Region’s council child services face crisis
COUNCILS ACROSS Yorkshire are collectively set to overspend by more than £34m on services for vulnerable and at-risk children this year, new analysis has revealed.
Analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism shared with The Yorkshire Post has shown Sheffield Council has the worst projected overspend for 2017/18 at £11.1m – the second highest in the entire country behind Somerset with £14.6m.
Sheffield Council today said it is facing “unprecedented levels of demand” for children’s services, with increasing numbers entering care.
Other financially-stretched councils in Yorkshire expected to be millions over budget this year for children’s services include Bradford, Rotherham and Calderdale.
Nationally, nine out of 10 councils will spend more money than they bring in by the end of March this year – with over half planning further cutbacks.
The National Children’s Bureau today said councils have been given “woefully inadequate budgets” by the Government to deal with the challenges they are facing.
These findings come as a survey of councils by the Local Government Information Unit reveals that 32 per cent say finding money to pay for children’s social care is their biggest immediate concern – up from seven per cent last year.
But the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government insisted the Government is helping to deliver “higher quality services” in the children’s social care sector.
A YORKSHIRE council facing the second-highest overspend on services to support vulnerable children in the country has said it is facing “unprecedented levels of demand” as more children are taken into care.
Analysis of all 150 local authorities that provide social care in England by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and shared with The Yorkshire Post has revealed Sheffield Council’s forecast overspend on children’s services in 2017/18 - £11.1m - is the second highest in the country behind Somerset.
A council report said £8m of the projected overspend was linked to extra spending on care placements.
Six other councils in Yorkshire are also expecting to be millions over budget for spending on children’s services this financial year, leading experts to warn of the “perilous state” facing such local authority departments across the country.
Councillor Jackie Drayton, cabinet member for children, young people and families at Sheffield Council, said: “Our services continue to experience the impact of continued austerity, rising poverty, benefit changes and repeated cuts to the community and voluntary sector, health and schools. At the same time as these cuts, our children and young people’s services are facing unprecedented levels of demand and we are seeing more children and young people coming into care.”
Sheffield Council will invest an extra £7m in children’s social care from April to “help deal with the very real pressures on the service”; money which will go towards early intervention projects designed to reduce demand in the long-term.
A Rotherham Council report says it is facing a £5.4m overspend - driven by an 18 per cent increase in the number of children going into care since last April, with 576 young people now in this position.
Bradford Council is projecting it will overspend by £3.9 million this year, with increases in the number of looked-after children again cited as a factor.
Calderdale Council is forecasting overspending of £3.54m, Doncaster Council £2.9m, North Yorkshire £2.7m, Wakefield £2.2m and Hull £1.5m.
Leeds Council is preparing to use £1.7m worth of Government funding earlier than planned to help balance the books of its children’s services, which has been dealing with an increase in demand for care placements and higher-than-anticipated staffing costs.
Dr Sam Royston, director of policy and research at the Children’s Society, said: “These stark figures reveal an all-too familiar picture of the perilous state of children’s services. It’s no surprise that they are over-spending as they struggle to cope with slashed budgets and soaring demands.”
Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau, said: “Local authorities have seen significant cuts to their funding while facing rising demand for children’s services. Budgets are woefully inadequate for the challenges they face.”