The determinants of expenditure on children's personal social services

Roy A. Carr-Hill, Nigel Rice, Peter C. Smith*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a statistical study of the determinants of expenditure on children's social services in twenty-five local authorities in England. The study was commissioned as part of the Government's review of Standard Spending Assessments for Personal Social Services. The study combined data from a variety of sources, including local authority registera, to infer the distribution of expenditure between 1,036 small areas with populations of about 10,000. Multlevel statistical techniques were used, and suggested that the principal determinants of expenditure are children in lone parent families, children in families of income support claimants, children living in flats, children with limiting long-standing illness, and population density. As well as these results, the study yielded important insights into potential improvement for Standard Spending Assessment methodology.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)679-706
Number of pages28
JournalBritish Journal of Social Work
Volume29
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 1999

Keywords

  • STANDARD SPENDING ASSESSMENT
  • RESOURCE-ALLOCATION

Cite this