Council chief warns of £49m children's overspend

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said support for vulnerable children took up half the council's spending

A £49m overspend on support for vulnerable children has forced Bradford Council to ask the government for emergency funding, its leader has said.

The authority warned it would face effective bankruptcy without urgent help.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said a trust set up to improve local children’s services was doing “great work”, but needed more money.

The government said it had been engaging with the trust about the financial challenges it faced.

The Bradford Children and Families Trust took over the running of the district’s children's social services in April.

The trust - which is run independently of the council but is funded by the authority - was set up after the education secretary stripped the council of control of its children's services in the wake of an Ofsted inspection that identified "widespread failures in all areas".

However, it is expected to spend £246m this year, £49m more than budgeted for, a council report shows.

The council will issue a Section 114 notice - effectively declaring itself bankrupt - without "exceptional" government help, the report said.

Ms Hinchcliffe said the authority had been left in a "unique position".

She said: “That trust is doing well. They are well led by the chief executive, Charlotte Ramsden, and they are improving services for children.

"But what we don’t need now is for government just to walk away.

“They need to actually fulfil their obligations to the children of Bradford. They set up this trust and they need to back it, as we are backing it.”

Ms Hinchcliffe said the council had already spent 50% of its money on the trust’s work, excluding the overspend, and described the situation as “unsustainable”.

She called on ministers to "put their money where their mouth is".

'Unacceptable'

Ms Hinchcliffe said if it did not receive money from the government to help with this cost, the trust may be forced to cut its spending.

She said: “Now this is unacceptable. These are the most disadvantaged children in our society.

“These are children who have been abused or children with complex disabilities who might need 24-hour care, seven days a week. Children who have got such trauma in their lives that they need specialist mental health support.

“And we have an obligation as society, and as Bradford, to look after those children.”

The Labour-controlled authority predicts an overall budget overspend of £73m for the current year, including £24m on services it provides.

Officially, councils cannot go bankrupt. Instead, a Section 114 notice shows that an authority’s forecast income is insufficient to meet its forecast spending for the next year.

It can force councils to stop all new spending apart from on essential services such as social care and waste collections.

'Ready to speak'

Eight authorities have issued the notices since 2018, including Birmingham, Slough and Croydon.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, this month warned of a "growing financial crisis", saying almost one in five of its members were at risk of running out of funds either this year or next.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it was confident Bradford Children and Families Trust was working to bring down the inherited costs it started with in April this year.

A spokesperson said: “We have been engaging with Bradford Council and the Bradford Children and Families Trust around the financial challenges they face.

“Ministers have already commissioned an external assurance review of Bradford Council and we will consider next steps once the review has been finalised.”

The department had previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that an extra £45.9m of funding had been made available to Bradford Council in the last financial year.

"We expect that councils will see, on average, an above-inflation increase in their core spending power next year," the spokesperson had said.

"We stand ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances or faces pressures it has not planned for."

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