Domestic violence, poverty, poor housing and substance abuse are driving a surge in children at risk, as austerity pushes families over the edge.

A survey of lead councillors for children’s services in England just published by the Local Government Association delivers a devastating assessment of the factors behind massive and rising demand, while the same relentless cuts fuelling it prevent local authorities from providing the care and support that is so badly needed.

While much of the debate about council funding has focused on adult social care, the survey reveals that for each of the three years between 2015 and 2018, well over half the councils had to make significant cuts to children’s services.

Half of the 152 councils in England responded to the survey, with 47% saying that budget shortfalls last year created a severe or significant risk to children’s social care.

Cuts to services such as policing and youth work are aggravating factors, and there are major concerns about what will happen following the end of the current budget for the Troubled Families programme.

Against this backdrop of financial atrophy, demand for services is swelling. Around 64% of the lead councillors said the number or complexity of children’s cases had increased “to a great extent” over the past four years.

Poverty and its consequences are pushing this demand. Of the councils seeing rising need, 81% said it was being driven by escalating family conflict, with causes such as domestic abuse, substance misuse and criminality, while 70% said growing family hardship – such as poverty, poor housing and debt – had played a part.

Austerity drives people struggling to keep their lives together over the edge. Two years ago, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services warned that the relentless cuts were pushing families into crisis, as punitive welfare policies such as the two-child limit and housing benefit cuts – imposed by politicians with little understanding of the reality of many people’s lives – took their toll.

In 2017/18, more than 75,000 children were in care – an increase of 24% in a decade. More than 170,000 child in need assessments that year identified domestic abuse is a factor – a scandalous number and a quarter of the total. Children’s services directors are adamant that welfare reforms are putting more children in danger by pushing more families into poverty. It is sickening to see them report that the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018 has driven up homelessness.

As well as exacerbating the conditions that lead to children being harmed, austerity has stripped away vital support to cope with the consequences. To give just one example, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that local authorities in England cut their spending on domestic violence refuges by 24% between 2010 and 2017.

Last year’s home affairs select committee report on domestic abuse said the impact on children included mental illness, education difficulties, poor cognitive development and trauma from parental breakup. Children make up around half the residents of women’s refuges, but support for them is often poor.

The pattern seen with domestic abuse – austerity driving up demand and driving down support – is mirrored in areas such as substance abuse and homelessness.

With both Conservatives and Labour promising a post-election spending spree, it is tempting to believe that the dark clouds of austerity will soon lift, but they will not. Even if there is a sudden increase in local government funding for day-to-day services – and it is far from clear that will happen – it will take years to rebuild lost capacity such as the hundreds of shuttered Sure Start centres, countless voluntary sector programmes and the loss of experienced staff.

Unless there is a surprise in their manifesto, the Conservatives show no sign of recanting on their welfare reforms, and the practical and emotional damage already inflicted on families on the edge will endure for many years whatever the policy changes. Austerity has assailed children from every angle, fracturing their homes and depriving them and their families of help.

• Richard Vize is a public policy commentator and analyst

• This article was amended on 14 November 2019. It previously referred to the end of the budget for the Troubled Families programme next year; funding for the programme has been extended to 2021



