Cross-party review of children’s Early Intervention Services published

The review recommends that Children & Family Resource Centres be developed, targeted to those areas of greatest need, with a good geographical spread.

The council’s Cabinet asked the cross-party group of councillors to look at the service to consider how savings could be made as part of the council’s four year financial plan, which was agreed in February 2015.

The service would have to make £6m of savings on a total budget of £16m, to meet the council’s saving target. This is part of the council’s savings of £290m from 2010 to 2018. The council believes it will need to save an additional £60m over the next three years, on top of the £290m figure.

Cabinet will consider the report at its meeting on 23 June, when it is expected to accept the recommendations in principle, while asking for further work to be done so that the impact of a larger saving on the service can be considered.

This follows budget projections contained in a post-election Cabinet paper that suggest an additional £60m may have to be found by 2017/18. Cllr Melinda Tilley said:

“The Council is determined to ensure that Oxfordshire County Council continues to support vulnerable children and their families, despite the funding challenges we face.     

“The advisory group has done a tremendous job in outlining how services could be reshaped. The Cabinet will consider the options presented in the report, and then engage with our partners and other key stakeholders over the summer to discuss what the possible options for change might be.

“Given the current indications from Government, that there are likely to be extensive reductions in funding available, even greater savings may now be required.

The cross-party Council Advisory Group was set up in 2013 to consider the options available. The group has produced a report which contains a number of recommendations which will be considered by the Council’s Cabinet at its meeting on 23 June 2015. A copy of the Council Advisory Group’s report can be found here (7mb)