New Freedom of Information research we requested reveals that schools have a 1 in 3 chance of being left unsupported by local authorities when they identify vulnerable children and their families who need extra support.
The findings highlight significant gaps in family support around schools and an urgent need for the upcoming Autumn Budget to prioritise funding for early intervention services.
Key Findings
- Local authorities saw a 53% increase in referrals for Early Help from schools between 2019/20 and 2023/24.
- 31% of referrals to local authorities for Early Help were returned to schools without action during the same period.
- One local authority shared that 75% of referrals were returned to schools without action.
- The data is indicative of a system where precious opportunities flagged by schools to help families before issues escalate could be missed as many local authorities aren’t in a position to fund early help services.
- Reasons why referrals are sent back to schools vary from ‘incomplete assessments’ to ‘thresholds not being met’ to ‘attendance’, ‘emotional’, or ‘SEN support’.
- The findings highlight significant gaps in family support and the urgent need for the upcoming Autumn Budget to prioritise funding for local authority Early Help services.
- We are calling for the creation of a statutory duty for local authorities to provide Early Help services, with adequate funding and clear guidance on thresholds to clarify expectations about family support between schools and local authorities.
- We have written to new Education Select Committee Chair, Helen Hayes, asking for an inquiry into Early Help referrals to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by local authorities when delivering preventative care.
The latest data gathered from our FOI request is indicative of a system which is stretched to the max, fragmented and currently failing children, families and the taxpayer as issues which could be supported are allowed to escalate.
We are concerned that high numbers of referrals returned to schools without action could indicate that families are being passed between cash strapped agencies losing precious opportunities for preventative support which could prevent issues escalating and becoming more costly to resolve. Inadmissible claims made by schools for early help could indicate the need to clarify expectations between schools and LAs.
In our policy report ‘Every child in School and Ready to Learn by 2050‘, we make the case for the protective effects of education, through good school attendance, and call for radical collaboration between schools, local authorities, charities, and social services to achieve meaningful changes and support children and families when they need it most.
Early Help, a statutory duty for Local Authorities
Few local authorities are in a financial position to invest in preventative services for children and families as their budgets haven’t been funded to keep pace with demand. They are forced to fund statutory services at the expense of preventative services.
We recommend the creation of a statutory duty for local authorities to provide adequately funded early help services, supported by clear guidance on effective delivery. Early help services should have ring-fenced funding to protect funds from budget cuts and ensure all local authorities have the sufficient resources to deliver preventative care.
Making early help a statutory requirement with ring-fenced funding would create greater clarity of expectation about more consistent and effective support for at-risk children, particularly in collaboration with schools, where poor attendance can be an early indicator of family need.
There is a strong fiscal case for investing in early intervention services as crisis level issues are more costly to the public purse to resolve. The report Struggling Against the Tide: Children’s Services Spending, 2011-2023, commissioned by a coalition of children’s charities and produced by Pro Bono Economics finds that more money is now being spent on children’s homes than on early help services which could prevent children from going into social care.
Jaine Stannard, CEO of School-Home Support, said:
“Early help services are crucial for identifying and addressing issues before they escalate, preventing long-term harm to children and reducing costs to the public purse. It costs School-Home Support around £1000 to provide bespoke support to families whose children are missing school, less than half the long term cost to society of a persistent absentee. Our impact shows that bespoke support early on can make a huge difference to the young people and their families in the long term.
“The findings from School-Home Support’s research show a system stretched to breaking point unable to act on information flagged by schools. Without urgent action we will see more families spiral, their children falling through the cracks. We call on the Government to make Early Help services a statutory requirement, with the necessary funding to back it and for radical collaboration across all of us involved in keeping children safe. The upcoming Autumn Budget is a critical opportunity to address this crisis and prevent more children from being left behind.”