Surge in demand for children’s social care forced councils to overspend

Cash-strapped councils were forced to overspend on their children’s social care budgets while shaving nearly £500 million off their collective expenditure last year compared with the previous 12 months, official data shows.

Authorities were forced to slash spending in areas such as public health, transport services and corporate services in order to divert increased funds to caring for children.

Education spending dropped by 3.2% (£1.1 billion), according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government statistics for the financial year 2017-18 – although this was largely attributed to local authority-funded schools converting to academies.

The data, based on responses from nearly 450 councils in England, shows total local authority service expenditure was £90 billion in 2017-18, down £447 million – or roughly 0.5% – on the previous year.

Adult social care spending across the country’s authorities increased by 2.9% to £15.3 billion in 2017-18.

Children’s social care spending also increased – up 4.3% to £8.8 billion during the last year.

However, this was £816 million more than authorities budgeted for.

The data showed there was a £274 million under-spend on adult social care across councils in England.

Paul Carter, chairman of the County Councils Network, said: “Today’s figures show the stark reality facing counties, who have had little choice but to overspend millions on vital care services to protect the vulnerable and elderly.

“In a climate of rising demand, inflation and substantial funding reductions imposed by central government, counties have delivered extraordinary efficiencies – but without extra resources, the worst is yet to come in service cutbacks to prevent such huge margins of overspend in statutory services.”

Of the authorities with comparable data, 128 increased their spending on children’s social care for 2017-18, while 35 reduced their expenditure in this area.

Similarly, 133 councils increased adult social care spending during the last 12 months compared with 46 who cut back in this area.

Richard Watts, chairman of the Local Government Association’s resources board, said: “As these figures show, councils are increasingly having to divert money from other services to meet an unprecedented surge in demand for children’s and adult social care.

“[The] rise in demand for child protection support means councils are increasingly only able to provide urgent help for children and families already at crisis point, leaving very little to invest in early intervention.

“More and more councils are struggling to balance their books. The next Spending Review will be make or break for local services and must recognise the urgent need to tackle the funding gap facing local government.”

The amount of money stockpiled in council reserves – heeding government advice to save for the future – rose by 1.9% [or £444 million] to £23.4 billion.

Of the authorities with comparable data, 133 dipped into their reserves while 171 increased the funds.

A Government spokesman said: “We are providing local authorities with £90.7 billion over the next two years to meet the needs of their residents.

“We are also giving local authorities the power to retain the growth in business rates income and are working with local government to develop a funding system for the future based on the needs of different areas.

“The use of reserves by local authorities is inherently volatile. Local authorities can choose to use reserves for several reasons, including invest to save initiatives and capital investments and to make provision for known future spending pressures.”

Glen Garrod, president of the Association of the Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said it “should come as no surprise” that local authorities are spending more money on adult social care.

He said: “The needs of an ageing population and younger, disabled people, coupled with the impact of the care funding gap, are being keenly felt.

“ADASS has long called for the Government to deliver a long-term funding solution, which can put social care on a sustainable footing, in the upcoming green paper.

“In the interim, short-term funding is urgently needed to shore up the system and support our fantastic social care teams across the country.”

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