Children’s services lack funding to deal with ‘peak in demand’, ADCS warns

Referrals to local authority children’s services across England are “now accelerating”, the ADCS says, calling on the government to provide long-term ring-fenced funding for children’s social care.

The association’s new ‘Building a country that works for all children post Covid-19’ report highlights an increase in referrals to children’s services due to an increase in tensions at home exacerbated by lockdown restrictions.

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It also analyses the impact of the pandemic on both adults and children’s mental health and the financial impact of Covid-19 on many families already living on the edge of poverty.

“The ongoing disruption to safeguarding mechanisms e.g. regular contact with schools, colleges and GPs, and worsening economic conditions increases the risk of harm for children of all ages,” the report states.

It adds that referrals to children’s services “fell sharply” during the initial period of lockdown “largely due to the closure of schools and health services prioritising focus and staffing resource on acute frontline responses”.

The ADCS says this indicates “that many more children may be living with abuse over a prolonged timescale without support or intervention”.

It also highlights recent Local Government Association (LGA) figures estimating that before coronavirus hit, children’s social services departments faced a funding gap of £3.1bn. 

Despite the government injecting £3.2bn of emergency funding into local authorities throughout the pandemic, latest Department for Education figures show that just eight per cent of the investment has been spent on children’s services.

The report states that directors of children’s services are now “concerned that when our peak of activity arrives later this year, there will be no emergency funding left”.

The ADCS is calling on the Department for Education to use lessons learned from the pandemic to “reset” local authority children’s services. 

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The report states: “The department must lead the charge for securing sufficient resources for children, young people and families in the forthcoming spending review. This must be equitable, sustainable and prioritise investment in early intervention and preventative services.

“We need urgent, strategic action to reprofile investment in children and families across government. Supporting the most vulnerable children and families must be the priority, the first step could be the rolling out nationally of initiatives, programmes and projects funded by various government departments that have been positively evaluated and demonstrate improved outcomes.”

The ADCS also highlights the impact of Covid-19 on disadvantaged families and those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

It is calling on the government to address inequality, citing recommendations made in a recent report by Sir Micheal Marmot, Health inequality in England: The Marmot Review 10 years on, for a “visible cross-party” strategy on tackling the disadvantage gap.

Jenny Coles, ADCS president, said: “To achieve a country that works for all children in a post-Covid-19 world, long term strategies to close the gap in terms of education, health and poverty are urgently needed.

“Just before the pandemic transformed our way of life and laid bare the inequalities in this country, Sir Michael Marmot published a review of the health of the nation which found a deterioration usually only evident following a ‘catastrophic’ economic or political shock, such as the breakup of the Soviet Union. The report suggests austerity is driving rising levels of child poverty and stalling life expectancies outside of London. The key recommendation was the initiation of an ambitious health inequalities strategy, led by the Prime Minister and a cabinet-level cross-departmental committee. There can be no delay in levelling up the inequalities faced, children’s life chances and all of our futures depend on it.”

Councillor Judith Blake, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said the government “needs to invest in preventative universal and early help services to ensure that children, young people and families receive the practical, emotional, educational and mental health support they need, as soon as they need it”.

She added: “The real challenge for children’s services is yet to come. Councils and many others in the sector have raised concerns about the potential for increased demand for services as children return to school and issues become apparent. Tackling this will be a joint effort with central government, and we agree with ADCS calls for effective cross-government working to improve children’s lives.”

Donna Molloy, director of policy and practice at the Early Intervention Foundation, said: “This report echoes a lot of what we’ve heard from local authorities and service leaders: Covid-19 has made their jobs more difficult, and the full impact on children and families is only going to become clear as the lockdown continues to ease. Given the pressures we know services are under, there’s an urgent need for sufficient funding both for specialist or statutory services, which are likely to see a spike in demand, and also for non-statutory early help services, which can provide appropriate support to a wide range of families dealing with new or increased difficulties.”