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Cuts to public spending on healthcare and social care have been linked to increased mortality in the UK (1), but what has been the impact of austerity measures on services that support early child development, such as children’s centres in England?
The latest data from the Department for Education shows that overall investment in Sure Start children’s centres reduced by about 40% from 1.4 billion per year in 2010-11 to 0.8 billion in 2016-17.(2,3) Figure 1 shows that the biggest cuts to children’s centres have occurred in the most disadvantaged local authorities, where the need is greatest – an example of the inverse care law.
‘Giving every child the best start in life’ is perhaps the most important policy priority to reduce health inequalities.(4,5) Early childhood is a period of dramatic change and development, in terms of physical growth, cognitive development, and emotional and behavioural learning. The benefits of investing in the early years are well demonstrated, and large numbers of children in England stand to benefit.(6) In the face rising child poverty, and ever increasing budget pressures on local authorities, funding to promote early child development needs to increase, and to be ring-fenced, in order to ensure equitable provision according to need.
Figure 1 footnote: Data sources: Local authority spend on “Sure Start Children's Centres and early years“ (2,3). Index of multiple deprivation data for English upper tier local authorities (7). OLS regression line fitted to data.
Bigger cuts to Sure Start children’s centres in more disadvantaged areas
Cuts to public spending on healthcare and social care have been linked to increased mortality in the UK (1), but what has been the impact of austerity measures on services that support early child development, such as children’s centres in England?
The latest data from the Department for Education shows that overall investment in Sure Start children’s centres reduced by about 40% from 1.4 billion per year in 2010-11 to 0.8 billion in 2016-17.(2,3) Figure 1 shows that the biggest cuts to children’s centres have occurred in the most disadvantaged local authorities, where the need is greatest – an example of the inverse care law.
Figure 1. Percentage change in local authority funding for Sure Start programmes in England between 2010-11 and 2016-17.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2vjulmhw2i09rxl/Figure_1_sure_start_spend_chan...
‘Giving every child the best start in life’ is perhaps the most important policy priority to reduce health inequalities.(4,5) Early childhood is a period of dramatic change and development, in terms of physical growth, cognitive development, and emotional and behavioural learning. The benefits of investing in the early years are well demonstrated, and large numbers of children in England stand to benefit.(6) In the face rising child poverty, and ever increasing budget pressures on local authorities, funding to promote early child development needs to increase, and to be ring-fenced, in order to ensure equitable provision according to need.
Figure 1 footnote: Data sources: Local authority spend on “Sure Start Children's Centres and early years“ (2,3). Index of multiple deprivation data for English upper tier local authorities (7). OLS regression line fitted to data.
References
1. Rimmer A. Public spending cuts are linked to 120 000 excess deaths in England, study suggests. BMJ. 2017 Nov 16;359:j5332.
2. Planned LA and school expenditure: 2017 to 2018 financial year - GOV.UK [Internet]. [cited 2017 Dec 21]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planned-la-and-school-expenditu...
3. LA and school expenditure: 2010 to 2011 financial year - GOV.UK [Internet]. [cited 2017 Dec 21]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-and-school-expe...
4. Inquiry publishes Due North report on Health Equity | CLES [Internet]. [cited 2017 Mar 27]. Available from: https://cles.org.uk/news/inquiry-publishes-due-north-report-on-health-eq...
5. Marmot MG, Allen J, Goldblatt P, Boyce T, McNeish D, Grady M, et al. Fair society, healthy lives: Strategic review of health inequalities in England post-2010. The Marmot Review: London UK. 2010;2010.
6. Wickham S, Anwar E, Barr B, Law C, Taylor-Robinson D. Poverty and child health in the UK: using evidence for action. Arch Child [Internet]. 2016; Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26857824
7. English indices of deprivation 2015 - GOV.UK [Internet]. [cited 2017 Dec 21]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-...
Competing interests: No competing interests