The recent Spring Budget provided a bit of recognition of the financial challenges we are grappling with in local authority children’s services. There was additional investment to upgrade the secure children’s home estate, additional capital funding for new residential provision and investment for special free schools, which is of course welcome. In January, the government announced additional funding across adult and children’s social care, again, something that ADCS welcomed. However these one-off cash injections are sticking plasters.
The financial context in which councils are operating is harder than it has ever been and all councils are having to take difficult decisions about making cuts to services. In children’s services, this inevitably means reductions to early help services as councils are forced to prioritise statutory services such as children’s social care. Whilst this is counterproductive in the long-term, we are left with no choice because of the finite resources at our disposal. This has a real impact on our ability to meet need earlier and at the right level.
This situation is made worse by funding reductions in other areas of council business that impact on the world in which our children live, such as adult social care, leisure and library services. Set alongside the outcome of welfare reform through austerity, the impact on children and families has been significant. If government is to learn one thing from fourteen years and counting of austerity, it should be that short-term funding and decision making does not solve underlying issues, they only store up more pressure for the future.
One of the biggest funding pressures experienced by councils is the cost of children’s residential care placements. Residential care has been considered at length over the years, but little action has been taken to act on the recommendations of reviews and research to date. Whilst the Chancellor’s additional funding for the residential sector is welcome, it does not solve the underlying issue of the endemic problem of profiteering at the expense of our most vulnerable children.
We all know there must be a better way. If government commits to funding our public services with a long-term view, it will mean less of a need for injections of cash to prop up services, but crucially it will mean far fewer children and families will need to rely on our services to keep them safe. That will be so much better for our children as well as the public purse.
John Pearce ADCS President 2023/24
This column first appeared in the MJ in March 2024.
