Joint working: Reality check for early intervention rhetoric

All three main political parties have gone on record declaring the importance of early intervention for children and families. But pinning them down on where the funding should come from has so far proved altogether more difficult.

The widespread political support for early intervention work coincides with the worst economic outlook for the UK in several decades.

At the same time, a heightened focus on children already in need, as a result of the Baby P case, has meant a great deal of funding within children's services departments is going on reacting to problems rather than preventing them happening.

This month the Labour government is due to make its bid to push the issue forward by publishing a new report on early intervention.

Policy assessment

Initially earmarked as a green paper on both early intervention and prevention, the revised format is now a "short document" setting out the case for early intervention, the word prevention being dropped from the remit entirely.

So, what is likely to form part of the content and how significant do those in the sector think such a document will be?

The report is intended to create debate, generate ideas and shape activity in the sector. One of the ways it will do this is by offering the children's workforce some tips on securing funding for projects.

It is unclear whether it will take on board other ideas such as a national policy assessment centre, as suggested in a Centre for Social Justice report on early intervention last year.

Such a body would involve experts assessing early intervention programmes and "distilling" them into a list of interventions that are more likely to attract sustainable funding.

Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North and co-author of the report with former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, believes it is unlikely the forthcoming report will be as detailed or extensive as many would wish but believes it will still have a valuable impact.

"It is not always easy to shift policy direction," he says. "This looks like the government has senior people taking it seriously, which is all I can ask for. As soon as we get a genuine discussion about this the floodgates will open."

Evidence of practice

With finances tighter than ever, it is clear that those fighting for early intervention services will have to back their argument with evidence.

Andrew Cozens, strategic adviser for children, adults and health services at the Improvement and Development Agency, says examples of effective practice must be included to avoid services getting the chop.

"I think it is really important for consolidating the gains we have made in children's services over the past few years that wherever there is evidence of effective practice it should be highlighted," he says.

The decision to remove references to prevention work from the document indicates that the government feels now is not a realistic time to raise the millions of pounds needed for investment in the kind of initiatives outlined in Action for Children's Backing the Future report.

Jody Aked, project manager at the New Economics Foundation, who worked on that report, feels this could be a missed opportunity as research done by her organisation shows that prevention work saves hundreds of billions of pounds in the long term.

"This document probably isn't going to be as pioneering or forward-thinking as we would like," she says. "To stop problems happening you have got to identify what causes them. It's right we invest in the kind of early intervention services this document will talk about, but we have also got to shift to a different system of spending money in the universal prevention area at some time."

Political intervention - What the main parties have said about early intervention

"The evidence shows that intervening early with the most challenging families in this country works" - Ed Balls, Children's Secretary

"Family intervention projects work. They change lives, they make our communities safer" - Gordon Brown, Prime Minister

"Services have got to be justified because it is going to be much harder to fund them" - Tim Loughton, shadow children's minister

"We believe in using Sure Start health visitors to spearhead intervention across the land" - Maria Miller, shadow families minister

"We have got to look at all ways of funding because early intervention is so important" - Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP

Intervention policy

Early details of the government's new approach to early intervention, obtained by CYP Now, reveal a desire to help directors of children's services make the economic case for investing in early intervention.

Documents forming part of a presentation on the issue reveal the picture for early intervention is mixed across the country with some vulnerable children and families going without the support they need.

The "short document" will set out a "shared consensus" about what makes for effective early intervention drawing from experience in England and abroad.

Published as part of the Children's Plan Two Years On package, it is intended to trigger debate, generate ideas and shape activity.

The document will comprise of three key elements: the case for early intervention, effective early intervention in practice and getting the system right.

It will outline the need to have a better idea of what a good package of early intervention programmes may look like at a local level as well as the necessity to make sure the right people are taking part.

A final section will provide a strategic overview of how the system should look in relation to roles and responsibilities.

Centred around the child and family, this incorporates different levels of the system, including professionals providing services, family support panels co-ordinating support and children's trust boards making sure that early intervention happens and services are effective.