Wiltshire Council spent more on early support for children over the last decade, according to a new report – despite the vast majority of other councils in England seeing a fall.

A coalition of charities – The Children’s Society, Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau and the NSPCC – says councils have struggled with the impact of funding cuts, with many of the poorest areas hardest hit.

Research by Pro Bono Economics found that spending on early intervention support – which prevents children from coming to harm – was around £13.8 million in Wiltshire in 2020-21.

This was up 53% since 2010-11 in real terms (taking inflation into account) – effectively a rise of £4.8 million in today’s money.

This makes it one of just eight councils not to see a fall.

Cllr Laura Mayes, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills, said: “We are committed to ensuring children get the best start in life, and this is a fundamental part of improving their long-term life chances, and affords them the best opportunity to live long, happy, healthy and enriched lives.

“We work in a number of ways to achieve this, including providing sufficient, high quality early years services, working with partners to give children support throughout their journey to adulthood, and ensuring help is shaped to meet the needs of the family. We are also working with educational settings and supporting them to strive for excellence.

“An investment in children and young people is an investment in the future and we place a huge focus on the first 1001 days of a child’s life, as this is such a vital time.”

Investment in early support services – which range from children’s centres and youth clubs, to targeted support with issues like drug and alcohol misuse – halved from £3.8 billion to £1.9 billion in real terms across England over this period.

The charities said this has created a “vicious cycle”, where councils are forced to spend more on costly crisis support, leaving more children and young people exposed to risks like exploitation, neglect and mental ill-health.

Mark Russell, chief executive at The Children’s Society, said: “Young people have told us they felt they needed to get hurt or harm someone in order be taken seriously.

“It’s a big concern that children in deprived areas, where needs may be greatest, are often among those least likely to get help before problems spiral out of control.

“If ministers are serious about Levelling Up they must better target funding to the areas that need it most.”

In Wiltshire, this type of spending rose from £40.5 million to £53.8 million in real terms over this time.