Labour says cuts to Derbyshire children's services will cost more than they save

As previously reported, the council’s cabinet will meet on Monday, April 29, to take a final decision on proposals to abolish the Early Help department by July 31 as part of a new ‘service model.’

The restructure is intended to bring significant savings, helping plug huge holes in the authority’s budget, but the loss to Derbyshire families has been made clear by a majority of respondents to a public consultation on the plan, as well as numerous local health and education organisations.

The numbers of children coming into care increased by 40% in 2019 but in Derbyshire the number of children in care as a rate per population in 2022/23 remained below the national average.

Councillor Ruth George, deputy leader of the Labour group, said: “The number of children in care in Derbyshire rose following the Conservative council’s huge cuts to Early Help in 2019, which is a major factor in the council’s financial woes, with a projected £16.67million overspend on placements in children’s residential care in 2023/24.

“Abolishing our very valuable Early Help service, cutting over 118 skilled and dedicated staff and closing ten children’s centres makes it likely those numbers will increase even further, which would be a tragedy for those children and their families, and cost the council more.

“Even the council’s own public health officers stated there’s an identified risk that ‘the upward trend of numbers of children requiring statutory intervention will continue due to lack of capacity in the system to address issues as they occur.’”

According to council figures, the number of children in care in Derbyshire increased from 711 in March 2018 to 1,070 in November 2023 – 281 more children than might be expected had the county followed national trends.

Cllr George, the former High Peak MP who now represents the Whaley Bridge division, said: “Any child needing to be taken into care is a tragedy with a lifelong impact on that child and their family, which councils have a duty to prevent wherever safely possible. Our children’s social workers who deal with children at higher risk are already working flat out, and will struggle to deal with any higher workload from families who would previously have been supported by Early Help staff.

“It’s also a financial tragedy, with children’s care placements costing an average £64,400 a year. The council is aiming to save £3.5m with these job cuts, but if they mean an additional 55 children needed residential care, those cuts will be wiped out. With the rapid increases in children’s care costs, those costs will soon place Derbyshire in even greater financial jeopardy.”

She added: “The cabinet paper also admits that closing the ten children’s centres could cost £827,000 in clawback fees to the Department for Education, which funded them on the basis they would support children and families for at least 25 years. With cost savings of only £134,000 projected from the closures, these cuts could cost over six times the initial saving.

“We are therefore calling on Derbyshire’s Conservative-run cabinet to rethink these drastic cuts which are likely to cost more than they save, and also at the impact on families who are already struggling due to cuts to other public services and to austerity.”

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Councillor Julie Patten, said: “It is with much regret that we find ourselves in the position of having to put these proposals in front of my cabinet colleagues, which will consider on Monday. If they are agreed we will work closely with the recognised trade unions to minimise the job losses as much as we can.

“We are facing pressures like never before, demand for social care support and spiralling costs of private placements for children in our care, that we have no control over, is costing the council dearly.

“We need to be able to balance our books, and unfortunately we must refocus the early help service.

“We recognise that this means that many of our colleagues will lose their jobs, and we will not be able to provide the same level of service as we have done. We will do all we can to find alternative jobs for those at risk of losing their jobs.

“But we will still be able to keep 12 children’s centres open, and carry on delivering those services which we have to legally. We have also found some extra funding so we can deliver more services to more families who need them.”

For more details on the proposals, see https://tinyurl.com/5hf52vbz.

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