Children's Fund

The Children's Fund was launched in November 2000 as part of the government's commitment to tackle disadvantage among children and young people. The programme aims to identify at an early stage children and young people at risk of social exclusion, and make sure they receive the help and support they need to achieve their potential.

The Children's Fund provides a responsive approach to developing services that address the difficulties faced by some children and their families. It encourages voluntary organisations, community and faith groups to work in partnership with local statutory agencies, and children, young people and their families, to deliver high-quality preventative services to meet the needs of communities.

The Children's Fund has three underlying principles:

• Prevention
  To address the gap in preventative services for children and young people at risk of social exclusion, by providing increased and better coordinated preventative services for 5-13-year-olds and their families
• Partnership
  To take responsibility at local level for the delivery of the Children's Fund plan, involving partners from the statutory and voluntary sectors, community and faith groups, and ensuring that the views of children and young people are represented
• Participation
  The voices of children and young people are at the heart of the Children's Fund, with children and young people being involved in the design, operation and evaluation of the programme

Outcomes and objectives

The original outcomes envisaged by the Children's Fund were that children would grow up:

• Healthy
• Emotionally secure and confident
• Having succeeded at school
• Having stayed out of trouble
• Living in a safe place
• Having the opportunity to succeed in achieving their dreams

These outcomes sit well with the five outcomes of Every Child Matters, and the work of the Children's Fund will make a significant contribution to the Every Child Matters agenda.

The specific objectives of the Children's Fund are as follows:

• To promote attendance in school by 5-13-year-olds
• To achieve improved educational performance among 5-13-year-olds
• To ensure fewer young people aged 10-13 commit crime and fewer children aged 5-13 are victims of crime
• To reduce child health inequalities
• To ensure children, young people and their families feel the services are accessible
• To develop services which are experienced as effective
• To involve families in building the community's capacity to sustain the programme and thereby create pathways out of poverty

Where is the Children's Fund being delivered?

The Children's Fund operates in every local authority area in England. There are 149 Children's Fund partnerships at local level actively involved in delivering the Children's Fund. The actual services are delivered in a variety of locations ranging from schools to community centres, sports centres and other local venues.

Each of the Children's Fund partnerships is overseen by one of nine regionalf teams located within government offices. Contact details can be found on the national Government Office Network website. 

On Track

On Track is a research-based, preventative, crime reduction programme aimed at developing multi-agency partnerships and delivering a range of services to children aged 4-12 and their families. The programme was established in 24 areas of England and Wales. On Track has subsequently been incorporated into the Children's Fund and, as such, effective On Track services will be considered for migration into children's trusts alongside other Children's Fund services.

Resourcing the Children's Fund

Between 2005 and 2008, £411.5m has been allocated to the Children's Fund. By the end of the spending review period, Children's Fund partnerships will have received over £780m in the years 2003-08. This equates to an average of £156m each year.

In July 2007, the Government announced the extension of the Children's Fund for a further three years - until 2011 - with provision at the same cash levels as for 2007-08, and money routed through local authorities. This means that local authorities will be allocated £132m, year on year.

What is the future for the Children's Fund?

From April 2008, the Children's Fund will be mainstreamed into children's trust arrangements.  Significant resource has been allocated to the Children's Fund over the life of the programme, and government is keen to see lasting benefit for children and young people from this investment.

How will the funding be distributed from April 2008? 

Funding will be distributed to local authorities and pooled with other funding to form a new area-based grant for improving a wide range of outcomes, including those for children and young people. The new area-based grant is not ring-fenced, but resources included in it will remain identifiable and transparent.

Distributing funding to local authorities on a non ring-fenced basis gives them the freedom and flexibility to make spending decisions based on the needs and circumstances of their local communities. It is also in line with Government's commitment to rationalise funding streams and to deliver services in a more joined-up and integrated way.

What impact will this have on the voluntary and community sector (VCS)?

The VCS' expertise, knowledge and personal approach to delivering services has meant that the Children's Fund has reached the most vulnerable children, young people and families. The Government is therefore committed to sustaining the involvement of the VCS and would expect to see them as partners, at both a strategic and delivery level, in any future arrangements. To this end, the DCSF has released guidance which makes it clear that LAs should engage VCS organisations as strategic partners in local children's trust arrangements.

What is the link between Children's Fund outcomes and the LA performance targets?

Preventative services can contribute to achieving future outcome targets which, ultimately, local authority performance will be measured against.  Local authorities therefore need to recognise the impact the Children's Fund has had on achieving positive outcomes (including its impact on school attendance, behaviour, self-esteem and relationships) and work towards mainstreaming the lessons learnt when developing the children's trust's overall strategy for supporting children and families.  

What has the Children's Fund achieved?

As outlined in the 'Aiming High for Children: Supporting Families' report (published March 2007), the Children's Fund has helped:

• To develop responsive, specialist support tailored to the individual needs of the child and family
• To achieve positive outcomes with a range of children and parents; impacting on school attendance, behaviour, self-esteem, and relationships
• To improve skills, confidence and emotional well-being for parents
• To improve relationships and communication between families and professionals

In addition to the local evaluations undertaken by Children's Fund partnerships, the national evaluation of the Children's Fund published its final report in April 2006.

Click to download the final report, along with other resources from the national evaluation's of the Children's Fund website.

The Children's Fund - Six case studies

The publication, entitled The Children's Fund - Six Case Studies, features examples of Children's Fund activity around the country. It aims to share thinking and learning from the Children's Fund about the importance of preventative services to the lives of children, young people and families. These case studies highlight the importance of this key message within the government's wider Change for Children agenda.

Click to download The Children's Fund - Six case studies. Further case studies are available on the resources and practice database.

Documents

Children's Fund web based monitoring system user guide version 2.1

Children's Fund PowerPoint presentation for use by regional teams and Programme managers

Children's Fund financial guidance April 05

Children's Fund grant conditions

Developing Preventative Services: Children's Fund Strategic Plan Guidance 2005-2008