Children, Young People and Families
How might services for young people change?
The reduced funding available to these services will mean that there will be some change to the support and services for young people.
An independent review of the services the council provides to support young people will be undertaken in the coming months. This review will help to shape a more targeted offer within a reduced budget that focusses on delivering the council’s statutory duties.
How will the council address knife crime in the city if cuts are being made?
The council works closely with West Midlands Police and Birmingham Children’s Trust on the key priority of reducing youth violence.
Birmingham’s Serious Violence Strategy 2023 to 2033 commits to a partnership response to preventing serious violence before it occurs and putting in place arrangements to reduce the violence if it does occur.
While funding that had previously been allocated to Birmingham Youth Service to respond to knife crime will cease from 2024 to 2025, new intelligence-led delivery teams will be in place from July 2024. These teams will provide additional capacity to prevent and disrupt serious youth violence.
Will home to school transport be affected?
We are proposing some changes to the support provided by the Children and Young People’s Travel Service.
We are currently implementing a new framework which will improve how we procure transport for eligible children and young people and will also lead to budget savings. Some families’ transport providers will change in April as a result of this. We are communicating with affected families, and they will have the opportunity to meet with their child’s transport provider before any changes to are made.
A consultation took place from 7 February to 22 March 2024 on proposed changes to our travel assistance policy for 0-25 year olds in education. The proposals relate to changing the support provided to certain age groups of pupils where support is non-mandatory or discretionary.
We consulted on the proposal to increase the amount parents contribute towards travel support for young people aged 16 to 18 from £780 to £1,028 per year. The contribution for low-income families will not change.
A total of 488 responses were received to this online consultation. Read our reports for further details including a breakdown of the groups of people who were consulted.
What early help support will there be if contracts for this end?
To deliver savings, Early Help, the city council’s contracts with community organisations and Birmingham Children’s Trust will cease in the coming months.
As a result, there will be a reduced community based and targeted offer of support for families that the council with Birmingham Children’s Trust are working with local voluntary sector organisations to develop.
Early Help Birmingham Children’s Trust is committed to continuing to deliver and commission with voluntary sector organisations a core targeted Early Help service.
What fees and charges are you increasing?
The savings achieved by increasing fees and charges in Children and Families apply to charges that are made to schools and other organisations for services the council provides. As such this should not have an impact for children and families.
Will funding to council-maintained schools be affected, and will we have to pay for certain things at school now?
Maintained schools are funded through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) which is determined by government not the council. The savings proposed do not impact on their funding.
How will children and young people and families who are vulnerable or who may struggle get support?
Families who are supported by Birmingham Children’s Trust will continue to be supported by their social workers and support workers. Families who struggle or who may find it difficult to cope will be able to get some support from the holiday activities and food programme (HAF) and some local community organisations. Whilst some services will be changing the savings that have been proposed mean the council will continue to meet its duties to help the most vulnerable. This means the council will ensure the most vulnerable children, young people and families will still be able to get statutory support should they need it.
If you or someone you know is struggling to cope, support is available.
If you are worried about a child
If you are:
- worried about a child
- would like to report concerns about a child
- or to make enquiries about specific children and families
contact the Children's Advice and Support Service (CASS) by phone on 0121 303 1888 Monday to Thursday 8:45am to 5:15pm, or on Fridays 8:45am to 4:15pm.
The emergency out-of-hours phone number is 0121 675 4806.
Alternatively, email the team at cass@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk.
Further information is available.
Page last updated: 23 April 2024
