Dozens of West Sussex children 'stuck in care' due to Covid court delays
The County Council's facing a big overspend on services this year
Dozens of children are stuck in the care system in West Sussex due to Covid-induced delays in the county’s courts.
A report to a county council scrutiny committee showed that, throughout 2019, the number of Children Looked After hovered around the 740 mark.
Throughout 2020 that figure rose steadily, sitting at 911 by the end of September.
A report to the committee said that, to a large extent, the increase had happened because delays in the backed-up courts meant children had not been able to leave care when expected.
Between June and September alone, the number of youngsters in the council’s care rose by 63, with rates continuing to escalate each week.
Andrew Lea (Ind Con, Lindfield & High Weald) called the situation ‘very worrying’ and asked for the council’s Children and Young People’s Services Scrutiny Committee to look into it ‘as a matter of urgency’.
Recognising that the problem lay with the courts and not with the council, he added: “We should be pushing back to government to sort out the central court system because the situation is so serious.”
As well as the impact on the children, the backlog has added another dent to the council’s already over-stretched coffers.
The committee was told that the overspend for caring for the youngsters was expected to be between £7.7m and £8.1m this year – £3.5m of which was down to the impact of the pandemic.