Ministers this week came under pressure to devolve responsibility for tackling child poverty to local authorities, as part of their plans for ‘placed-based’ budgeting, after council-led trials showed early signs of success.

The Department for Education (DfE) published an assessment of 10 council-led anti-poverty pilot schemes on 30 September, which indicate local officials, third sector bodies and charities are often best placed to improve the life chances of vulnerable children and families.

The 10 pilots, due to end in 2011, were initiated by the former Labour Government. But they have received support from coalition ministers keen to see whether the highly-localised programmes dovetail with plans to devolve budgets for a range of public services – such as education, health and care – to local areas, and allow local experts to determine service and spending priorities.

At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this week, communities secretary Eric Pickles said these Total Place-style programmes – likely to be dubbed Community Budgets by the coalition – would allow officials to focus resources on ‘early intervention’ programmes to tackle ‘social breakdown’.

National and local public bodies currently share responsibility for tackling child poverty. But the DfE-backed pilots – which cover county councils, districts and London boroughs with high rates of poverty – indicate an increasingly-localised focus could be most effective.

The £500,000 pilot covering Cornwall CC has, for example, successfully used a discretionary fund to target local families at risk of, or living in poverty. Other pilots have experimented with new ways of providing vulnerable families and individuals with access to skills training, work, childcare and advice on benefits take up.

The DfE describes the pilot covering Sefton MBC as ‘effective’, while the £1.5m Tyne Gateway pilot – covering both North and South Tyneside MBCs – has already scooped an award following its success.

The DfE’s interim assessment suggests ‘high levels’ of interest in community action to tackle poverty across Knowsley MBC and the Tyne Gateway could fit neatly with plans to empower armies of local volunteers and charities to deliver future services under the Big Society initiative.

Cllr David Parsons, leader of Leicestershire CC, said councils were ‘perfectly placed’ to tackle child poverty.

‘Child protection and child poverty schemes strike me as well suited to place-based funding. The whole point of these frameworks is to focus on early, local interventions which prevent problems and use scarce resources more effectively.’

A spokesman for the Child Poverty Action Group charity said: ‘[Councils] are particularly well placed for the provision of advice, especially on benefits take-up, and outreach work which brings families into contact with agencies that are there for them.

‘Inevitably, there will be learning along the way. This [DfE] report shows progress is being made and lessons learned.’