Bexley's Children's Services is facing a projected overspend of £2.234 million, primarily driven by increased costs associated with supporting children with disabilities and intensive home-based care packages.
The projected deficit was revealed in the latest Budget Monitoring Report for Period 9 (December 2025), presented to the Children's Services and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report indicates that the overspend in Children's Social Care has increased by £0.054 million since the previous month, reaching a total of £0.645 million.
Key factors contributing to this overspend include additional costs for supporting children with disabilities, amounting to £1.054 million. This is due to increasing numbers and complexity of cases. Intensive packages of care at home, aimed at preventing or delaying the need for residential placements, have also contributed £0.325 million to the deficit. Furthermore, specialist placements for children in care have seen costs increase by £0.368 million. This is attributed to one new residential placement (£0.106m), one new parent and child assessment placement (£0.084m), and fee increases for two existing residential placements (£0.105m).
Despite these challenges, the report highlights that savings have been made on staffing due to vacant posts. The gross vacancy rate for Children's Social Care (CSC) from March 2025 to February 2026 is 17.74 per cent. This has resulted in an underspend on staffing of £0.375 million, though this is partly offset by the cost of agency staff. The number of agency workers in Children's Social Care has seen a reduction, with all current agency staff being qualified social workers. The permanent workforce in Children's Social Care stands at 82% (86% for qualified workers only). The financial implications of an unstable workforce, comprising a higher level of agency workers, are noted as high due to their greater cost.
Children's Services are forecasting an overspend of £2.234m. Proposed solutions mentioned in the meeting information include savings on vacant posts, partly offset by the cost of agency staff, and an additional government grant for Sector Led Improvement work, staff development and care leavers at risk of rough sleeping amounting to £0.216m. A reduction in the remaining allowance for new placements during the year by £0.190m is also planned. However, a specific projected timeline for addressing the overspend is not provided in the available information.
This information was presented to the Children's Services and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee, as detailed in the Public reports pack.
