Recurring payments amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds to providers of children’s support services could be clawed back by Highland Council following the findings of a re-design team.
The findings recommend measures ranging from axing, cutting, merging or in-sourcing services to save almost £779,000 over the next two budget years.
One support provider was found to be costing the council £108,000 annually under an informal, historic arrangement that took months to unravel. Its budget will now be slashed.
Children’s services, particularly those for looked-after children, make up a significant proportion of Highland Council’s overspend year on year.
This year the overspend is more than £2million of the council’s £5.1m total overspend.
The Commissioned Children’s Services review was carried out by a team of senior council officials including Sandra Campbell, head of children services; representatives of High Life Highland and Unison; and councillor Andrew Jarvie.
Mr Jarvie said: “Many of these arrangements are fifteen or twenty years old and have never been challenged.
“In one historic arrangement, we found the council was paying £20,000 annually into an adult counselling service which was not used by children.
“In another, the council was paying £18,000 a year to an educational programme for no actual reason.
“We’ve also looked at bringing services in-house if it’s cheaper to do it ourselves, or working in partnership with providers.
“By going through almost 30 service providers, we have managed to achieve significant savings, amounting to around a third of the current overspend.”
The proposals were discussed in yesterday’s full council meeting in Inverness.
Opposition councillor Emma Knox described her concern over the potential impact of the cuts.
She said: “Some of the charities involved, who are facing cuts of 25% to 33%, got together to prepare a carefully considered counter-proposal which would realise savings while protecting these vital services.
“While acknowledging the need for savings, they wanted a phased implementation to enable them to absorb the cuts as best they can and further develop a collaborative approach that works for the council and the people who use their services.
“Their counter-proposal was not presented to today’s meeting of The Highland Council, but instead the recommendations included a commitment to work with the Third Sector to deliver the best outcomes for young people.”
Fellow Opposition councillor Kirsteen Currie sought a guarantee that the equalities impact of the proposals would be properly assessed.
Councillors agreed that an equalities impact assessment will be undertaken and the cost-cutting proposals will come back to the Care, Learning and Housing Committee for a final decision.