Key messages
- Children with very similar needs or who are facing very similar risks receive different levels of support from children’s social care services depending on where they live.
- Tens of thousands of children have to be referred to children’s services multiple times before receiving the support they need.
- Social workers say that finances available to children’s services affect their decisions about whether or not to step in to provide support for children and families.
- Early help services are facing particular pressures, with demand rising and funding being reduced.
- It is unacceptable that children’s safety is potentially being undermined by a lack of sufficient resources.
Key asks
- The Government should use the Autumn Budget to put in place an interim funding arrangement in order to stabilise the crisis in early intervention services and prevent more children and families reaching breaking point.
- The Government must address the £3bn shortfall in children’s social care funding and put children at the heart of the forthcoming Spending Review.