A FINANCIAL blackhole and an anticipation of huge spikes in casework caused by coronavirus is expected to put pressures on Slough’s children’s social care service, councillors have warned.

At a virtual education and children’s services scrutiny panel on July 16 (Thursday), councillors were told the Slough Children’s Trust Service (SCTS) – an independent agency but is funded by the council and government – cases and assessments could increase to over a thousand later this year.

In the report, it states there is a backlog of work building due to some staff needing to shield or self-isolate which has led to pressures and caseloads to current carers and will have a ‘direct and indirect’ impact on costs.

This spike is predicted to be between September and December with the highest rise to be in November with 400 cases – which the report warns that this trajectory could have a £1.2 million impact on the trust’s finances.

But Lisa Humphry’s, chief executive of SCTS, said these figures only paints a ‘rough’ picture as these are only predictions as they anticipate cases to go up when schools start to reopen in September.

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Around £220,000 of Covid-19 costs – such as purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff, residential costs, legal advice, etc – have incurred to the Trust from March 23 to the end of June where £96,000 of that was spent on two young people with one requiring 24/7 one to one supervision due him breaching social distancing.

Another is still in SCTS responsibility while he awaits sentencing after he was found guilty of murder.

At the end of the report, Lisa Humphry’s said they won’t know the full impact of Covid-19 ‘without the benefit of hindsight’ until the virus and lockdown dies down.

Councillor Zaffar Ajaib (Labour: Langley St Mary’s) asked if the Trust is in talks with the government to fill the Covid-19 related costs or if this potential £1.2 million could put pressure on the council’s finances.

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Cate Duffy, Slough Borough Council’s (SBC) strategic director children, learning, and skills, said the SCTS’s pressures will be added to SBC as a previous government grant was ‘nowhere near’ to cover the coronavirus-related costs.

Lisa Humphry’s said: “We are working very closely with the council’s finance department to get the predictions for these costs and with other bodies as well – like the local government association – in terms of providing the evidence to central government on what the impact is.”

Members were also told the trust ‘never closed its doors’ during the pandemic where care workers made nearly 2,350 visits to Slough families and children for one-to-one care – whilst keeping safe such as wearing PPE – with some making ‘virtual visits’ for those shielding.

Staff who were not shielding or self-isolating came to the office on a minimum rota basis to respond to any calls from families or children who needed support.