Webb, Calum JR, Bennett, Davara L and Bywaters, Paul
(2022)
Austerity, Poverty, and Children's Services Quality in England: Consequences for Child Welfare and Public Services.
SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIETY.
pp. 1-22.
Abstract
<jats:p>In England, the dominant policy narrative recognises no association between spending on children’s services and quality and a limited association between quality and deprivation. We combined 374 inspection outcomes between 2011 and 2019 with data on preventative and safeguarding expenditure and Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores. A multilevel logistic regression model predicting ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ judgements suggests each £100 increase in preventative spending per child was associated with a 69 per cent increase (95 per cent CI: 27.5 per cent, 124 per cent) in the odds of a positive inspection. A one-decile increase in deprivation was associated with a 16 per cent (95 per cent CI: −25 per cent, −5.7 per cent) decrease. Safeguarding expenditure was not associated with outcomes. Deprived communities have worse access to good-quality children’s services and government policies that have increased poverty and retrenched preventative services have likely exacerbated this inequality. Further, inattention to socioeconomic context in inspections raises concerns about their use in ‘take over’ policies.</jats:p>
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | child maltreatment, Child protection, early help, inverse care law, Ofsted |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Sep 2022 10:42 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2023 20:41 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S147474642200001X |
| Open Access URL: | https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/181694/ |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3164663 |
Dimensions
Dimensions
