Early intervention investment could save councils £7bn, researchers say

The research focuses on the long-term savings that can be achieved through early intervention strategies across four areas, which have a higher than England's average rate of looked after children, which is 67 per 10,000 children.

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According to a report looking at the research, called Lives Transformed, Potential Fulfilled, published by care provider Serenity Welfare, in the North East, where the rate is 108 per 10,000 children, as much as £1.5bn can be saved by 2030 through early intervention.

In the North West, which has a rate of 97 per 10,000 children, the saving could be £3.3bn.

While in Yorkshire, where the rate is 77 per 10,000, it is estimated that £800,000 could be saved, and in the West Midlands, which has a rate of 82 per 10,000, the estimated saving over the same period could be £1.4bn.

The savings can be achieved through averting damaging outcomes for children in later life says the research highlighting that a quarter of homeless people have experience of care.

Looked-after children are also three times more likely to leave school before higher education compared with children outside the care system.

Children in the care system are also two-and-a-half times more likely to be not in education, employment or training (NEET). The research says that the annual economic cost to taxpayer due to lost earnings and tax revenue from those who are NEET is £163m.

Other savings are through health and justice services, through investment in tackling health inequalities, mental health problems and diverting young people, with experience of care, away from crime.

The research also raises concerns around cuts to early help over the past decade. It cites evidence that investment in Sure Start children’s centres and youth services have been cut by 60 per cent in real terms between 2009/10 and 2016/17.

Early intervention help has also been impacted by a £2.2bn cut in funding for children in care over the same period.

Steve McCabe MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for looked-after children and care leavers said: “For too long now, looked after children in the care system have been disregarded and written off by society, and funding to support them has been cut.

“What this creates is an environment and mentality of apathy: viewing these children, who are already vulnerable and have suffered the trauma of requiring state intervention for their care, as inevitable problems.

“This mentality creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: when looked after children are seen as ‘beyond help’ from the highest level, this filters down through the system, making it incredibly difficult for those working with these children to provide them with the support they so desperately need.

“It has also allowed the brutal and unnecessary practice of physical restraint and handcuffing of children to become rife. The impact is clear: with looked after children far more likely to end up homeless, in prison or out of work with no training or education.”

Serenity Welfare chief executive Emily Aklan added: “There really is no excuse not to invest in these vulnerable young people. This investment is, quite simply, the right thing to do to help the children in our society who are in most need of support; but we’ve now shown that there is a cost saving to be made to the taxpayer as well.”