Councils report budget overspends due to increased cost of delivering children’s services: CNN budget survey – England

The County Councils Network (CNN) has published the findings of a budget survey of county and unitary councils in England, which reveals that budget overspends of over £600m are forecast for this year, an average of £16m per council. Children’s services make up almost half (45%) of the projected overspends due to “a sharp increase in post-pandemic demand in children’s services and the cost of care placements rising due to inflation and an acute shortage of accommodation”. As a result, 1 in 10 councils reported that they were unsure or not confident that they would be able to balance their budget this year, with this increasing to 4 in 10 next year, and 6 in 10 by 2025. CCN is calling on the government to provide emergency funding for children services this year and next.

Further details via this link on the CNN website, and a discussion of the findings in this article published in Community Care.