Children need to be championed from the very top of government

That was my message at an event yesterday, hosted by Barnardo’s and the Institute for Government, just a stone’s throw from Downing Street. 

Together with colleagues from government – including former chancellor Sajid Javid - think tanks and the charitable sector, we came together to discuss why the government needs to move to a preventative approach in public services. 

Little did we know that just a few hours later, the Prime Minister would stand in front of that famous black door and set the wheels in motion for a General Election on the 4th of July. 

It means the discussions we had yesterday – the pleas from ourselves and young people to start spending money preventing problems before they happen – have more resonance than ever.  

Recent research by Pro Bono Economics found that early intervention spending in the last decade has fallen by 46%, whilst the number of late interventions – so children going into care or presenting serious safeguarding needs – have risen by 47%. 

At Barnardo’s, we see the consequences of under investment in prevention every day. When people miss out on the right support at the right time, more families reach crisis point, more children enter care and ultimately local authorities need to spend more money supporting children who have experienced trauma and need to be cared for outside their families – leaving even less money for supporting families early.  

It's a vicious cycle with a human and fiscal price tag we just can’t afford.  

Time and time again, we see evidence for that old saying, “a stitch in time saves nine”. 

Analysis of our Family Hub service on the Isle of Wight showed that for every £1 invested in the service, the savings to the state were around £2.60. Likewise, our research shows that school Mental Health Support Teams can leverage a cost-benefit of £1.90 for every £1. 

Clearly this is not just about the money. Behind every statistic is a struggling child or family and stepping in too late means children struggle for longer, making it harder for them to achieve their future goals. We can, and must, do so much better for our children and young people. 

I was proud at the panel yesterday to have three young people from Barnardo’s front and centre. They spoke about long waiting lists, about the difficulty in getting much-needed diagnoses and one young person I’ve known for several years asked, “when exactly will these things be taken seriously?” 

It’s a good question. Successive governments look ahead to, in electoral cycles, five years at a time so, as one panel member discussed yesterday, are they really going to make decisions that will make today harder, to make tomorrow better? 

This is particularly so in the current economic climate. At Barnardo’s, we know only too well how much families are struggling, so we understand how difficult it is for any political party to announce changes that could make life even harder. 

But we do need to break this cycle. Current spending on late intervention is unsustainable. It ultimately creates longer term pressures on health, justice and work and pensions budgets. Put simply, it’s a false economy that stores up trouble for later. 

What we need is to see political will from the very top to start driving systemic change. We need a shift in thinking, we need a commitment from all political parties to put children and young people first and we need joined-up working across government to design real solutions to these problems. 

As the country gears up into General Election mode over the next six weeks, I just have one plea to all parties. Please put children and young people, and long-term strategy, at the forefronts of your mind and your manifestos. 

Can we really afford not to?