The Local Government Association has identified that councils will need £2 billion to address the shortfall in funding for children's services by 2020.

Whilst this funding from central government would address the immediate funding crisis for children's social care, the sustainability of local services would still be an issue after 2020, when councils would be left to rely on income generated locally to fund children's services. Unless we retain a national mechanism for distributing money from general taxation, poorer areas will face an inevitable discrepancy between the care and protection that local children need and the funds they have available to provide it.