Ballooning Children's Service budget is a cause for concern

Concerns have been raised about the ballooning costs of children’s social care in Powys as cabinet members say this is due to historic underfunding of the service.

Powys County Council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday, November 2 councillors looked at how the 2021/22 budget progressed between July and September.

At the end of the first quarter Powys were forecasting a surplus of £730,000 on its budget of £279.8m.

But by the end of September, the situation has changed and a £30,000 overspend was being predicted.

The financial report shows that a problem is emerging in the Children’s Services budget which is estimated to be over £1.8m above its £26m allocation.

Another issue is that the cuts and savings of nearly £13.4m that need to be made this financial year to balance the budget, are predicted to fall short by just under £3m.

The report shows out that if the savings that have been “assured” by  departments and money for pandemic costs not yet “recovered” don’t materialise, there could be a £5.8m shortfall in the budget.

The Finance Panel discussed the report last Friday, October 29, and its chairman Cllr John Morris brought the panel members’ concerns to the cabinet meeting.

Cllr Morris said it was “unacceptable” that 22 per cent of the cost reductions wouldn’t be achieved when it’s an integral part of the budget,

Head of finance, Jane Thomas said that not delivering 100 per cent of the savings agreed in the budget is a “concern.”

Cllr Morris said: “Concerns are being expressed already about the strain on the Children’s Services budget.

“We have doubled the funding for Children’s Services over the lifetime of this of this council.”

He believed that work needed to be done on understanding why the costs of children in care are higher in Powys than in other similar local authorities.

Children’s Services portfolio holder, Cllr Rachel Powell, defended her department and said:  “The model that we are we invested in, is providing resilience and it’s keeping families together.

“The previous model was ineffective.

“We invested in some early helping intervention strategies,  edge of care, the closer to home strategy as well, which has proven its worth.

“We’ve invested in a service that was under resourced.”

Finance portfolio holder Cllr Aled Davies added; “We’ve had to rebuild the service after a disastrous report we clearly have legacy costs that we are dealing with.

“We are not alone in the pressures in social care and other elements.

“It’s important that Welsh Government recognise those issues when the (financial) settlement comes out before Christmas.”

The cabinet noted the report and approved a recommendation that heads of service work to “recover” the overspending.