Charity's early support in children's centres halves in two years

The charity has revealed in its 2018/19 annual report that 92,000 parents, carers and children accessed its early support through children's centres.

This is down on the previous year's figure of 143,500 people and almost half 2016/17's figure of 182,400.

The fall in children's centre support offered to families by the charity comes amid widespread Sure Start closures across England over the last decade.

Cuts to council budgets have recently been blamed for the continuing decline in the number of centres being run by Action for Children, the largest operator of settings in the country.

The charity ran 120 centres last year but that figure has now slumped to 87.

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These have been shut down or taken back in-house by councils as they look to tackle "reduced funding from central government", said the charity.

The Sutton Trust released figures last year claiming that 1,000 Sure Start centres have closed since 2009. This is higher than official government figures, which do not include the latest closures, centres in the process of closing and fails to provide a clear definition of a registered centre, said the trust.

According to the Department for Education, the number of children's centres has fallen by 270 over the last decade, from 3,320 in 2009 to 3,050 this year.

But the government concedes that it does not have data on the number of children's centres that closed or were merged before April 2010.

Barnardo's also supports families through its Family Hubs, which offer family support services such as advice for young carers, children affected by bereavement and families with children on the edge of care. Family support was accessed by 89,100 people via these hubs during 2018/19.

In addition, the annual report reveals that the number of children accessing its school-based mental health services has increased, from 23,500 in 2017/18 to 28,700 in 2018/19.

According to the charity, cyberbullying is a major factor in children's mental health problems.

Children bullied at school can experience anxiety, which can be even worse for vulnerable young people such as young carers, children in care, and care leavers. We ensure they don’t struggle with their mental health alone. pic.twitter.com/sVBuZeaZux

— Barnardo’s (@barnardos) November 9, 2019

The charity's chair of trustees John Bartlett said that the charity is operating in a "challenging external environment and with a significant pension deficit to manage".

He added that Barnardo's is "on track" to meet its long-term strategy to support families.

A Barnardo's spokeswoman added that the charity "remains committed to developing the best support for vulnerable children, young people, parents and carers".

"In common with other organisations we see changes in the portfolio of our work which influence the numbers of children, young people and families we work with and the range of ways in which we deliver services," the spokeswoman added.

"This is a dynamic context and we would expect to see fluctuations across such a significant and diverse portfolio of services across the UK."