Local authorities in England spent £14.7bn on children’s services in 2024-25, with 82% of it spent on late intervention, says new report.
A new report paints a stark picture of more than a decade of cuts to early intervention services. Spending on services for young people has fallen some 73% since 2010-11, from £1.5 billion to £400m.
Photo by Anna Samoylova / Unsplash
The report, Rebalancing the system: children’s services spending, 2011-25, has been published by economic think-tank PBE and commissioned by the leading charities Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, and the Children’s Society – working together as the Children’s Services Funding Alliance.
The report also found that spending on early intervention services fell by 40% over the same period, with more than 80% of children’s services budgets consumed by late interventions such as children entering care and other acute services.
Some 82,000 children are now in care, up 25% since 2011, despite the population of children only increasing by 7% in that period. The amount spent by different local authorities per looked-after child can vary by as much as 35%. Yet the average cost of supporting a child in care is now more than £100,000 a year, up from £77,000 five years ago.
The rise had been driven by a combination of higher numbers of children in local authority care, increased complexity of children’s needs and escalating costs of care placements. Despite the significant increase in costs, children in care continue to achieve significantly worse educational outcomes than their peers. Just 8% achieve grade 5 or above in English and maths at GCSE, compared to 45% of all pupils, while 40% of care leavers aged 19-21 are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
What’s more, Department for Education data reveals that 6,750 children experienced three or more placement moves in 2025 alone, while increasing numbers of children went missing from care.
T, a 22-year-old from Bristol who grew up in the care system, says: ‘Because I was in the care system, I got moved around a lot to different schools, didn’t fit in well and got into a lot of problems. One school in particular felt that I was an embarrassment to them and they tried to ship me out when they had inspectors.’
Lynn Perry, Chief Executive of Barnardo’s and a spokesperson for the Children’s Services Funding Alliance, adds: ‘This report lays bare the devastating consequences of a decade of cuts to early help services. It is extraordinary that more than 80% of children’s services spending now goes on crisis response, with too many children and families being left without support until their problems escalate to crisis point.
‘Every statistic in this report represents a child who needed help earlier, and a family that may have been able to stay together with the right support. The government has begun the work needed to grasp this generational opportunity to break the cycle, by investing in early support that helps families sooner, prevents harm escalating, and gives children the stability and opportunities they need to thrive. We will be watching closely and hopefully to see whether it delivers the change needed for children and families over the coming years.’
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