Stoke-on-Trent City Council is seeking more than £11m from the Government to support struggling families and prevent more children going into care.

The investment in Early Help intervention is part of a request for a £44.7m lifeline to enable the cash-strapped council to keep services running and close a massive funding gap.

The authority faces "significant and unique demand and financial pressures in relation to the provision of children's social care", a council report said. A consultation is currently under way on cost-cutting proposals, which include cutting vacant roles, restructuring services and increasing council tax by almost 5%.

Council leader Jane Ashworth, speaking at a meeting on Thursday (January 18), said: "By late May, when we had taken over the running of the authority, it had become very clear there were financial problems. Since that date every day has been budget day; sometimes it has been setting out this year's budget, sometimes next year's budget.

"When we look at next year, the gap we were going to have to face between expected needs, expenditure and income was £30m. Due to unceasing hard work by officers, that gap has been reduced down and down to the level it is today, which is £14m.

A consultation is currently under way on cost-cutting proposals, which include cutting vacant roles, restructuring services and increasing council tax (Nub News).

"In June we started to talk to Government about the problems with the finances and the need to develop a stabilisation and recovery plan. We have gone to Government to say we need help to balance the budget and invest in changes to the way children's services are run.

"We have so many children in care the budget is thrown off kilter by that. Since 2015, with cuts to the early help service, it has been reduced to the extent we are not able to respond effectively and adequately to families starting to struggle.

"We have said please give us the ability to draw money from you. We know that will generate better outcomes for children if they can remain safely at home with their families and it's more or less the only way we can get on top of the budget, by changing that direction of service generally."

Councillor Alistair Watson, cabinet member for financial sustainability and corporate resources, said that if council tax was used to plug the £14m gap an 18% rise would be required in April – a move branded "ludicrous" by the council leader. The maximum council tax rise allowed without a referendum being triggered is 4.99%, which is the level the authority has proposed for 2024/25.

He added: "We have got in early on the conversation with government – this council is leading ahead of the pack. We hear of Section 114 notices (similar to a bankruptcy notice) coming in at other councils and this is way after Stoke-on-Trent City Council had started having constructive positive conversations about how we could go forward.

"We are not sitting around waiting. We have asked for £44m from the Government – call it a loan over two years – to close that gap."

Councillor Shaun Pender, vice chair of the Children and Family Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, described the proposals put forward as a "bold and ambitious plan". He added: "I hope the government go support this administration.

"We have too many children in care. The right thing to do is to get children to stay in their families as the cost of taking them into care is crippling the authority."

Latest figures presented to the committee revealed there were more than 1,100 children in care in the city during the July to September period last year. This has soared from 851 in 2018/19.

One of the cost-saving proposals for children's and families' services presented to Thursday's Children and Family Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee is to reduce the Targeted Services employee budget. This is expected to save £695,000 a year.

The report said this move would involve the deletion of vacant posts currently covered through use of agency and overtime. It added: "This will have a positive impact through increasing the personal wellbeing of our staff by not overstretching to cover more provision that is really feasible at the present time

"Whilst there will be a budgetary impact in that four children who could have moved to our homes will need to remain cared for in the independent sector, removal of the overtime and agency costs creates a net saving overall. Nevertheless, we will continue to keep under review the balance of our own residential provision vis a vis that provided by the independent sector, in terms of both outcomes and affordability."

But committee member Dave Evans said the proposed cut came at a time when the council needed more children's homes to meet demand. "You are going to put four children in private provision, which is legalised extortion and it's bankrupting us". he added.

"I would urge very careful consideration of this – I think it is a very big risk financially. The challenge that all local authorities face is there is simply not enough secure houses for children."

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