Stoke-on-Trent council leader makes city childcare pledge

Councillor Jane Ashworth became the leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council in May

The new leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council has pledged to tackle issues with childcare and rising cases of infant mortality.

Labour councillor Jane Ashworth replaced Conservative Abi Brown on 25 May.

Speaking to BBC Stoke, she painted a bleak picture of council finances, suggesting how problems faced by young residents could impact on budgets.

She said the difficulties of local children were "a disaster financially".

She told the BBC: "If you look at bigger issues like infant mortality, that [has risen] in the city in the last year. More babies are dying.

"There are [also] now 1,100 children in care, whereas with other cities, it's probably half of that.

"That's bad for children, it's bad for the family and it's very bad for the budget. It can cost £5,000 a week to put a child into care."

The council leader says building projects across the city may be postponed to save money

Ms Ashworth said: "Where [care is] needed, we are going to do it, but we should bear in mind that as society, community and families have eroded away under financial pressure, the problems grow and sometimes we're left picking up the bill. It's a disaster financially.

"We will see a shift in our emphasis towards making sure that all our services go towards protecting children within the family home."

The council leader said she hoped to support families by bolstering summer holiday and after-school club programmes.

In terms of the budget, she described the council's situation as "absolutely dreadful".

Last year, the council had to find £15m to plug a gap, with Ms Ashworth saying she is unsure whether the council will be able to do it again this year.

Looking ahead, she said the council intended to review the capital programme to see whether building work in the city should be postponed.

The council also hopes to drive revenue by attracting more people into the city through its arts and heritage offer.

'It's a rolling storm'

"The cost-of-living crisis in the country as a whole is doing damage to people who live in our city, it is damaging businesses and its damaging families," Ms Ashworth said.

"It's a rolling storm of things getting worse."

A cost of living summit is planned for the end of June in which local organisations come together to discuss ways of increasing living standards.