The Red Book
Holding governments to account
Action for Children is committed to holding governments
to account for the impact their decisions have
on disadvantaged children, and to speak out where we see
that the most vulnerable are being disproportionately affected by
government policy.
Following the coalition's spending review we publically stated
that we would closely monitor and report back on whether the
UK Government had been able to protect children, young people and
families during this time of significant change.
The result of this monitoring is The Red Book
2010/11, the first of a series of annual publications.
Our findings
The Red Book's findings indicate that there are more
children in need of support; cuts to the budgets of vital services
means that increasingly this need cannot be met and on current
trends this will only get worse.
We are increasingly working with families who are reaching
breaking point, where for example children are at risk of neglect
and entering the care system, or getting into trouble with the law,
or where parents are no longer able to cope.