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Children’s centres must do more to reach the most disadvantaged families, a National Audit Office study published today says.

Just nine out of 30 children’s centres visited for the study between January to May this year were directly targeting those with the highest levels of need.

The study also said less progress was being made to improve services for fathers, parents of children with disabilities and ethnic minorities in areas with smaller minority populations.

While most children’s centres and local authorities were able to manage their finances for the current financial year, four out of 30 were forecasting a deficit.

Over half of local authorities were not carrying out any active performance monitoring, and the study found many were uncertain about how to measure their performance.