Recession could push 'more children into the care system' in Wakefield

Increasing unemployment and mental health issues caused by coronavirus may result in more family breakdown across the country, the council's director of children's services said.

Beate Wagner told a scrutiny meeting on Monday that this could mean local authorities, most of whom are already grappling with stretched social services budgets, having to take care of more youngsters.

A worst case scenario forecast predicts unemployment may top 15 per cent in the Wakefield district next year.

Asked by a Labour councillor if the recession could have an effect on the number of youngsters being referred to the council for help, Ms Wagner said: "We know there's a direct link between family poverty and referral numbers.

"Tensions in family households can lead to difficulties and children getting a referral for additional help and sometimes social care.

"Nationally I think there will be pressure on the system and we have to watch that."

The council ploughed an extra £17m into its children's services in April 2019, a year after a damning Ofsted report rated the department inadequate and said youngsters were being left at serious risk of harm.

Substantial improvements have been made since, with more social workers having been recruited and the council halving the number of expensive agency staff it has to employ to fill in the gaps.

A spike in referrals to the council was expected after children returned to school en masse in September, but Ms Wagner said this hadn't happened because the local authority had kept in touch with its public sector partners throughout the pandemic.

She added: "We've had a very robust system in place with schools.

"(It's helped us) make sure that we've continued to spot children who may have been at risk during the crisis or who may have needed additional support.

"So we haven't seen an increase yet. But i think the impact on children and family's mental health and child poverty will be a medium to long term issue that we're going to have to respond to."

Local Democracy Reporting Service