Croydon Council plans to cut support for children to tackle £66m funding shortfall
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Cash-strapped Croydon Council has announced plans for major cuts to its support for families and disadvantaged young people.
The move comes after the council issued a section 114 notice earlier this month, banning it from new spending outside of essential services as it looks to tackle a potential budget shortfall of £66m in the current financial year.
Under the spending plans for the next three years, a raft of council-wide services face cuts.
This includes reducing the council’s spending on care for unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). The borough currently supports 249 UASC, which is four times the level it had agreed with the government under the voluntary National Transfer Scheme.
Council documents detailing cost cutting plans, to be discussed by the council’s cabinet this week, say that the “financial strain” of its UASC spending “is significant and unsustainable”.
The report adds: “A fresh approach that continues to fulfil statutory responsibilities as corporate parents whilst securing a fairer deal for Croydon is required”.
Options include securing extra funding from the Home Office and Department for Education to cover costs as well as withdrawing services to UASC whose legal rights to remain have been exhausted.
Across children’s services, family and education budgets £6.5m savings are being proposed, including cuts to family group conference support, children’s centres and education support services.
The council also hopes to make savings from tackle duplication of work in its support for teenagers. In addition, it is looking to cut its “systemic model of practice” whereby therapists offer mental health and emotional support to families. The council “will review what has been most impactful and prioritise the essential minimum offer that will continue to support high quality day to day practice”.
Social worker caseloads are also set to increase under the plans. These will be gradually increased over 2021-2023 from 16 to an average of 17.
“Heads of service will manage and monitor the increase closely to balance continuity of care for children and their families and manageable workloads for individual staff with the need to address the financial challenge for the service,” council documents state in relation to plans to increase caseloads.
If approved by cabinet the council will submit its cost cutting plans to government as it looks for financial support.
“Croydon is facing an unprecedented financial crisis and although we have taken some significant steps to address this we need to do more,” said council leader Hamida Ali.
“Our absolute priority is to balance our books, live within our means and offer the good value for money services our residents need and expect from us.
“From keeping our streets clean and safe to looking after our most vulnerable residents, our renewal plans set out how we will rebuild our council to deliver quality core services, where they matter most.
“To achieve this we will have to do less but do it better. That means we will need to make some tough choices now and concentrate our efforts on services that make the biggest difference for Croydon."
“We know some of these choices will be incredibly difficult and we are committed to working with our staff, partners and residents, keeping them informed and involved every step of the way.”
Croydon’s reduction in support for UASC Portsmouth Council follows Kent in announcing it cannot take on more young people seeking asylum due to a rise in caseloads.
