Peers urge joint Spending Review bid to support vulnerable children

The House of Lords Public Services Committee has called on Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay to work together on a joint bid for funding in the next government Spending Review to address the causes of child vulnerability.

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The joint bid, which peers have described as a trial, should focus on a strategy for the national roll-out of family hubs to boost early help and reduce the cost of late intervention, a letter to the ministers states.

The call comes following the committee’s inquiry into the role of public services in addressing child vulnerability. 

A full report will be published later this year, the committee said, but identified key themes emerging from the evidence in its letter.

These include a lack of a joined-up national strategy on vulnerable children and their families which “is undermining the effectiveness of various departments’ policies on child vulnerability, leading to duplication and diminished effect as different departments work towards their own policy ends rather than a shared goal,'' the letter states.

“The decision by successive governments not to prioritise early intervention has led to poorer outcomes for many children, increased pressures on statutory services and higher costs due to late intervention and a loss of tax revenue,” it adds, noting that according to The London School of Economics the cost to the state of late intervention was estimated to be £16.13bn in 2018/19. 

“Family hubs are the best available model to deliver the integration of agencies around the needs of vulnerable children and to support early intervention services. Family hubs should be expanded by using existing community infrastructure such as children’s centres,” peers wrote.

Baroness Armstrong, chair of the committee, said: “The lack of a joined-up national strategy for vulnerable children and their families undermines various departments’ policies and affects the ability of services and agencies to address people’s overlapping needs.

“For vulnerable children this means poorer outcomes in education, health and employment and greater risk of contact with the criminal justice system – all of which costs the public purse more in the long run.

“The next government Spending Review is a unique opportunity to put forward a convincing case for a joint approach to early intervention across education, the NHS, children’s social care, police and the voluntary sector with family hubs at its heart.”

The letter comes as the Department for Education today (10 August) opened applications for the second phase of the scheme’s Family Hubs – Growing Up Well project.

DfE will partner with five local authorities in total on this project.

Bristol City Council and Lancashire County Council were recruited in round one meaning round two aims to recruit the remaining three local authorities.

Local authority partners will receive a share of £1.7m over financial years 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24.