Scathing assault unleashed on “entitled” Derbyshire’s children’s services department

Cllr Rob Reaney, Reform UK's deputy leader of Derbyshire County Council. Image from Eddie Bisknell.

A scathing attack has been unleashed on an “entitled” Derbyshire children’s services department that is reportedly “throwing away millions” due to “habitual” budget overspending.

The no holds barred criticism occurred during a Derbyshire County Council scrutiny meeting at which councillors examined a £27.5 million children’s services overspend for the past year.

Councillor Sarah Reaney, Reform UK chair of the meeting, started things off, saying: “It seems to be systemic that children’s services overspend all the time. Why is that allowed to happen all the time?

“If I go to get my food shopping at Sainsbury’s and have £50 to spend and pick out £52 worth of shopping, they don’t just allow it.”

Mark Kenyon, the council’s finance director, detailed that children’s services had been a key budget pressure for some time, including lots of costly legally statutory duties, with savings elsewhere meaning the authority ended the year with a better than balanced budget of £500,000 in the black.

Cllr John Lawson, cabinet member for finance (Ref), said: “I think the budget last year was optimistic, considering it also overspent the previous year. Looking back, the budget wasn’t set high enough.”

Reform’s former deputy leader, Cllr Rob Reaney, said: “It is a pattern and it is ongoing. Every other department is battling to meet their budget and hitting savings, including measures like countryside services cutting a third of their staff over Christmas.

“I don’t get the entitlement of the children’s services department. We may have been able to cut council tax if it wasn’t for overspend in children’s services and adult social care (£8.8 million overspend).

“We have been trotting out excuses for a number of years and I am not convinced we are doing enough quickly enough.”

Cllr Adrian Hunter (Ref) said: “The costs are going up exponentially each year. There is a pattern in children’s services of just saying ‘yes’ to everybody when they ask for help, without any consideration of the cost of the help they would need and the school they may want.

“The roads seem to be less important than getting people to school.

“It seems that the department feels it is entitled to get any amount of money it demands without anybody questioning it. 

“I know some people who have their kids ferried around in taxis to school and that is not a good use of money. It is not sustainable.”

Mr Kenyon said pay and inflation had caused “runaway” issues in this past year’s budget.

Cllr Reaney, who lost his position as Reform’s deputy council leader in a secret ballot in May, said: “This is a runaway train. When are we going to change this or do something about it? The signs are that it is systemic.”

He said the department managers, at a recent meeting, were a “self congratulating group”, after targets for education, health care plans for children with special educational needs continued to sit far below targets, but had risen.

Legal documents known as EHC plans are supposed to be drawn up in 20 weeks, but the council says just 5.7 per cent of plans currently are.

Cllr Reaney said: “Anything less than 80 per cent is supposed to be a red flag.”

The department was heavily criticised in 2024 by Ofsted for “widespread and systemic failings” in its special educational needs services, leading to Government intervention and special measures that are still in place.

Councillor Wayne Major, Conservative group deputy leader, said: “Either it is an inability to stay within budget or an inability to forecast the budget correctly.”

Mr Kenyon conceded it was a “bit of both”.

Cllr Roy Hallett (Ref) said: “It is very much self-inflicted by not recruiting enough in-house foster carers. I know some private providers ask for £20,000 a week. We rely on these smaller scale private children’s homes which are just for one child, and we are paying for all of the staff for one child.

“It is a total haemorrhage of money. We are throwing away millions.”

Council children’s home placements overspent by £4.6 million while private placements overspent by £13.6 million, the authority detailed.

Cllr Lawson said children’s services were a key focus of his budget efforts, saying that while children need to be accepted into care, this must be done in a cost effective manner, with step down to less expensive care carried out whenever possible.

He said: “Overspending has been a habit. There has been a reluctance to accept that savings need to be made everywhere and there has been an optimism bias.

“Costs and demand continue to rise but hopefully we will see a reduction in demand. There are things being done but there is a hell of a lot more to do.”

He denied a claim that other departments, such as highways, were suffering as a result of children’s services overspending.

Cllr Reaney said: “We are looking at issues in one department. We need to forget the niceties of budgeting. It is a problem. Other departments are taking quite Draconian measures to hit budget and this department isn’t.

“There is no chance of it hitting budget this year (£208.7 million). I have got no confidence in this department. We need urgent action taken and an investigation is needed. It would if it was a private sector company.”

Cllr Hunter said: “It is a difficult job they do but it cannot be beyond the pale that we bring them in for questioning.

“We are trying to swim with a lead weight around our necks.”

Cllr Reaney said: “We are going to be sitting here having the same conversation this time next year. It is not being turned around quickly enough.

“There has not been a single idea about savings and cost-cutting by management. You would think they deserve a medal from what they are saying but they are one of the worst performing departments in the UK.

“Years and years this has been going on and I think we have got a department that is fobbing us off.”