Children England has written to the Chancellor ahead of his 2017 budget to make the case for a Children Act Funding Formula.

Children England believes the case for a fair, sustainable funding mechanism for essential children’s services is too urgent and too acute to ignore. We propose the establishment of a Children Act Funding Formula, which would distribute national taxation to all authorities with duties under the Children Act 1989 according to the needs of children in their area. We call on the government to implement such a formula by 2020 at the latest.

We have published our full briefing making the case for the Funding Formula, which would give local authorities much-needed certainty to plan for sufficient capacity in children’s services beyond 2020. It has a growing list of supporters from practice, policy and research backgrounds who agree that resourcing statutory children’s services cannot be left to the rise and fall of local economies.

The formula adheres to principles of:

• Equity and universality
• Enabling full implementation of the Children Act 1989
• Retaining a mechanism to distribute national taxation fairly to children and families

Children England invites all organisations working with or for children to endorse our briefing and join our call for the Children Act Funding Formula to be implemented by 2020 at the latest. Core funds distributed equitably across all local authorities would enable them to provide the full support and protection envisaged for children by the Children Act 1989 rather than having to make dangerous and damaging choices between essential early intervention and life-saving crisis intervention.

A summary of the briefing and a list of supporters is available.

You can sign up online to support the Children Act Funding Formula.