Tens of thousands of children are missing out on vital early help, charity warns

Nearly 65,000 children a year that miss out on early help services are being re-referred to children’s social care within 12 months, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed. The request was submitted by charity Action for Children in response to its research that found for every two children that receive preventative targeted early help support, there are up to three children receiving more costly social care interventions. Its investigation also highlights how nine out of 10 local authorities cut early intervention spending between April 2015 and April 2020. The data supplied by councils across England in response to the FOI request shows there were at least 320,000 missed opportunities to provide early help services to children between 2015/16 and 2019/20. Read more.