WARNINGS have been given that the board overseeing the recovery of Children’s Services needs to be mindful of how much it costs.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Powys County Council Cabinet, next year’s draft budget has been approved with a 9.5 per-cent hike in Council Tax.

One of the issues that’s dominated the last 18 months is the strain put on the council’s finances.

This is due to the failure of the Children’s Services Department following a critical inspection report in October 2017.

To turn things around – money has been pumped into the department but its reliance on expensive agency staff is putting a financial strain on the whole authority.

Audit Committee chairman, Cllr John Morris (Liberal Democrat), said:  “It is a concern to us, the lack of fiscal responsibility by the Improvement and Assurance Board.

“We want a conversation on how we can drive that funding down because it’s unacceptable in financial terms.”

“The one area at risk again is Children’s Services, our analysis for this year’s budget is that we still have great concern that it will be difficult to see the service running within budget as we’re not seeing that budget decreasing rapidly.”

Children’s Services portfolio holder, Cllr Rachel Powell, said: “I’m more than content to discuss with the Assurance Board the journey that we’re on and the expectation of the financial investment needed.

“The Assurance Board is not responsible for our financial spend.”

Acting chief executive Mohammed Mehmet added:  “People are right to highlight the risks and social services are clearly at the top of that list.

“What the council must do over the next few years is manage that expenditure down in a safe way and that will be challenging to do.

“Having spent the last year trying to get things right, we must make sure that their funding is adequate, so that their safety is not compromised.”

In January the department received another report from the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) which highlighted both “improvements and serious concerns,” since a damning report in October 2017.

Head of Children’s Services Jan Coles, who was only appointed in October 2018, is looking at restructuring the departments.

Once this is done she will then start recruiting more social workers while lowering the number of agency staff.

Following the first report in 2017, £6 million was pumped into the department to turn things around.

The spend in Children’s Services 2018/19 is projected to be  £24 million which is £6 million over budget.