Member News from Barnardo's: Cost of children’s social care at record high after more than a decade of cuts to early intervention

Leading children's charities have advised that recent government investment must be used to rebalance children's services towards early support, as new analysis shows the scale of financial pressure facing councils in England in responding to families in crisis.

Poverty and deprivation, housing and homelessness, and the unmet mental health needs of children, young people and parents are all factors contributing to the scale of demand in local communities. 

A new report by economic think-tank PBE, commissioned by The Children’s Services Funding Alliance (Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, and The Children’s Society), shows local authorities in England spent a record £14.7 billion on children’s services in 2024/25.  

The report provides an important baseline for judging whether new government funding commitments succeed in rebalancing the system over the next three years. While the increased investment is a major opportunity, this new analysis shows that children’s services are entering this period under intense pressure. 

The analysis finds spending on early help services fell by 40% between 2011 and 2025, with more than 80% of children’s services budgets consumed by late intervention such as children entering care and other acute services. The charities warn this has created a system increasingly forced to respond to crisis rather than prevent it. 

The number of children in care has risen by 25% since 2011 to 82,000, far outstripping child population growth in the UK at only 7%. At the same time, the average annual cost of supporting a child in care has climbed to more than £100,000, up from £77,000 just five years ago, primarily driven by a combination of rising numbers of children in local authority care, increases in the complexity of children’s needs and escalating costs of care placements. 

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