Redefining Value in Children's Services
As councils receive funding settlement, the Westminster Advisers and the Children’s Services Development Group launch report highlighting savings that can be made in children’s services
Westminster Advisers and the Children’s Services Development Group (CSDG) have launched the In It Together II - Redefining Value in Children’s Services report, which highlights savings of £87 million to the justice system, £62million to local authority adult social care budgets and £20million to the welfare budget, which can be achieved by strategic commissioning of children’s services.
Local authorities are facing a period of reduced funding with budgetary cuts of 28% over the next four years. The release of the Revenue Support Grant allocations highlights that councils will need to do more with less as cuts to local authorities take hold. The In It Together II report demonstrates that through a combination of effective and timely interventions and partnership working, optimal outcomes for vulnerable children and value for money of councils can be achieved.
The report examines both the short and long term financial savings to local authorities from effectively investing in the best services for children by considering whole-life cost savings. Ensuring that investment in high quality services takes place now, will lead to dramatically reduced costs for both local and national government further down the line.
Andrew Isaac, Marketing Director of the National Fostering Agency said: “CSDG is delighted to launch the In it Together II report, which seeks to provide creative solutions to the challenges facing the children’s services sector. The idea of ‘doing more with less’ cannot be divorced from outcomes - investing strategically in children’s services can prevent children from falling into criminal activity, welfare dependency or substance misuse.”
Please click here for the full report