period, ending in May 2015.

Action for Children is calling on all political parties to address the issue by introducing a statutory duty on local authorities to provide early intervention services, and a commitment to long-term financing.

“Even though the government is signed up to early intervention, there is a situation on the ground where because of increasing need, families aren’t going to be able to receive that early intervention support because there are too many people that need support in general,” said Emma Scowcroft, policy manager at Action for Children.

“The system is flawed. It’s based on short-term thinking and a lack of long-term strategy, which means that services are only invested in for short periods of time.”

Clare Tickell, chief executive of Action for Children, said the current funding system was creating a false economy.

“We welcome the coalition government’s commitment to early intervention but the current system of short-term, quick-fix funding is simply exacerbating existing need and instability, creating a false economy that could cost society more than £1.3bn a year,” she said.

“As changes to welfare, unemployment and the recession look set to continue, we desperately need a shift from short-term thinking to long-term strategies that put children first and short-term politics second.”

Action for Children based its calculation of the cost of abandoning early intervention services on a social return on investment model from one of its family support services.