An extra £1.6 million is expected to be given to The Slough Children’s Services Trust after it overspent its budget.

The trust, which is independent although it is funded by Slough Borough Council, was forecasted to have overspent by £1.15 million in 2019/2020 due to staffing pressures and a spike in referrals.

Its total budget this year is expected to come to £29million including a Department for Education (DfE) investment of £2 million.

Slough Borough Council is legally responsible for the Trust and funds it although it does not control SCST’s operations.

The service was once rated as ‘inadequate’ by Government OFSTED inspectors and since last year the service has been rated as ‘needs improvement’.

Cllr James Swindlehurst, leader of Slough Borough Council, believes the trust should improve financially this year but raised concerns about its stability.

He said: “We have to recognise that we didn’t improve the service speedily enough to escape the attentions of the government.

“We would be very surprised to see another in year demand because we’re putting a load of planned growth to help sustain the service.

“We want children to be safe in Slough and the trust is delivering a better level of service than we were for quite a long period.”

Councillors will meet February 20 to decide whether to give the green light to the £1.6 million boost.