Budget could see over £5million cut from children's services in Cornwall
The department says the savings it has to make will affect its recruitment of social workers
Last updated 24th Jan 2022
Children’s service officers at Cornwall Council say that forced cuts will mean they will never be able to recruit as many social workers as they would like.
Cornwall Council is currently formulating its budget for 2022/23 which includes a requirement to make savings of £53.2 million.
In order to do this every department at the council has had to provide details of where it can make cuts to contribute to the total.
The council is set to axe around 420 jobs as a result of the cuts, although many of these will be through not filling vacant posts. However the council has warned that there will have to be some voluntary and compulsory redundancies.
Before the council agrees the budget for the coming year – which includes a 2.99% increase in the council’s share of council tax – the budget plans have been discussed by every overview and scrutiny committee.
This week the children and families overview and scrutiny committee looked over the budget and councillors asked questions about the proposed cuts and what impact they will have on the service. The department needs to find around £5.2m of savings.
One of the savings in the children’s department is to not fill vacant social worker posts in a bid to save money.
Concerns over social worker recruitment
Meredith Teasdale, strategic director for children and families, said: "What we are not doing is cutting our frontline social workers. We are taking out the funding that was there and set aside for additional social workers.
"For the last few years we have not recruited to the level that were within those budgets. We will give that funding up but we are continuing to recruit. I am still looking to get as many social workers as I can".
She added: "What we have done is taken out the additional money that was set aside, that is a risk and there is always a risk with that".
Ms Teasdale said that she considered that the department had a "very sustainable workforce" and that there were mitigating measures being put in place to minimise any risk.
She added: "I am always looking at demand and that doesn’t change with this saving, that is a constant focus that we look at as a leadership team to try and improve the number of social workers that we have".
When asked whether that meant that the department would not get the number of social workers it would ideally like she replied: "What we are saying is that we can’t recruit to that number of staff".
She added: "The decision was to take out those additional posts that we have not recruited to and we are unlikely to be able to recruit to".
Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Martin said that he was concerned that by removing the aim of recruiting more social workers it would increase pressure and reduce morale amongst staff.
He said: "The vacancies that are there is a promise to those overworked staff that reinforcements are coming around the corner, doesn’t that mean for the staff left there is no hope of their workload reducing?"
'Need for help for vulnerable children is growing'
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Martin said that he was shocked by the lack of detail included in the report which went to the scrutiny committee.
He said: "There was so little detail, I managed to fit it all into a single tweet. I am appalled that councillors were asked to approve millions of pounds of cuts without being told of the potential consequences.
"Just weeks after news that failings of social care in Bradford and Solihull lead to the deaths of two vulnerable children, it seems incredible that the council could propose cutting funding for this service without even telling councillors how many social worker and family support posts were being 'deleted'."
Opposition councillors from Mebyon Kernow, Labour, Independent and Lib Dem groups tried to get the committee to agree to find additional resources to prevent the full £5.2m of cuts being made from children’s services. However that was lost on a vote.
MK councillor Michael Bunney had called for an uplift in funding for the department. He said: "We were concerned that more investment was needed to guarantee core services for the children and families of Cornwall".
And independent councillor Mike Thomas added: "The Independent group does not support any cut to children and family services and urges the Cabinet, in setting the whole budget, to set aside sufficient reserves to cover any additional unplanned demand that may occur".
Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Rogerson said: "I voted for an uplift in funding to children’s services. All the evidence is showing that the need for help for vulnerable children is growing and not diminishing".
A final decision on the budget will be made when it goes to a meeting of the full council next month.