Questions have been raised over a £17m funding “black hole” for Sefton’s troubled children’s services.
Providing a cabinet update report last night to members of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee, cabinet member Cllr Paulette Lappin said the council was in a “very difficult set of circumstances” when it comes to funding key aspects of the service with a £17m overspend on the agreed budget.
She said one of the major issues putting pressure on the budget is the need for “managed teams” – whole teams of social workers and managers brought in on agency rates to run specific aspects of a social work in a local authority to fill chronic staff shortages.
