The Chancellor must go further to address the long standing crises facing families
Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of the National Children’s Bureau, said:
“Today the Chancellor missed an important opportunity to address the long standing crises facing families, especially those who have been hit hardest by funding cuts for the wider support that children and families rely on. The continued neglect of services for children will only make a tragic problem worse and cost the country significantly more in the future. The pressing need for a comprehensive children’s strategy, backed by adequate funding and developed with young people themselves, has never been clearer.”
“The Government should be committing to prevention and early intervention by providing high-quality early years services and family support in every neighbourhood. Investing £2.5m in research to understand what works when integrating children’s services through family hubs could improve practice, but does not go anywhere near far enough.
“Increasing per-pupil funding for education is a good step forward and we welcome initiatives to improve teaching in areas including maths and science. However, the Government must also reassess the balance in the education system that favours academic achievement over pupil wellbeing.”
“Funding for local authority children and young people’s services fell by £3 billion between 2010/11 and 2017/18 - a 29% reduction. It remains to be seen how much children’s social care will feature in July’s Spending Review.”
“This budget has responded to the temporary emergencies at hand. Now, the Spending Review in the summer must put children and families at the heart of Government priorities for the long term future. In May, Parliamentarians working with several All-Party Parliamentary Groups, will be calling on action to help children in the Spending Review; the Government must listen.”