New overspend on children's services

Derbyshire County Council is set for another multi-million pound overspend on children’s services.

The overspend is largely due to continuing increases in children it must take into its care and who need special educational support in school.

This year’s county council children’s services overspend could hit £6 million and follows last year’s £4.3 million overspend and 2017’s £6.4 million overspend.

For the current year, the council has a children’s services budget of £110.6 million – a £6 million overspend represents 5.4 per cent.

Peter Handford, the county council’s finance director, has said that the council is currently on track for a £3 million overspend, but the anticipated eventual overspend could be as high as £4 million to £6 million ‘depending on the continued trend in the rate of placements for children in care.’

An increase in the number of children with special educational needs (SEN) is also ‘driving demand’ for the council’s psychology and the planning and assessment teams.

Much of this will relate to Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans – legal documents agreed between a pupil, parent, school and the county council which lays out the support which the child is entitled to.

The council has spent thousands of pounds fighting appeals relating to these documents – of which it has thousands on its books.

It has been lambasted by a number of parents of children with special educational needs over delays or a lack of action on vital assessments.

Meanwhile, the authority says that there are currently more placements required for children in the council’s care than can be funded from the allocated budget.

A further nearly £600,000 relates to an increase in the number of home to school journeys provided to children with SEN and an increase in the cost of those journeys ‘driven by economic factors and the need to provide more specialised vehicles.’

Mr Handford says that the council must make cuts of £16.9 million this year in its total budget of £505.8 million, of which just £10.7 million is expected to be achieved.

The authority must save £63 million by 2023.