Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 57
57
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 135
The Department must set out their response to the £2 billion expenditure proposed by The...
Recommendation
The Department must set out their response to the £2 billion expenditure proposed by The independent review of children’s social care, indicating how much additional funding they believe is necessary to ensure the care system is fit for purpose, how the additional funding would be deployed and the longer-term cost-benefit analysis. If Government sign off on the £2 billion funding injection, it must ensure this is ringfenced via a more intelligent funding formula that sets a minimum budget for local authority early intervention spending. In this way, additional funding would not be swallowed 52 Educational poverty: how children in residential care have been let down and what to do about it up by rising placement costs or expensive downstream social care interventions. This would rebalance the system to place greater weight on early intervention, rather than intervening at more costly crisis points downstream.
Government Response Summary
The government states that it is carefully assessing the recommendations of the care review, including the recommendation to introduce a new funding formula for children's and young people's services, but provides no specifics on the funding request.
Paragraph Reference:
135
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
133. Government has invested billions into local services. Local authority spending on children’s services in 2020–21 was around £11bn, funded through local authorities’ core settlement (which is around £51bn per year,). 134. In April 2022, we announced a £1 billion package to support vulnerable families, including funding for Family Hubs, the department’s flagship Supporting Families programme, and investment in the Holiday, Activity, and Food programme. Local authorities also have access to a one-off Services Grant which is worth over £800 million that can be used for all services, including children’s social care. Further, for 2022–23, we have invested £1.5 million in the Early Intervention Foundation to promote evidence- based approaches which improve services for vulnerable children. 135. Whilst we agree that spend on children’s services should be rebalanced towards preventative early help services, we believe that councils are best placed to decide how to spend their available funding–local councils understand the needs of their communities best, and it is important they have the freedom and flexibility to manage their funding. 136. We are now carefully assessing the recommendations of the care review with all relevant government departments, including HM Treasury and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. As we agree the broad shape of the reform programme, we will also need to consider any cost implications. This includes consideration of the review’s recommendation to introduce a new funding formula for children’s and young people’s services.