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Overspending on children's services hits record high

OVERSPENDING on children’s social care services has hit a record high of £800 million a year, Labour’s analysis of Budget data shows.

Councils in England have exceeded their budgets by having to double their overspend since 2015 as a result of record numbers of children being in need and subject to a child protection plan.

The overspend on children’s social care was only £100 million in 2012-13. This reached £400m by 2015, according to Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) data published alongside last week’s Budget.

Children’s social care now amounts to the vast majority of total overspending by English local authorities, which the OBR found was just over £1 billion in the last fiscal year, Labour said.

At the same time, funding to councils has been halved in real terms since the Conservatives came to office in 2010, and funds for early intervention ceased to be ring-fenced under the coalition government.

Councils have had their central government funding cut by 49.1 per cent in real terms between 2010-11 and 2017-18, according to the National Audit Office.

The additional £1bn social care funding announced in the Budget, for both adult and children’s social care, is not enough to cover the current overspend even if it were all spent on children’s services, according to Labour’s analysis.

Budget small print also revealed that the separate ring-fenced fund announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond of £84m is spread over five years and only available for 20 councils.

This means that it would amount to less than £1m a year per council, and fewer than one in eight local authorities will benefit.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: “The Prime Minister promised that austerity was over, but it is clear that the most vulnerable children in society will continue to suffer for years to come.

“The huge increase in overspending on these vital services is a direct result of rising demand for services and ideological Conservative cuts from Whitehall, detached from the real impact of their decisions.

“The next Labour government will provide councils with sustainable funding and create a ring-fenced £500m fund for Sure Start so that councils can deliver the services our communities need.”

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