Barnardo’s call on government to reverse children’s centre cuts

Children’s charity Barnardo’s is calling on the new government to act now to stop the decrease in funding of children’s centres, following new calculations that reveal a dramatic budget decrease of over 35 per cent since 2010.

New research into Department for Education figures reveal, during the period 2010/11 to 2014/15, the annual children centres expenditure has decreased sharply from £1.2 billion to an estimated £740 million. The figures reveal children’s centre funding has been leaking away year after year leading to the closure or merging of hundreds of these lifeline services across England.

The charity estimate a loss on this scale, over the next five years, could see annual funding for children’s centres decline by an average of £92 million per year.

Barnardo’s Chief Executive Officer, Javed Khan said: “Cuts to basic early support now will only result in increased costs in the future. Without the vital support of children centres to the poorest children and families, we are simply neglecting the seeds of more costly problems later in the shape of troubled families, crime, substance abuse and unemployment.

“Investing in the UK’s children’s centres simply makes sense not only are we investing in our children, we are investing in our future.

Local Authorities have to make tough decisions on how money is allocated when their pots of money have decreased by over 30 percent in some cases. It is increasingly difficult for them to take advantage of the long-term benefits of early engagement with struggling families despite more investment in children’s centres making sound social and financial sense for the future.”

There is a network of over 2,800 stand-alone children’s centres which provide a range of services to support families with children under five. Barnardo’s manages 190 children’s centres who work with the families who struggle daily with poverty. The charity says factors driving hardship are complex and vary from family to family and local children’s centres are ideally placed to intervene early and prevent difficult issues becoming far worse.