NO
Maggie Atkinson, chair, Association of Directors of Children's Services
Absolutely not. Not only is it illegal for a local authority to take financial considerations into account when deciding on care proceedings, it would be immoral to leave a child at risk rather than exceed the budget allocation.
However, that is not to say that the increased costs will not put pressure on tight budgets. The funding for the increase in fees is inadequate - taking no account of the numbers of care proceedings undertaken by each authority. The funding gap means that money will have to be found from elsewhere, with the associated reduction in resources and services in another area of the council.
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