Leaders must address cuts to children's services - The Yorkshire Post says

According to a House of Lords committee, more than a million vulnerable children in England are being damaged and their life chances reduced by resources axed from early years and youth support since 2010, and should be reversed.

As ever, a lack of investment in protecting minors at risk of serious harm has been felt disproportionately in the most deprived areas, which has resulted in depleted opportunities for children, bigger bills for taxpayers paying for the long-term effects and more pressure on social services, said the Public Services Committee yesterday.

We are, frankly, unlikely to see the Government pledging to return to higher 2010 levels of investment in such areas, as the committee has recommended, but given the report also highlighted a lack of coordination by Ministers and regulators, a culture change there would be a start.

Because the reality is that professionals are seeing families consequently grappling with the horrors of mental ill-health, the pain of domestic abuse and cyclical desperation of addiction.

Baroness Armstrong, chair of the committee, puts it simply: “We face a crisis in child vulnerability which needs urgent action. Too often public services can’t help children before it’s too late.

"Too many children fall through the gaps, go into care, are excluded from school or end up in prison – all of which costs the public purse more in the long run.”

Leaders must address these wounds before they fester further.