Children’s services more than £600m in the red, warn councils

Local governments under extreme pressure from cuts and surge in demand for social care and protection for vulnerable children

Three-quarters of councils have overspent their children’s services budget by a total of more than half a billion pounds as a growing financial crisis engulfs children’s social care, council leaders have warned.

Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, has revealed that in 2015-16 75% of councils exceeded their children’s social care budgets by a total of £605m.

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from Children | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2wG4l0d