Shadow Treasury minister Catherine McKinnell said Action for Children’s
Red Book 2013report “paints a pretty concerning picture about the grim reality that too many children and their families are facing”.
Action for Childrensaid early help services that could have stopped the problems children and families are facing from escalating have been cut back as early intervention has “faded from the forefront of people’s minds”.
The
Red Bookbrings together evidence gathered over the past three years that reveals thousands of children across the UK are struggling to cope with serious problems.
Ms McKinnell said the report “demonstrates that underlying problems are compounded by fragmentation of support services”.
“The cost of living crisis is pushing families to breaking point and some are tipping over the edge,” she told Central Lobby.
“Short-term cuts have long-term socio-economic consequences.
“I know constituents in my area are suffering from cost of living crisis, but what is shown in the Red Book is how that is compounded by cuts in support.
“In certain parts of the country the local authority cuts have been disproportionate.
“I was visiting a GP surgery recently to see how they are coping and I was a bit shocked to hear that doctors and support staff are themselves giving patients the bus fare to get to the food bank.
“One of the doctors said something that resonated: ‘There may be a recovery for some but for many of my patients it has not even begun to get worse.’”
64% of service managers interviewed for the
Red Booksaid that the needs of the children and young people they are working with have increased over the last year.
Over half of services are seeing children needing more help to cope with difficult, frightening or stressful situations in their lives.
Services are stretched with 47% of managers reporting an increase in referrals. Preventative spending such as early help for children, by councils in England, has reduced by 5.5% over the last two financial years.
This translates to a 9.2% drop in cash terms.
"The principle that investment in early intervention will ultimately save money has faded from the forefront of people’s minds. We fear this could lead to a crisis in children’s social care" Action for Children said.
Ms McKinnell said:
“Ed Miliband has talked a lot about tackling short-termism in our economy.
“Common sense tells us that early intervention is something that can make a difference to society and we were very committed to in government, which is why we invested in Sure Start – now those centres are disappearing.
“Families rely on those services. In some cases they are the only things they have left. They cannot afford to go for a swim or soft play as they are too expensive. This government is out of touch with the reality.”
She added:
“The IFS estimates by 2020 there will be over a million more children in poverty than in 2010 and action must be taken to reverse that trend.”
Action for Childrenhas warned of “a crisis in children’s social care”.
It has called for five-year spending plans that set out the funding to be made available for children’s services in line with the fixed term parliament and a ‘whole place community budget programme’ in England with all agencies benefitting from the approach sharing in the upfront investment.