Warning 'difficult decisions' needed to fund family support programme's future in Stoke-on-Trent
'Difficult decisions' will need to be taken to keep support services for families going, a former council leader has warned.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council's Family Matters programme, which launched last year, aims to cut the number of children in care by providing families with extra support before their problems escalate.
Council bosses say the work has already started to have an impact after its first full year, with the number of children in care falling from 1,168 to 1,066 in the 12 months to March. The number of child protection plans has fallen even more sharply, from 503 to 311.
But there are concerns around how much funding will be available for the programme beyond 2025/26, and the extent of future provision is uncertain. Abi Brown, a former Conservative council leader, says that the authority may need to make cuts elsewhere in order to ensure Family Matters can continue.
Speaking during a meeting of the children and family services scrutiny committee, Cllr Brown said the council could not simply wait to be 'bailed out'.
She said: "Some really great work is taking place here. But something we have expressed concern about is the continued funding for this.
"I've had to sit in the chair and make difficult decisions. I've had to tell residents in my own ward that they couldn't have grass cutting because money was going to children's services.
"So how is the authority going to continue to fund this really important service? Is it time for some difficult decisions to be made in this building rather than hoping that other people will bail us out again?"
The Family Matters programme was originally funded through £1.5 million from the council's public health grant reserve, and £1 million from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Health Board (ICB), while a further £154,000 has since been secured from other funding pots.
In the Budget, the government announced that funding for family hubs, which support the delivery of Family Matters, would be extended for a further year.
A council report says a long-term risk to the programme is if funding from government is 'not substantial enough to sustain the level of activity'.
Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children's services, agreed that future funding for Family Matters is a concern.
She said: "It's very difficult. We have these conversations about what's going to happen very often. We know, for instance, that the ICB have huge problems which are going to impact on us.
"It's at the very forefront of our minds. We will have to come up with plans over the next few months for what we're going to do. I think we all recognise that this is really important for our future."
Family Matters includes a raft of different services being delivered by the council and its partners.
A network of family hubs have been set up across the city to act as access points, with satellite sites in Abbey Hulton and Blurton in the process of being established.
The council is also working with four 'local trusted organisations', who provide family co-ordinators who engage directly with families.
A total of at 1116 children from 516 families have been referred to the co-ordinator service so far. Other work streams include play activities, youth provision, learning and mental health support.
Family Matters programme director Patrick Myers said: "We are working in the very early help arena, looking at preventing children coming to the notice of statutory services.
"Often we intervene too late, when we should be doing so much earlier in the family's trajectory.
"There's been lots of progress in the first year. I'm not saying we're there yet. This is a real opportunity to place early help right at the centre of what we're trying to achieve, in order to reduce demand for statutory services."
The council's multi-million pound overspend on children's services, largely driven by the high cost of independent sector placements, is a major reason why the authority needed a £16.8 million bailout loan from government this year.
Council chiefs hope that reducing the number of children coming into care will save huge sums of money, as well as ensuring better outcomes for families.
For more information about the council's family support services, visit the website here.
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