Children’s social care at breaking point, council leaders warn
New analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA ) has revealed that in 2015/2016 councils surpassed their children’s social care budgets by £605 million in order to protect children at immediate risk of harm.
More than 170,000 children were subject to child protection enquiries in 2015/2016, compared to 71,800 in 2005/2006 – a 140% increase in 10 years. Over the same period the number of children on child protection plans also increased by almost 24,000.
The LGA describes how ongoing cuts to local authority budgets are forcing many areas to make extremely difficult decisions about how to allocate increasingly scarce resources. The LGA is warning that the pressures facing children’s services are rapidly becoming unsustainable, with a £2 billion funding gap expected by 2020.
The huge financial pressures councils are under, coupled with the spike in demand for child protection support, mean that the limited money councils have available is increasingly being taken up with the provision of urgent help for children and families already at crisis point, leaving very little to invest in early intervention.
LGA analysis shows that government funding for the Early Intervention Grant has been cut by almost £500 million since 2013, and is projected to drop by a further £183 million by 2020 – representing a 40% reduction by the end of the decade.
Without this funding, councils have found it increasingly difficult to invest in the early help services that can prevent children entering the social care system, and help to manage needs within families to avoid them escalating.
I wonder what impact these extremely difficult decisions are having for children and young people in rural areas, current service delivery and gaps in provision?