Government to boost support for children of alcoholics

The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions said the money will be split between local authorities and voluntary sector organisations. 

Up to £4.5m will be made available to local authorities over three years to develop new approaches to the issue such as early intervention programmes that avoid the need for children of alcohol-dependent parents to be taken into care and outreach schemes that help more parents access addiction treatment.

Priority will be to local authorities in areas where need is greatest. The money will be distributed via a £4.5m innovation fund.

The remaining £1m will be offered to voluntary sector organisations to help them deliver projects that develop national capacity on the problem such as awareness-raising training. 

The funding follows last year's announcement of £500,000 to support the expansion of national helplines for children with alcoholic parents.

"The consequences of alcohol abuse are devastating for those in the grip of an addiction - but for too long, the children of alcoholic parents have been the silent victims. This is not right, nor fair," said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

"These measures will ensure thousands of children affected by their parent's alcohol dependency have access to the support they need and deserve."

Hunt also announced that public health minister Steve Brine will also take on responsibility for children with alcohol-dependent parents.

Charities welcomed the extra funding for work with children who have alcoholic parents.

Hilary Henriques, chief executive of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa), said: "This is a fantastic start - the first programme of its kind in the world for the children of alcoholics.

For Nacoa it means that we will finally be able to signpost at least some of our callers, who are living in absolutely awful circumstances, to services since the support currently available is so limited and the threshold for intervention so high."

She credited the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children of Alcoholics founded by Labour MP Liam Byrne as being instrumental in securing the funding.

A spokesperson for the child protection charity the NSPCC said: "The measures announced today are a step in the right direction, but we will need to wait to see more details on how much support this funding will provide to all those children who are living with alcohol-dependent parents across the UK."

Richard Piper, chief executive of Alcohol Concern and Alcohol Research UK, said the news was "very positive" but said it would have more impact as part of national alcohol strategy. "If linked to a comprehensive alcohol strategy, this initiative would be a turning point, improving the lives of thousands of children and adults in need of support," he said.

Councillor Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the Local Government Association's community wellbeing board, said the funding was "good news" but added: "With councils facing a £2bn funding gap for children's services by 2020, we urge the government to provide sufficient funding to enable councils to provide all children with the support they need, when they need it."

Seccombe added that the cuts to public health grants were limiting local authorities' ability to address drug and alcohol misuse.

According to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Children of Alcoholics, parental drinking is a factor in third of serious child neglect incidents.

Children of alcoholics are also three times as likely to consider suicide and five times more likely to develop eating disorders.

In March the NSPCC reported that the number of calls and emails it gets from people worried about the wellbeing of children due to parental substance misuse had risen 30 per cent since 2015/16.

The government said local authorities will be invited to bid for the funding soon.