Issue - meetings

  Report CEF23076

The report presented the budget monitoring position for the 2023/24 financial year which showed a projected overspend of £7,721,000 forecast on the controllable budget based on activity to 31 December 2023. 

The Head of Children, Education and Families Finance outlined a number of factors contributing to the overspend including the demand for and costs of Children’s Social Care placements and SEN Transport and additional staffing for Children’s Social Care.  The Director of Children Education and Families outlined work being undertaken to recruit permanent Children’s Social Care staff including a planned overseas recruitment round and an increase in the number of training placements for Social Work students.  Five agency staff had applied to become permanent staff following the ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted judgement and it was anticipated that more agency staff would seek to become permanent in the coming months.  In February 2024, the Government had published its new vision to transform Children’s Social Care, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which included the possibility of differently qualified staff taking caseloads and this would be explored moving forward.

The Chairman asked about future options for more cost-effective children’s residential placements and was advised that the Government had indicated that a match-funding opportunity would be available for local authorities to build children’s homes in partnership with other organisations.  In the meantime, the Local Authority was actively seeking ways to deliver its own residential placements including a recent tender process to secure six block beds for which submissions were being evaluated.  A Co-opted Member queried whether funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities was combined with that for young people requiring high placement costs for other reasons such as those at risk of child sexual or criminal exploitation.  The Head of Children, Education and Families Finance explained that weekly panel meetings were held to consider individual high needs placements and this included how the education, social care and health costs of each placement would be attributed.  Another Member asked about SEN Transport and was advised that two travel trainers were now in place to support young people in moving towards independence and that families were also being offered personal transport budgets in place of traditional SEN Transport where appropriate which provided a more flexible transport offer that was lower cost for the Local Authority.

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to:

1)  Note the latest projected overspend of £7,721,000 forecast on the controllable budget based on information as at 31 December 2023; and,

2)  Recommend the Council’s Executive agree the release of funds from the Central Contingency as set out in Section 5 of Report CEF23076.