Introduction

Younger members of our communities and their families have been particularly affected by austerity measures and the associated impact upon the provision of services by local government. There is significant variation across the country in terms of thresholds for accessing social care and support provided by local authorities, with increasing expectations on the voluntary sector to fill any gaps, against a backdrop of cuts to commissioned statutory services and a heightened call upon the availability of funding via trusts and foundations. This chapter discusses some of the challenges for local authorities providing services to children, young people and their families within such a context, the impact upon the health of those young people seeking support and the intersection with the work of the voluntary sector.

This discussion draws upon the research and policy work of the National Children's Bureau (NCB), which works with children, young people and their families through research, advocacy, the delivery of training and the facilitation of learning and development across a range of child-focused programmes. The overall aim of the body of work across the fields of early years, education, health and participation is to support those who work with children and young people to achieve better outcomes and a better childhood for all children. This chapter provides a brief outline of some of the background to the financial pressures under which services find themselves working before focusing on some of the implications for social care and health outcomes for children and young people. (The authors are writing in a personal capacity and, while drawing on the work of NCB, the discussion in this chapter does not represent the official position of the NCB.)

Funding of services

The relationship between the provision of statutory and nonstatutory services in the United Kingdom (UK) is complex and the voluntary sector is not always as ‘non-governmental’ as the name would suggest. Many large non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have national reach are able to carry out their work because they have been awarded contracts via different central government departments to run programmes aimed at separate sets of beneficiaries or service users, usually categorised by support need.