Issue - meetings

Dave Shipton, Head of Finance Policy, Planning and Strategy; Kevin Kasaven, Director of Children’s Countywide Services and Sarah Hammond, Corporate Director of CYPE were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Rayner, Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, introduced the item and gave a general overview of the budget position.  He noted that the budget deficit had been reduced by around £12,000,000, to £36,000,000 since the budget was considered at the last meeting of the Committee.   Members were now presented with a balanced budget for 2024/25 that included a draw down from reserves, utilised £14,000,000 of risk reserves, and estimated £8,000,000 revenue from the sale of assets.  The Budget should be seen as part of a three year plan for the future.

2.    Mrs Chandler, Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services provided the committee with further details relating to her portfolio.  The following points were noted:

·       The budget updates relating to Integrated Children’s Services portfolio were relatively small, however the cost of children’s placements had been revised.

·       The cost savings that were expected to result from the decisions made just before Christmas were now shown in the updated budget.

3.    Further to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

·       There was a fall in the number of looked after children, and a fall in the number of children being referred to social work services; however, the children who were referred often had complex needs.  The availability of specialist providers with the ability to meet these complex needs was very limited and led to high placement costs.

·       An assessment was underway to look at the development of an in-house set of services that would work jointly with health services.

·       The family hubs would provide a whole system approach that could identify children suffering from mental health issues and offer support at an earlier stage. 

·       The use of agency social workers was expensive.  KCC looked to develop, employ and retain social workers to reduce dependency on agency workers.

·       The Early Years Review looked to see how services could be delivered better in the future.  The Review included some very positive proposals to take the service forward.

·       Work was underway with health partners to ensure that the cost of providing care was correctly shared. 

·       There was a very strong relationship been the Early Help and Social Work teams.  Audits of the Early Help team’s work showed very strong performance, supported through training and development.  There was confidence that the Service could accommodate an increase to the current caseloads. 

·       The data for the number of Early Help Unit referrals and showed an increasing trend up to October.  Officers advised that the latest figures suggested that the trend was now decreasing.

·       Each line of the budget had been given very careful consideration before it was included.

4.    RESOLVED to note the updated Revenue Budget, the Medium Term Financial Plan, the Draft Capital Strategy and Programme, and draft Treasury Management Strategy

5.    In accordance with paragraph 16.31 of the Constitution, Dr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4

Karen Stone,Revenue Finance Manager (0 - 25 services), Dave Shipton, Head of Finance (Policy, Planning & Strategy) and Zena Cooke, Corporate Director of Finance were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Oakford, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, provided a high level overview of the budget position.  He noted that at the midpoint of the current year, there was a total overspend of around £36,000,000.  Around £28,000,000 of this overspend coming from providing Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) services.  Kent County Council’s (KCC) reserves were low and should not be regularly relied upon to balance overspends at the end of the year.

Initially the 2024-25 budget had a £100,000,000 deficit however savings had been identified to reduce this to around £50,000,000.  Work would continue to identify further savings and income opportunities in order to present a balanced budget to Council in February 2024.  

2.    Mrs Chandler, Cabinet Member for Integrated Childrens Services and Mr Love, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, provided the Committee with further details relating specifically to their portfolios.  The following points were noted:

·       The costs relating to children in care (CIC) placements and disabled children’s services continued to rise despite careful management of the demand.  These costs were mainly driven by rises in the market costs of care provision. 

·       KCC was part of two regional initiatives, one for placements and one for foster care, recruitment and retention.  These initiatives could help to stabilise the cost of care.  Further savings had been identified as part of ongoing work to review how services were delivered.

·       The increase in the cost of home to school transport was a challenge to manage.  Action had already been taken around discretionary services, but further action would be required.

·       The increase in the cost of providing special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) pupils with home to school transport was a concern.  The costs were partly due to the number of children identified as eligible for the support.  The SEND team were taking action to identify the most urgent cases in accordance with the SEND Code of Practice. 

3.     Further to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

·       Kent had a relatively low number of children in care compared to other counties however, the cost of children’s care placements were high.

·       It was good to have the budget so early, as it allowed questions to be raised before Council in February 2024.

·       When service cuts were proposed to save money, it was important to ensure that the costs were not passed on to other services or delayed until later.  Some issues could become more acute and more expensive to support if they were left unaddressed.  For example, a reduction in the early help offer might lead to more referrals later in life.

·       Early care preventive services helped to reduce the number of children in care.  Some discretionary services provided a cost saving overall by addressing problems at an early stage.

·       The dashboards were a good  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4