Spending Review

The current Comprehensive Spending Review being led by HM Treasury is likely to be one of the most crucial rounds in recent years. Already cuts are being felt across the voluntary and community sector as public bodies seek to reduce spending. This is also a crucial time as we seek to prevent vital VCS services being cut to avoid increasing numbers of children, young people and families being left without adequate support and being pushed further into cycles of disadvantage. In addition, the long-term sustainability of the sector must be ensured not only to protect the most vulnerable families but if we are able to meet the demands of the Big Society.

As part of Children England's determination to represent and champion our members at a time of reduced public spending we have written to the Chancellor George Osborne MP as part of the Comprehensive Spending review. The points made in our letter represent a combination of ideas and issues provided directly from our members, and those we have shaped ourselves in partnership, as a longstanding infrastructure body for the voluntary and community sector. The letter reflects many of the concerns raised by our membership - commissioning costs, unnecessary quango-related bureaucracy, how we can make the much-touted Big Society Bank work and the vital contribution our membership makes to directly improving the lives of children, young people and families across the country.

The letter can be downloaded here