Rising cost of "complex care" for borough youngsters

THE cost of caring for children in Thurrock is more than £2m over budget.

Councillors at a meeting of the ruling Conservative Cabinet heard corporate director for children, education and families Robert McCulloch-Graham explain the overspend.

He was speaking during a presentation of a report on the Council’s financial position, which currently predicts a total overall overspend for the financial year of £2.18m.

Quizzed on why the cost of caring for children was so dramatically over budget, Mr McCulloch-Graham said: “I wouldn’t say it is a miscalculation, it is caused by rising numbers of children with complex needs.”

The borough has some children costing up to £200,000 a year to care for, he added.

He was asked by councillor Garry Hague: “Is this normal for a borough of this size, or is our offer so attractive that people are moving into our borough because of it?”

Mr McCulloch-Graham said he didn’t believe that it was the case, but simply that the borough currently had some “complex, very expensive cases.”

The council’s finance officers were quizzed on the authority’s reserves and how they were invested. Corporate director Andrew Hardingham told the meeting they were “prudently, rather than speculatively” invested.

During the public session of the meeting there was no discussion of the departure of chief executive Angie Ridgwell, whose pay-off is reported to have cost the authority up to £300,00.