Early Intervention Grant will only stretch so far
Ravi Chandiramani
Monday, October 1, 2012
For all this government's rhetoric around early intervention and localism, it has emerged that local authorities will have substantially less to spend on such work as they see fit from next year.
This is because it is raiding the Early Intervention Grant to councils in order to fund free childcare for disadvantaged two-year olds, which will be distributed to councils as part of the Dedicated Schools Grant. It is also holding back £150m a year for future unspecified use.
Let us be clear: the free entitlement is a good policy, notwithstanding the financial challenges ahead for providers to deliver it. If it works, it will improve the life chances of many toddlers and boost social mobility.
But it became clear only last week that the existing Early Intervention Grant will be reduced substantially as a result. That spells further cuts to Sure Start children’s services, short breaks for disabled children, support for vulnerable teenagers, targeted mental health in schools – all the stuff included in the grant that councils must decide how to fund.
The Conservative chair of the Local Government Association’s children’s and young people board David Simmonds called the move “completely unjustified”.
The government appears to be signalling that it trusts local areas a little bit less now to intervene early with children and families, and that it, after all, knows best.
Excellent outcomes continue to be achieved
Last week’s CYP Now Achieving Outcomes conference demonstrated how professionals across England are securing excellent outcomes for children, young people and families in the face of diminished resources, service reorganisation and emerging policy demands.
Crucially, it showed how the most effective organisations commission services consistently on the basis of value rather than price, driven by evidence of what works internally and from wider research. A stark warning against being driven by cost alone came from analysis by the Social Research Unit.
It revealed how “Scared Straight” programmes, which aim to show young offenders what prison life is like, have a track record of backfiring and causing additional costs to taxpayers. So not only are some interventions more effective than others, some can be deeply damaging and far worse than doing nothing at all.
Elsewhere, we learned how sector-led support is gathering pace across local authorities through the work of the Children’s Improvement Board, particularly in child protection reform and adoption growth; the Wave Trust demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of investing in infant mental health from the onset of pregnancy; Islington showed how the participation of young people and families is driving decisions on spending across services, leading to better outcomes; and councils pioneering payment-by-results work with troubled families and children’s centres showed how it compelled local services to integrate.
All in all, it was a hugely informative and uplifting affair.
Ravi Chandiramani, editor, Children & Young People Now