“STOMACH CHURNING” accounts of child abuse exacerbated under lockdown are reported to the council “daily” – and a “big spike” in cases could occur when children go back to school.

Buckinghamshire Council discussed “quite horrific” accounts of abuse perpetrated on children in their own homes directly as a result of “domestic tension” created under lockdown.

The matter was noted by cabinet on Tuesday (July 28), while reviewing the council’s Budget Monitoring Report – its Revenue and Capital outturn position for the financial year 2020/21.

It takes into account financial pressures exerted on the authority by Covid-19, as well as “Business As Usual” (BAU) activities.

Council leader Martin Tett said there is “potential” for a significant rise in demand on Children’s Services when youngsters start going back to school and report “what they’ve been experiencing”.

He said he personally receives between one and three important cases “every day”.

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Children’s Services currently has a forecast Revenue overspend of £6.1 million for this financial year. Its forecast Capital outturn for the same period is an overspend of £459,000.

The cost of full-time care for a single child can range between £300,000 and £1 million.

“I’ve certainly seen a lot of commentary on television about what’s going to happen [in term time],” said Cllr Tett.

“You know… we’ve had children in lockdown with potentially one or both parents and a lot of domestic tension as a result of lockdown and children coming back with some potentially quite horrific stories in terms of what they’ve been experiencing.

“So, there is the potential there for a big spike in terms of Children’s Services demand.”

Councillor Mark Shaw, cabinet member for Children’s Services, reinforced concerns, saying: “One of the things we are seeing now, but are concerned about what we could see, is the actual severity of these cases.

“You get informed of these, sometimes on a daily basis and it’s the severity of them that is of great concern at the moment.”

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Cllr Tett added: “This is always a budget that causes concern, but I get, you know, probably every day, sometimes one, two, maybe even three of these so-called ‘need to know’ cases and they are quite horrific.

“I mean, some of these are stomach churning in terms of their severity and a single child in 24/7 care can cost between £300,000 and potentially up to £1 million pounds depending on the severity of the situation.

“So, you know, these are big numbers and really quite frightening individual situations, they’re very, very hard to control.

“But, you know, this is a big budget and its one we really need to tightly manage.”

Current areas of pressure for Children’s Services:

  • Over-18s – due to Covid-19 lockdown pressures, the council has been unable to move over-18s out into “non-cared for” (independent) accommodation
  • Client costs – the quantity of available care facility placements has decreased and, as a result, children are being placed “further away” than the council “would want to”
  • Special Guardianship Orders – permanent arrangements for children

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