Crucial support services - children's centres and family support
Two significant facts emerged from our recent
publication
The Red Book:
- More children need support
- There is less capacity to respond to this increased
need because of cuts in funding
This has had an impact on the children's centres and the
intensive family support we provide.
Children's centres
We currently run over 120 centres across the UK. These centres
help over 90,000 children and families by providing the emotional
and practical support they need.
However due to decreases in funding, our centres are
being asked to deliver more for less.
The services we spoke to are feeling the impact of cuts and
contract changes including. Common implications include:
- Decrease in overall budget
- Reduction in staff
- Less services provided
We are concerned that if these trends continue, it will
result in the dismantling of the infrastructure of children's
centres.
Download our findings on the impact on our
children's centres
Intensive family support
When we asked our intensive family support services if their
budgets had been affected by cuts, we found that:
- 73% of services had a decrease in their overall
budget
- Five intensive family support services have
closed
- 22% of services reported working at higher thresholds
of needs
In addition they are uncertain about their future and
the services they rely on.