THE Children’s Society has reported an operating loss in 2023-24 of £4.4 million, as demand for help from children has surged. Public services struggle to cope with increased costs and reduced budgets, the charity reports.

The charity’s 2024 Annual Impact Report says that 8000 more young people than the year before drew on its support last year. Its income reduced by 16 per cent, while expenditure increased. The loss was partially offset by a gain in investments. The rest was absorbed by what the charity calls “strong reserves” of £19.2 million, equivalent to just under six months’ total expenditure.

The Church of England charity’s chief executive, Mark Russell, said that record numbers of children were in crisis, and yet support available from publicly funded organisations had been reduced as public-sector budgets had been cut. The increased support offered this year by the charity could not be maintained without “wider change”, he said.

Intervention was often coming too late for many young people, when they were already in crisis. “Early intervention is crucial to stop crises before they escalate, and is the key to us turning around the damaging decline in children’s well-being, and to setting a path for long-lasting growth.”

Poverty, poor mental health, and exploitation are growing reasons for the increase in demand, the society says. The past year “has been one of the most difficult yet for young people and their families, and indeed for the charities and public services that seek to support them”, it reports.

“Across the country, children’s needs are being ignored. For too many young people facing abuse, exploitation, and neglect, help is only offered when they reach crisis point. The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2023 revealed that shockingly, 10 per cent of the children and young people who completed our annual survey in 2023 had low wellbeing, and almost a third were unhappy with at least one specific area of their lives. Twenty-nine per cent are living in poverty, and thousands are facing huge challenges like exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Things cannot continue as they are.”

Last year, the charity offered direct support to 72,016 children in 2023/24, compared with 63,779 young people the previous year. More than 11,000 of these were using crisis-support services. The charity is committed to expanding its early-intervention work to prevent young people from reaching crisis point, and it also offers support to parents and carers.

The charity has welcomed legislative proposals to protect children from exploitation, but called on the Government to put children’s needs at the heart of its policies more broadly.