Child vulnerability crisis sparked by decade of early help cuts, Lords warn
Fiona Simpson
Friday, November 19, 2021
More than a million vulnerable children’s life chances are being damaged by a decade of cuts to support services that should be reversed, the House of Lords Public Services Committee has said.
In a new report, the committee finds that a lack of investment in protecting children at risk of serious harm alongside cuts to early years and youth services has been felt disproportionately in the most deprived areas, resulting in worse life chances for children and more pressure on social services.
Too many children in deprived areas are taken into care, excluded from school, suffer from poor health, struggle to access the job market or end up in prison because of the lack of services able to intervene early with at-risk young people, the report states.
Spending on early intervention support in areas of England with the highest levels of child poverty fell by 53 per cent between 2010 and 2019, research by Pro Bono Economics for the committee shows.
However, in some areas the figure is much higher, including an 81 per cent drop in funding in Walsall, 75 per cent in Manchester and 65 per cent in Liverpool.
More affluent areas have seen lesser cuts with Surrey’s spending on early intervention cut by 10 per cent over the last decade while Buckinghamshire has increased funding.
The committee is urging the government to return to 2010 levels of investment in early help services to support children and families.
It is also calling on ministers to urgently set out a national cross-government funded strategy with a plan for a nationwide roll-out of family hubs.
The committee raises concerns that the “government Spending Review commitment to fund a small number of family hubs in only half of local authority areas will not compensate for the closure of children’s centres”.
The current proposals for family hubs “falls far short of the vision set out in its own Early Years review, chaired by Dame Andrea Leadsom, which recommended that all families should be able to access a hub”, it states.
A further pledge to spend £492m on early help services is “welcome”, the committee says, but warns it will not repair the “creaking public services infrastructure” following a decade of cuts including £1.7bn per year to council services such as Sure Start centres and family support since 2010.
Baroness Armstrong, chair of the committee, said: “We face a crisis in child vulnerability which needs urgent action.
“Effective early intervention services could reduce the role of the state in family life by supporting parents to meet their children's needs.
“The government talks a lot about ‘levelling up’ so to start with it should restore funding for early intervention to 2010 levels and ministers must match their stated ambition on child vulnerability with urgent action to improve the life chances of disadvantaged children.”
Tulip Siddiq, shadow children and early years minister, added: “The government’s meagre support for family hubs will not make up for the loss of over a thousand children’s centres since 2010.
“Ministers must now recognise the damage their neglect has done and heed this call to prioritise children and families.”
Responding to the report, Dr Jo Casebourne, chief executive of Early Intervention Foundation said: “A national strategy on child vulnerability, supported by substantial, long-term investment in local early intervention services, would ensure that children continue to be put front and centre of future decisions and enable local councils and their partners to plan over the longer period of time required for the benefits of early intervention to show through.
“We also agree the roll out of family hubs is important. Family hubs can play a vital role in helping children to grow and develop, and parents to feel confident and supported. They can improve the way that services are joined up and delivered in the community, and break down some of the barriers parents face in finding the help that they need. As part of this, it’s important that local areas are supported to deliver the services most likely to make a difference and we must keep evaluating what works and use evidence effectively.”