Government slashes spending on early intervention
Government funding for early help services will be cut by 71% between 2010 and 2020, the National Children鈥檚 Bureau reveals this morning.
A report titled Losing in the long run, compiled by Action for Children, National Children鈥檚 Bureau and The Children鈥檚 Society, has claimed that funding will be reduced from more than 拢3.2 billion to less than 拢1 billion. This will affect children鈥檚 centres, teenage pregnancy support, short breaks for disabled children, information and advice for young people as well as family support, and will leave those most vulnerable with little or no support to stop their problems from spiralling out of control.
鈥淭here is widespread support for stepping in to help children and families at an early stage 鈥 this approach improves children鈥檚 lives and saves money in the long term. Unfortunately, in practice early intervention services simply have the rug pulled from under their feet 鈥 with government providing only a fraction of the funding it has in previous years,鈥 said Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the National Children鈥檚 Bureau.
鈥淏efore making further cuts we urge the government to consider the long term decline in how we support these services and in turn the severe consequences it has for the children and families that rely on them.鈥
Many councillors are now questioning whether they will be able to continue providing services, with a survey of 500 local authority councillors showing that 59% are worried that a reduction in funding will mean a reduction in these services.