Council to spend more on children's services

Several bodies have expressed concerns about the Leeds service – including Ofsted – and the Council's own scrutiny body said workloads were too high and called for an immediate increase in staff.

Now, the Council's executive board has backed proposals to spend more money to increase the number of social workers for children and young people.

In responding to a recommendation made by the Council's children's services watchdog earlier this month, the Council's interim director of children's services has proposed directing spending towards a range of advanced and frontline social worker posts over the next two years

A Council spokesman said: "The investment is part of a wider approach to improvement, which also involves looking at how social workers are supported and how cases are allocated and handled.

"The aim is to give social workers more time to concentrate on working directly with children, young people, and their families."

Councillor Stewart Golton, executive board member responsible for children's services said: "Over the past year we have faced a number of challenges and this investment reflects our commitment to strengthen and improve services for vulnerable children and young people in Leeds.

"The recommendation from the scrutiny board is helpful and ties in with the investment we were already planning for this crucial area of work. Our proposals for how this money will be used take a pragmatic approach over the next two years, that will help us support the workforce, reduce caseloads and ultimately improve safeguarding through a higher quality of service''.

Extra money will go towards paying for appropriate residential care for those children and young people with the most complex needs.

The budget also recognises the increased demand for foster care and paying for recruiting and training foster carers in Leeds and outside the city.