Report reveals scale of cuts to children’s services in Haringey

Spending on early help for children in Haringey has almost halved following a decade of central government funding cuts, a new report reveals.

Early intervention spending by Haringey Council on measures such as children’s centres, youth clubs and tailored support for substance misuse fell by £12.4million in real terms between 2010/11 and 2020/21, a decrease of 48%.

Per child, it marks a reduction of almost £140 over the ten-year period.

The figures were published this month alongside a report, Stopping The Spiral, that warns of a “vicious cycle” in which councils are forced to spend more on later-stage crisis support, leaving more children and young people exposed to risks like exploitation, neglect and mental ill-health.

Investment in early intervention support by councils in England fell from £3.8billion to £1.9bn during the ten-year period, the report reveals.

At the same time, government funding available to councils for children’s services is estimated to have dropped by 22%, from £10.4bn to £8.1bn, with the poorest local authority areas often forced to make the biggest cuts to early support services.

Meanwhile, spending on crisis and late intervention services such as support for children in care and child protection soared by more than a third, from £6bn to £8.2bn, driven by a 24% rise in the number of children in care.

But in Haringey, spending on late intervention also fell, dropping from £75.3m to £55m. It came as total spending on the borough’s children’s services department was slashed from £104m to £68.9m. The council’s government grant funding was cut by £124m during the ten-year period.

Zena Brabazon, cabinet member for children, schools and families, said the report painted a “bleak but accurate picture of the current funding situation in children and young people’s services”.

She added: “It’s clear the government has abandoned its levelling-up agenda, continuing to provide more funding to better off areas and ensuring the least well-off suffer the most from austerity.”

Cllr Brabazon said the impact of government austerity had been “disastrous” for young people, adding: “The system needs a radical reset, but the Conservatives have no vision and no ambition for our young people. The government might not care but in Haringey we do, our children need the opportunity to achieve and thrive and that starts with properly funding services for children and young people.”

The report, Stopping The Spiral, was commissioned by The Children’s Society, Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau and the NSPCC, and is based on research by Pro Bono Economics. The charities are calling for the next prime minister to meet the recommendation made by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care to invest a minimum of £2.6bn in children’s social care.

Cllr Brabazon said that last year the council invested an extra £6m into children’s social care, which comes alongside £1.5m of funding for Rising Green Youth Hub in Wood Green and an extra £1m for special educational needs and disabilities.

She added: “Haringey Council has seen increased numbers of families seeking these early intervention services, largely due to the cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. Despite the huge challenges we face, we won’t let our young people down.”

A government spokesperson said: “We have made an additional £3.7bn available to councils this year alone to help them deliver key services and support families.

“We are backing families with better and earlier access to services that keep them safe and healthy, by expanding a network of family hubs all over England and increasing investment in the supporting families programme, which is helping to keep up to 300,000 families together safely and provide loving homes for children. This comes ahead of widescale reform to the care system through our response to the independent review of children’s social care.”