Councils are set to cut spending on early intervention by more than eight per cent in 2015/16 - on the back of cuts in grant funding of 55 per cent under the coalition government, data gathered by CYP Now shows.
A joint investigation by CYP Now, the National Children's Bureau (NCB) and The Children's Society has found that local authorities are continuing to cut back heavily on early help services such as children's centres and young people's services this year.
However, these spending cuts are at a lower rate than the reductions in funding by the government - indicating that councils are attempting to protect services.
Worst-affected services
Among 36 local authorities that provided comparable data in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by CYP Now (about one in four of all authorities in England), overall spending on early intervention services will fall from £652.5m in 2014/15 to £598.3m in 2015/16, a reduction of 8.31 per cent (see table, p8).
The worst hit early intervention area will be children's centres - spending on which will drop from £265.3m in 2014/15 to £219.6m in 2015/16, a fall of 17.23 per cent.
Meanwhile, spending on young people's services, such as youth work and support for disabled children, is in line for a 12.62 per cent spending reduction, from £140m in 2014/15 to £122.3m in 2015/16.
Spending on family support services rose slightly by 3.69 per cent, from £247.2m in 2014/15 to £256.3m in 2015/16.
In total, since the coalition came to power in 2010, spending by the 36 local authorities on early intervention dropped from £809.7m, to £598.3m - a fall of 26.11 per cent.
Councils protecting spending
Although the fall in overall early intervention spending by councils is large, it is actually less than cuts to the government grant they receive.
Analysis by the NCB and The Children's Society of government figures found that between 2010/11 and 2015/16, government funding for early intervention in the form of the Early Intervention Grant - not including the £150m held back by the government to fund a number of specific programmes - fell from £3.18bn to £1.44bn, a fall of 54.81 per cent (see graphic). This equates as a cumulative cut of £6.8bn over the term of the last parliament (see bottom graphic).
Across all authorities - based on Section 251 spending figures supplied by councils to the Department for Education - spending on early intervention services has fallen from £3.05bn in 2010/11 to £2.34bn in 2014/15, a fall of 23.53 per cent, less than half the cut in the level of government support (see graphic).
Overall, local authorities reduced spending on children's centres, young people's and family support services by more than £718m in real terms between 2010/11 and 2014/15, a 24 per cent reduction in funding.
This amounts to cumulative spending reductions of more than £1.5bn over the five years 2010/11 to 2014/15.
Analysis of patterns in individual local authority spending showed that between 2010/11 and 2014/15:
- 120 out of the 152 of local authorities (79 per cent) cut their spending on children's centres
- Just under a third of all local authorities (45) made cuts of more than 50 per cent to children's centre services
- Two-thirds of local authorities (101) cut spending on young people's services
- 22 local authorities (14 per cent) made cuts of more than a half to young people's services
- Over half of local authorities (86) made cuts to spending on family support services, with 30 areas making cuts of over a third
CYP Now survey
A survey of directors of children's services (DCS) run alongside the FoI investigation found that authorities have been utilising different tactics to mitigate cuts in central government early intervention funding.
One DCS said the authority had introduced "radical investment in early intervention and prevention" in order to cope with cuts.
Another said they are attempting to cope with the cuts through "creative use" of troubled families funding around early help.
However, a variety of concerns were raised about the future.
"Children's services have been protected from the worst of cuts, but ongoing austerity will mean we have to cut early help and focus only on statutory child protection - not a good place to be for future financial balance and a terrible place to be for families," one said.
Another said: "Lack of funds for early intervention will mean children suffer and problems become entrenched before they can be helped - perhaps too late."
The survey also found that some DCSs believe that levels of investment have had an impact on their Ofsted children's services rating.
Of the DCSs that responded, 28 per cent said their most recent Ofsted rating has been affected "a significant degree" by levels of investment in early help, while 16.7 per cent said it had been affected "a great deal".
Alison O'Sullivan, president of the Association of Director's of Children's Services (ADCS), says the findings bear out the lengths local authorities have gone to protect early intervention services.
But she says the fact that spending on children's centres and young people's services has dropped sharply is "worrying".
"The potential impact of it in the longer term is quite worrying," she says. "If we are not able to intervene earlier, demand to protect or care for children is likely to rise."
O'Sullivan is also concerned that councils' ability to protect early intervention services from the full extent of reductions in government funding is lessening.
"We are in danger of hitting the buffers on this," she said.
"There has been a lot of creativity already, with councils working in partnership in innovative ways and creating efficiencies in the system, but you can only do that up to a point.
"I suspect many places will be reaching the point where there is a danger that the level they can provide early intervention and prevention services may not be sufficient to provide a reasonable capacity to head off more serious situations developing."
