CARE IN THE FAMILY SCHEME PAYS OFF (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

CARE IN THE FAMILY SCHEME PAYS OFF

March 1, 2007 4:44 PM

A scheme begun by Liberal Democrats has saved the County Council £1,000,000 in support for children and young people with specialist needs whilst improving the quality of the service.

The £1,000,000 saving was made possible by the previous administration's scheme to shift the focus of support for children's specialist needs from non-council agency support to care in the family. The saving was confirmed as part of the County's budget at Wednesday's meeting of full council.

Four years ago the County Council was found to be investing much more money than other councils in expensive independent agency support for children, and much less money in family support. Since then a scheme to increase support to families has reduced the number of children in care from 600 to 400.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Charmian Sheppard was cabinet member for Children and Young People at the time of the increased investment in family support services. Cllr Sheppard said: "Children with specialist needs require help with problems ranging from mental health difficulties to substance misuse. These are all difficulties that can be addressed and prevented in the home rather than waiting for them to become more serious and spending vast quantities of money on expensive non-council agency support. The reduction in the number of children in care by 200 over the last four years means that the council can save money and re-invest it in other areas of support for children. More importantly, it means we have helped more families deal with their children's problems at an early stage."

Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Jeremy Hilton, said: "Liberal Democrat policy is always to help families and communities to help themselves before resorting to costly external measures. This is just one more example of how the policies of the previous administration are still benefitting this council and the people of Gloucestershire. We hope to see the Tory administration reinvest this £1,000,000 saving wisely in Children and Young Peoples' Services."