Councils overspend on children’s care services by £800m

County Councils Network (CCN) analysis of new figures show that councils in England overspent by £816 million on protecting vulnerable children in the last financial year.

The data for last year reveals that county authorities overspent the most in children’s services, spending £264 million more than they budgeted, with councils having spent 10 per cent more than they had budgeted for that year on the service overall.

With escalating demand for children’s care services continuing this year, the CCN warns that resources are having to be diverted from other services, with expenditure on highways, transport, and libraries feeling the squeeze the most. To emphasise the issue, data shows that the number of vulnerable children in county areas placed under a child protection plan was 18,702 in 2011, but sat at 25,259 in 2017, representing a 35 per cent rise.

Additionally, the number of children taken into care in England’s counties stood at 26,000 in 2017, compared to 22,600 in 2011, representing a 15 per cent increase.

Paul Carter, chairman of the County Councils Network, and leader of Kent County Council, said: “Today’s figures show the stark reality facing counties, who have had little choice but to overspend millions on vital care services to protect the vulnerable and elderly. In a climate of rising demand, inflation and substantial funding reductions imposed by central government, counties have delivered extraordinary efficiencies, but without extra resource the worst is yet to come in service cutbacks to prevent such huge margins of overspend in statutory services.

“Demand-led costs largely beyond our control mean that county authorities face funding pressures of £3.2 billion over the next two years. This is compounded by the fact our councils receive 62 per cent less funding per head compared to London. Overspending on certain services means that cuts will need to be made to other vital services, or taken from reserves. These two approaches are unsustainable.

“With county authorities spending on average two-thirds of their budgets on adult social care and children’s social care, they are undoubtedly under the most intense pressure, as evidenced by Northamptonshire and East Sussex recently. Counties have delivered the largest efficiencies in the public sector, but there is a limit as what can be delivered with current resource. To prevent catastrophic consequences, it is essential that government responds to our calls for additional resource in advance of the social care green paper, the spending review, and fair funding review.”