Political consensus
Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the NCB, says the drop in early intervention funding comes despite a wide-ranging consensus among politicians in central and local government that early intervention in children's lives is a far wiser use of scarce resources than late intervention once problems have escalated.
"It is positive that councils have done their best to protect services, but there is no getting away from the fact that they have also had to make significant cuts that will impact on the lives of vulnerable children," she says.
"Before making more cuts, the government needs to think again.
"It should work with councils to gain a better understanding of how services have been reconfigured and commit to fund early intervention provision that make a dramatic difference to children's lives."
Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children's Society, says early intervention improves the lives of children and teenagers, and prevents longer-term problems down the line.
"That's why we're calling on government to prioritise funding for early intervention to make sure councils can maintain these essential services as we enter another period of austerity," he says.
"If we keep cutting now, it will cost us all dearly in the long run."
CATEGORIES OF EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES
Children's centres and other early years services
This includes local authority spending on the management of children's centres and delivery of their services; area-wide services for young children and their families delivered through children's centres, such as outreach services and local authority support for children's centres (such as management, data collection and improvement support); and development of the local early years workforce. It does not include early education free entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds and all three- and four-year-olds.
Family support services
This includes targeted family support (such as intensive family interventions, home care and contributions to healthcare for children) and universal family support (for example, home-school liaison, peer-to-peer support services and relationship support). In addition, it includes spending on short (respite) breaks for disabled children and other support for disabled children, such as equipment or home adaptations. Targeted family support would include services provided through the Troubled Families Programme.
Services for young people
This includes targeted and universal services for young people, such as youth work; activities for young people; services to support young people's participation in education or training and student support; preventative substance misuse; and teenage pregnancy services.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CUTS THAT COST: TRENDS IN FUNDING FOR EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES REPORT
The emergency Budget on 8 July should include increased funding for early intervention services for children and young people, potentially through an approach similar to the government's Troubled Families programme.
The government should show its commitment to preventing poor outcomes for children by introducing at the autumn Spending Review five-year protected funding for early intervention services, at a level that is an increase on current funding.
All local authorities should be supported by government to set up an Early Intervention Improvement Board, aligned with the Early Intervention Foundation, to identify and share creative approaches to maintaining and strengthening early intervention services.
The government should develop an effective approach to measuring spending on early intervention services, providing the foundation for a better understanding of how spending on these services is changing over time.
EXPERT VIEW: MORE GOVERNMENT CUTS WILL HARM COUNCILS' ABILITY TO INVEST IN PREVENTION SERVICES
By Enver Solomon, director of evidence and impact, National Children's Bureau
Politicians from across the political divide rarely come together to make a united stance. So when they all signed up to the early intervention cause at the start of the last parliament backing MP Graham Allen's tireless campaigning on the issue, it was a significant moment.
Five years on, and with a new government preparing its spending plans, it is important to take stock and try to establish what has happened to early intervention spending. This isn't easy as there is no agreed definition of what constitutes this spending across central and local government, something which needs to be urgently addressed so that there is an effective means of measuring spend and examining trends.
At present, the only way to get an indication of this is by looking at the funding allocation for early intervention services that is included in the local government finance settlement each year.
Analysing this data shows an alarming reduction in funding of 55 per cent from around £3.2bn per year in 2010/11, down to just £1.4bn in 2015/16 - a cut of £1.8bn per year. For all areas, this has been a reduction of at least half and for many northern areas such as Knowsley and Sefton, it has been 60 per cent.
The evidence is indisputable that the last government dramatically reduced the money available to councils for vital prevention and early help services such as children's centres, youth facilities, advice services and family help. But councils haven't simply followed through with these cuts.
The data that is available from annual returns to the Department for Education shows that spending on children's centres, young people's and family support services fell by 24 per cent in the five years to 2015 - a cut of more than £700m per year, which is not as dramatic as the reduction in funding provided for early intervention services by central government.
This demonstrates that where possible local authorities have tried to protect services through doing things differently and creatively drawing on funds from elsewhere, such as the schools grant. And, not surprisingly, when the government provided funding for family support through the Troubled Families programme, it helped areas reconfigure provision.
It is far from straightforward trying to get a clear picture of the impact of reductions in spending on early intervention provision, but what seems to be the case is that councils have tried to protect services as much as possible.
If the new government embarks on a further round of spending reductions, this will surely become an impossible task.
To download a copy of the Cuts that cost: Trends in Funding for Early Intervention Services report, go to www.ncb.org.uk/cutsthatcost
EARLY HELP CONFERENCE
CYP Now's Early Help: Opportunities, Challenges and Best Practice conference will be held on 30 September at the Inmarsat Conference Centre in London.
This is an essential conference for all those who commission and provide services for children, young people and families, working in local authorities, health services, the voluntary sector and the private sector.
For more details and the full programme, visit www.earlyhelpconference.com or call 0207 501 6782.
