Agenda item

Report ED18054

The Sub-Committee considered a report setting out the budget monitoring position for the Education, Children and Families Portfolio for 2017/18, based on expenditure to the end of December 2017. 

The Schools’ Budget was predicted to underspend by £210k during 2017/18, which would be added to the £1.6m underspend carried forward from 2016/17.  The Non-Schools’ budget was projected to overspend by £874k as a result of overspends across a range of services within the Education and Social Care Divisions, including in-house nurseries, placements for children looked after and costs to support care leavers.  This had been offset by underspends by some services including Special Educational Needs and Inclusion and Court-ordered Care Proceedings, as well as through additional funding from the Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group and Public Health.  Work was underway to recruit permanent staff to the Children’s Social Care Service which was expected to reduce cost pressures related to staffing.  It was requested that funds held in contingency be released comprising £15k of Education Services Grant required to offset costs from the conversion of a school to academy status, £141k of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children Grant to offset the costs of looking after these children, and £51k South London Connexions Consortium Balance which was the Local Authority’s share of the residual balance of funds from the South London Connexions Consortium which would be used to offset costs in Children’s Services.

In considering the report, in relation to Children Looked After and Care Leavers, the Chairman queried how the Staying Put Grant generated costs.  The Head of ECHS Finance reported that this was due to  young people being able to stay with their foster carer for an extended period of time and the resulting costs.  It was recognised that remaining with a foster carer was more cost effective than leaving care however no specific piece of work had been done around whether Staying Put had generated any savings.

A Member highlighted the need to better utilise the building assets owned by the Council.  Specific reference was made to the need to provide more courses at Blenheim Nursery which the Member felt was currently under utilised

The Sub-Committee considered the increased costs associated with locum staff.  A Member highlighted the need  for the Council to be flexible in its working practices and to also identify the reasons why some social workers chose to remain with agencies.  The Head of ECHS Finance reported that there had been an intensive recruitment drive within Children’s Social Care and the number of agency staff had significantly reduced.  It was agreed that a report concerning Recruitment and Retention in Children’s Social Care should be provided to the Sub-Committee in the new municipal year.

The Sub-Committee further noted that there had been a £716k overspend in Fostering Services (Independent Fostering Agencies).  The Head of ECHS Finance reported that this overspend was a result of more foster carers from independent agencies being used by the Local Authority due to increases in demand for foster placements.  A Member queried whether many foster carers had left Bromley as a result of the cuts made to allowances and it was noted that this information would need to be provided by the Director of Children’s Social Care.  Members noted that the cuts to allowances had been made to bring Bromley in line with other Local Authorities.

The Sub-Committee noted that the Local Authority was required to produce an Annual Children Looked After Sufficiency Statement.  This gave a sense of the type of provision the Local Authority needed.  It was agreed that that Annual Sufficiency Statement should  be considered by the Sub-Committee in the new municipal year.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to:

1)  Note the latest projected overspend of £874k forecast on the controllable budget for 2017/18 based on information as at December 2017;

2)  Note the full year effect of cost pressures of £891k for the Education, Children and Families Portfolio budget for 2018/19;

3)  Agree the release of £207k held in contingency relating to Education Services Grant, Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children Grant and South London Connexions Consortium Balance;

4)  Note the comments of the Department in Section 9 of Report ED18054; and,

5)  Approve the Education, Children and Families Portfolio Budget Monitoring Report 2017/18.