The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) first annual report on education spending in England finds that while Government spending overall on the early years has increased, day-to-day spending on Sure Start children’s centres has continued to fall.
According to the IFS, spending on Sure Start grew from about £600 million in 2001-02 to reach around £1.8 billion in 2009-10. However, in 2017-18, the Government spent just over £576 million on children’s centres - a drop of 67 per cent since 2009-10.
The figures echo those of the National Audit Office (NAO), which last year published statistics showing local authority spending on children’s centres had nearly halved since 2010.
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