Children’s services at breaking point – Government must back local authorities with funding that meets demand

A report from the cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has warned that children’s services in England are “at breaking point,” with a funding injection of £3bn needed to address a funding crisis.

The report blamed “constricted funding and ever increasing demand” for growing pressure on local authority departments, with the committee hearing from the Children’s Commissioner for England that councils are being “starved” of money, while the LGA said children’s services are “at a tipping point.”

The Committee called on Philip Hammond to use the upcoming Spending Review to increase core funding by at least £3.1bn through 2025, and that a successor scheme to the Troubled Families Programme should be established to provide councils with certainty about funding beyond 2020.