The 'doom-spiral' of 'unsustainable spending' on children's services

Councils in England are in a 'doom-spiral' of spending on children's services and social care, according to a new report. Vulnerable children are only getting help in emergency situations rather than having a focus on earlier preventative work, the report by Pro Bono Economics said - despite years of increased spending.

Commissioned by a host of leading children's charities, the report called for “significant investment” to help local authorities meet current needs while also moving towards early intervention services.

The Government unveiled its “Stable Homes, Built on Love: strategy and consultation” in February, describing it as a plan to make children’s social care work better. It pledged £200m over two years, to “transform the current care system to focus on more early support for families, reducing the need for crisis response at a later stage”.

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But the analysis, published on Thursday, said there is “almost universal acceptance that the current system is failing” and argued that the scale of investment promised by Government “is unlikely to be sufficient to plug gaps in local authority budgets, even when combined with expected further increases in local government spending power”.

Combined spending on early intervention services, such as Sure Start children’s centres, family support and young people’s services, fell from just over £3.7bn in 2010-11 to just over £2bn in 2021-22, a fall of almost half (46pc), while total expenditure on late interventions, including youth justice, child protection and children in care rose by a similar proportion, the report stated.

In 2021-22, more than £4 in every £5 of an additional