Children’s Charities Coalition responds to the Capital Spending Review

A spokesperson for the Children’s Charites Coalition, comprising Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC and The Children’s Society, said:  

“We are pleased to see the Government strengthening its commitment to supporting struggling children and families by funding early intervention services, alongside the pledge for ‘better care and better outcomes’ for those in care. This is an encouraging shift of emphasis away from reactive and costly crisis management by the state.  

“However, this Spending Review announcement falls disappointingly short of the £2.6bn investment recommended by the Independent Review of Children's Social Care to fully fund the vital reforms needed to protect children for the future.  

“The longer the wait for whole-system reform, the greater the strain on the public purse in future and, tragically, the more babies, children and young people sidelined by an under resourced system. 

“There are positive steps being made by this government for children, such as last week’s announcement about free school meals and the news earlier this year of the £270m Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, and the continuation of Family Hubs. 

“We support the Government’s policy ambitions within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill such as improved information sharing, the introduction of a single child identifier, a new duty to establish multi-agency child protection teams, and a register for children who are not in school. We also eagerly await a transformational child poverty strategy in the Autumn.”