THE cost of paying for children’s social care continues to put the squeeze on town hall finances, with a £4 million overspend predicted by Oldham council this year.

An update into the state of the authority’s balance book halfway through the financial year revealed that pressures are continuing across its children’s services departments.

Even after £712k of reserves was put towards the children’s social care budget, bosses are still predicting they will finish the financial year going £4.09m beyond what they had planned to spend.

Officers say this is a continuation of the pressures "consistently reported" throughout 2017/19, and despite significant investment this year.

The rise in youngsters being looked after by the authority, and in out of borough placements, is placing the biggest financial strain on the town hall.

And the numbers of children with disabilities requesting personal budgets and the number of care leavers living in supported accommodation – a total of £616k – is also above budget.

Last year the town hall ended the financial year with a £3.46m overspend – most of which was put down to the pressures stemming from children’s social care and looked after youngsters.

In addition, staffing needs are adding a pressure of £416k, and officers say the number of agency social workers is a ‘cause for concern’.

A council report states: “If there is no reduction in the number of agency workers, the forecast overspend could increase further.”

However currently it’s estimated that at the end of the year the council will actually be under budget, with £99k left over, pending transfers to and from its reserves.

At the last meeting of the cabinet, portfolio holder for finance, Councillor Abdul Jabbar said: “The key thing to note is we’re predicting by the end of the financial year that we will have a small surplus.

“We always try to produce a balanced budget and I’m confident this year as well that going forward the 18/19 budget will be delivered within the forecast.”