Councils have shifted their funding priorities with more money being pumped into support for struggling families, child protection and looked-after children at the expense of universal early years and youth services, CYP Now analysis of projected local authority spending this year reveals.
The analysis of section 251 returns to the Department for Education shows that overall spending on children's services is predicted to fall in 2013/14 to £8.35bn, from £8.58bn in 2011/12 - a drop of 2.73 per cent.
But this overall funding picture masks significant variation in service areas.
The biggest decrease comes in the Sure Start and early years funding category, which is down nearly 15 per cent to £1.09bn.
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