Councils slash youth and children's centre spend by £200m
Laura McCardle
Friday, December 12, 2014
Spending on children's centres and youth services has been slashed by more than £200m in the space of a year, government figures show.
Latest Department for Education figures detailing how much local authorities spent on different areas of children and young people’s services in 2013/14 reveal that councils spent £1.05bn on children’s centres over the past year.
That represents a reduction of £139.7m since 2012/13, when councils spent £1.19bn.
The DfE statistics, based on section 251 returns, also show that authorities spent £712.8m on youth services in 2013/14.
Broken down, the data shows that councils spent £359.8m on universal services and £352.9m on targeted provision.
The reported spend is £103.1m less than in 2012/13, when councils spent £815.9m on youth services.
The reduction in spend is much higher than the £60m estimated by Unison in August.
Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency, said she is unsurprised by the drop in spending.
"Local authorities are suffering, but the fact remains they need to take responsibility for securing a high-quality youth work offer for young people in their communities," she said.
"Cutting youth services will just create further pressure on other council services, as well as storing up greater costs in subsequent years."
However, the DfE data shows that councils did increase their spending in some areas.
Local authorities spent £3.7bn on services for looked-after children in 2013/14, compared with £3.5bn the previous year.
Councils also increased their spending on safeguarding services from £1.9bn in 2012/13 to £2.02bn in 2013/14.
Ian Thomas, chair of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services’ resources and sustainability policy committee, said councils have long been prioritising safeguarding services over early help services.
He said the long-term impact of the approach is "concerning".
“If support services are no longer in place to deal with issues before they escalate then there will certainly be longer-term cost implications for all local authorities.”
DfE data detailing how much local authorities plan to spend on children and young people’s services in 2014/15, published in September, shows that spending on youth services and children’s centres is expected to continue to fall.
Meanwhile, councils expect to continue to increase their spending on looked-after children and safeguarding services.
