The increasing demand on social care has placed numerous local authorities at risk
Local authorities across the country face a series of complex issues which could impact their ability to deliver it’s core services. Knowsley Council is one such authority which has identified 39 risks – including 16 high risk areas – which threaten its capacity to meet statutory obligations.
Knowsley Council met on March 10 for it’s Governance and Audit Committee to assess a number of reports – including its strategy for managing risks faced by the local authority.
According to the report, ‘strategic risks’ are those which pose the ‘greatest threat’ to the council’s ability to deliver its ‘critical operational services’ and which could have a severe financial impact on the council’s budgets and/ or significantly damage the reputation of the local authority.
It also noted the majority of the risks facing Knowsley are not significantly different to those facing many local authorities across the country.
11 of the high risk areas are related to health and social care of which five involve children’s services. Knowsley Council was rocked last month after a damning Ofsted inspection rated their children’s services as ‘inadequate’.
The report identified ‘widespread failures’ which rendered the local authority incapable of protecting it’s most vulnerable children – leaving them exposed to ‘harmful and unsafe’ situations.
Following up on the report, an audit highlighted the increasing numbers of young people with SEND and the risk the council will not be able to provide local, quality services for all those young people with SEND. Furthermore, the audit identified 2,753 children with Education, Health and Care Plans in Knowsley at the end of November 2024, which equates to an increase of 60% since 2021.
Data presented to central government shows that high needs funding is outstripping the budgets available to local authorities across the country, resulting in serious deficits in the “High Needs Block” budgets in over half of all local authorities. Currently, these deficits are ringfenced due to a statutory override in place until March 2026, meaning they do not impact the Council’s core funds.
Knowsley Council’s corporate performance, business intelligence and risk manager, Liam Griffiths presented the Strategic Risk report. He said: “By identifying the risks, council is able to develop plans and actions for dealing with them as effectively as it can. As noted in the report, a significant number of the risks included in the register are not unique to the council and are beyond the council’s ability to directly control on its own.”
Adding: “A significant proportion of these 16 risks relate to children’s services and health inequalities. These include responding to the Ofsted inspection of children’s services and children’s social care [… and we’re] continuing to manage the challenges associated with the provision of high quality local accommodation for cared for children as demand continues to exceed supply, ensuring that the increasing number of young people with special education needs and/or disabilities receive the services that they require.”
The 16 strategic risks identified by Grant Thornton auditors:
- Children’s social care placement sufficiency – a risk that the provision of quality placements does not meet the increasing demand.
- Ofsted inspection of children’s social care – significant risks in failing to implement the improvement plan following Ofsted report.
- High Needs Block/ High-cost placements – increasing numbers of Education, Health and Care Plans and greater complexity of individual cases pose a significant financial risk to the council and its ability to provide sufficient in-borough provision.
- Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities demand – a risk that the council will not be able to provide local, quality services for all young people with such needs.
- Recruitment and retention of children’s social care staff – high staff turnover challenges in recruitment continue to present risks to quality of practice.
- Adult social care funding – risk around the allocation of funding at sufficient levels to implement national reform programme.
- Adult social care workforce- a risk to the council’s ability to recruit and retain staff to respond to demand and meet future requirements.
- Premature mortality – a risk of a further widening of the gap between Knowsley and England in relation to “all cause” premature mortality.
- NHS and wider health system partner challenges – is a risk that Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board pressures impact on the council’s ability to deliver key plans and affect local financial arrangements.
- Health inequalities and mental health provision – a risk that competing priorities and a lack of NHS partner capacity to address health inequalities and mental health could impact effective responses.
- Future pandemics – a risk that infectious diseases may occur which could pose a significant threat to the population and significantly impact on the economy.
- Major Housing and commercial development – risks around the potential impact of changes to the National Planning Policy Framework including increased housing targets.
- Town Centre vitality – a risk that other factors beyond the council’s control impact on the ability to deliver development projects.
- Financial stability – a risk that the continuing national economic challenges, high rates of inflation and energy costs, alongside increases in demand for services put significant unfunded pressure on the council’s 2024/25 budget.
- Cyber security – there is a risk that the Council’s approach to cyber-security is insufficient to protect the local authority from new cyber-threats.
- Compliance with GDPR and Freedom of Information – a risk of potential financial and reputational damage if the Council does not comply with statutory duties.