Children's Fund
Last updated: 2 September 2004
The Children's Fund is a key part of the Government's strategy to tackle disadvantages and inequalities derived from child poverty and social exclusion. The Children's Fund aims to:
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Support services to identify children and young people who are showing early signs of difficulty.
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Provide children, young people and/or their families with the support they need to overcome barriers and disadvantage.
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Secure long-term improvement in children's lives by building capacity in the local community.
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Actively involve children, young people and their parents in planning and delivering services.
The Children's Fund is aimed at children aged 5-13 and connects Government initiatives that address social exclusion amongst children/young people and their families. The Fund is embedded within a policy context which aims to shift the agenda from remedial action towards prevention, and to build social inclusion.
The Children's Fund was rolled out nationally in three waves to cover the whole of England by 2003. The 40 wave 1 areas were selected on the basis of having high child poverty levels and facing particular difficulties by way of their geography, such as rural and coastal areas. Wave 2 and 3 areas have lower levels of child poverty than those in than wave 1. There are 149 partnerships in all, covering each (upper-tier) local authority area in England.
The Children's Fund is already delivering many of the services and policy detailed in the Green Paper, 'Every Child Matters', including focus on early intervention, participation of children and young people, links between school and family and information sharing.
The Children's Fund is locally determined and flexible. This makes it particularly good for meeting the needs of diverse and changing communities, adding value to other services and working across boundaries of home and school. As a preventative programme, there is an emphasis on supporting children within the home and the school, and in the wider community. There is also a strong focus on supporting parents both in their parenting, and with other issues including domestic violence, counselling, family support and health awareness.
The Children's Fund also incorporates the On Track project, a community-based initiative aiming to prevent crime by supporting 4-12 year olds and their families.
The Children's Fund draws on an initial allocation of £350 million from Spending Review 2000 and was allocated £450 million from the Spending Review 2002 over the three year period. Children's Fund partnerships have now been allocated £411.5m over the three years 2005-06 to 2007-08.
The Children's Fund is not a grant awarding body at a national level. Funding is distributed through local partnerships made up of representatives from the statutory and voluntary sector, community groups and children and young people. It is for these partnerships to decide which projects to fund in their area, based on local need.
