One in 10 biggest English councils risk bankruptcy over child protection bill

[SirGalahad]

One in 10 biggest English councils risk bankruptcy over child protection bill

County Councils Network says local bodies facing insolvency after increase in children being taken into care and ‘out of control’ costs

www.theguardian.com

“Out of control” increases in child protection spending since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic have put one in 10 of England’s biggest councils at risk of effective bankruptcy in the next few months, a survey has revealed.

For the 41 counties and unitary authorities in England that took part in the survey, children’s services accounted for more than half of the total overspend, followed by adult social care, and home-to-school transport services. Total projected overspends for all CCN member services this year are projected to hit £640m.

 

[Deleted member 221031]

Add in all the hotels and travel lodge and they are all fooked

 

[Mottie]

children’s services ……home-to-school transport services.

I can believe that. I used to have one looked after student that was cabbed from Tottenham to Newham on a daily basis at a cost of over £100 a day. I was paid over £100 an hour to train him. The PRU was paid over £110k p.a. To have him on the books for 30 weeks per year and then there was his fostering costs. That was for just one looked after student.

 

[motorbiking]

what is a PRU?

 

[ellal]

I was paid over £100 an hour to train him.

If what you say is true, how can you justify your hourly rate given what essential service staff receive?

 

[danfre]

If what you say is true, how can you justify your hourly rate given what essential service staff receive?

Business rate, takes into account the cost of running a business and all associated costs.
It's not all profits or wages

 

[Mottie]

If what you say is true, how can you justify your hourly rate given what essential service staff receive?

Justify it to who? I don’t have to justify my hourly rate to anybody. My price is my price. Nobody is forced to use the service I provide. Anyway, you'd pay more for an hours work on your car in a half-decent garage getting your oil changed by an unskilled fitter these days. I don’t know what line of work you are in because you are too ashamed to say but believe me, £100+ an hour for a specialised service is nothing these days.

 

[Mottie]

If what you say is true, how can you justify your hourly rate given what essential service staff receive?

Tell us all, Mr business expert, have these essential service staff you talk about bought and maintain the premises that they do their essential service work from? Are they responsible for getting the essential work to do? Are they responsible for all the associated costs of running the essential service they provide? Do they still get paid if they are off sick or on holiday? If they couldn’t get any of this essential work you talk of, would their wages still be paid? Do tell.

 

[Brigadier]

what is a PRU?

Pupil Referral Unit

 

[Mottie]

Pupil Referral Unit

Basically where those that are excluded from mainstream school are sent. The naughty boys and girls club.

 

[SirGalahad]

Justify it to who? I don’t have to justify my hourly rate to anybody. My price is my price. Nobody is forced to use the service I provide. Anyway, you'd pay more for an hours work on your car in a half-decent garage getting your oil changed by an unskilled fitter these days. I don’t know what line of work you are in because you are too ashamed to say but believe me, £100+ an hour for a specialised service is nothing these days.

So are you against Nurses, Teachers, Drs etc getting paid more?

 

[SirGalahad]

Basically where those that are excluded from mainstream school are sent. The naughty boys and girls club.

It seems bloody expensive - someone must have some sweet contracts to manage them all.

Seems cheaper if you had a special school for these kids? But were they not closed down and these kids mainstreamed?

 

[Mottie]

So are you against Nurses, Teachers, Drs etc getting paid more?

Not at all but why should I work for less than what I can get.

 

[SirGalahad]

Not at all but why should I work for less than what I can get.

Who is saying that?

Who is balking at your fee?

 

[Mottie]

It seems bloody expensive - someone must have some sweet contracts to manage them all.

Seems cheaper if you had a special school for these kids? But were they not closed down and these kids mainstreamed?

I don’t know too much about the financing or running of PRU’s but generally, the kids I dealt with were all one-to-one students (each student had their own 'handler') and some of them were two-to-one so you can imagine how much trouble the could be when they kick off. They have a massive churn of staff because of the behaviour of the students in general. They get hit, kicked, spat on and bitten. The PRU's that I have visited are like low level correction centres where doors need a tag to get through and when one of the students 'flip', a button is pressed and all rooms go into a lockdown!

Who is saying that?

Who is balking at your fee?

Ellal apparently, asking me to justify what I charge.