Agenda item 4 - MTFS (Final) Cab 070213 , item 9. PDF 1 MB

ANNEX 1.1 : COMMISSIONING INTENTIONS – CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Context
The Council has wide ranging responsibilities for children’s services; this includes leading and
coordinating all local partners to ensure outcomes for children and young people improve. In
2012/13 the total budget for children’s services excluding Dedicated Schools Grant was £105.2
million; this included other grants and funding from formula/Council Tax. This represented a 5.9%
reduction on budgets available in 2011/12. The strategic direction for children’s services is set by
the local Children and Young People’s Plan; this together with the current corporate strategy
identifies a clear focus on improving outcomes for the most vulnerable. Performance of children’s
services is improving, with continued high educational standards for the majority of pupils, low
levels of youth offending but a need to do more to ensure consistency of some services for the
most vulnerable, including safeguarding, children in Care and young people at risk of becoming
NEET (not in education, employment or training).
Meeting the Challenge 2012/13
A number of projects have been undertaken to meet the required budget reductions and enable
crucial front line services to be maintained where possible. Savings targets for this year have
focused on the full implementation of projects commenced in 2011/12, all focused on ensuring the
most vulnerable children and young people continue to receive the support they need. Savings
have been realised in youth support services which is now targeted on those young people most
at risk, a continued reduction in spend in expensive placements for Looked After Children and
continued savings in the cost of home to school transport as policy changes are rolled out. The
council has agreed new contracts in respect of youth support and children’s centres which will
drive more efficient and effective service delivery in local areas. The youth Support contract
includes a new service to manage transitions between adult and children’s services. The council
has responded to central government proposals for reform of school funding, in particular by
reducing centrally provided services where funding will now be directed to individual schools.
Looking Forward
The proposed budget for 2013/14 requires savings of £6.6 million to be achieved in council
children’s services. This includes some savings identified through Meeting the Challenge,
reductions resulting from the shift in education funding from central LA services to schools and
academies and a reduction in the Early Intervention Grant (EIG) as it transfers into formula
funding. Although the combined impact of these changes is a reduction in central council budgets
for children and families of £9.4 million the government has announced funding of £4 million to
provide free entitlement to nursery education for 2 years olds from lower income families; this will
be included in the Dedicated Schools Grant. Of the £9.4 million reduction it should be noted that
£2.8m will be transferred to schools and academies so that the funding will still be available in the
county. This will result in centrally run services such as the Pupil Referral Service becoming
independent from April 2013, and a new service for vulnerable pupils being put in place replacing
current teams supporting attendance and exclusions.
The MtC savings include further reductions in expensive placement budgets for LAC, planned
reductions in home to school transport budgets resulting from new policies, a move from grant to
evidence based commissioning and a continued focus on targeted youth support rather than
universal provison. Additional savings will be needed to accommodate the reduction in EIG and
changes in school funding.
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