North Tyneside Council sees its funding gap decrease, but rising demands in social care and homelessness remain pressing issues
North Tyneside: The council’s funding gap has dropped to £8.9 million, which sounds good, but they’re still facing some tough challenges.
They’re dealing with a growing need for special needs assessments for kids, homelessness issues, and rising costs in social care. Even though the gap is down from £9.5 million, the financial strain is still real.
There are also plans to change how they handle school transport, which has been a bit controversial. They got a £1.5 million boost for this service, and while the number of kids using it hasn’t changed much, balancing the budget in the next four years is going to be tricky.
Homelessness is another big expense, costing nearly £800,000 for bed and breakfast accommodations due to rising demand. This is happening even with some national support for homelessness.
On top of that, children’s services are under pressure, with costs hitting £13.8 million. The complexity of cases is increasing, and some placements for vulnerable kids can cost over £7,600 a week.
But Mayor Norma Redfearn is standing by the council’s social care efforts. After a recent Ofsted inspection, she proudly shared that their child services received an outstanding rating.
She mentioned, “We’re the only council in the northern region with outstanding ratings across the board. Nationally, only five councils can say that.”
Despite the challenges, she believes they’re doing a great job for both young and elderly residents. Sometimes tough choices have to be made, but the focus is always on people first.
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