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Millions of children missing out on support

Half of the £8.6bn children’s services budget in England is currently being spent on just 73,000 children, meaning millions go without support, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.

The other half is left to cover the remaining 11.7m children, according to the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), carried out for the Children’s Commissioner for England’s Office.

The report, ‘Public Spending on Children in England: 2000 to 2020’, warned the ‘significant’  reductions  in  spending  on  early  and  preventative  interventions  such  as  Sure  Start  and  young  people’s  services may  push  up  needs  and  costs  in  the  future. 

Spending on prevention, such as Sure Start and young people’s services. has been cut by 60 per cent over the last decade, it added.

The research, published ahead of next year’s Spending Review, found that  public spending on children overall had been broadly maintained in the last 20 years, but millions of children were missing out.

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