Award-winning service faces cutbacks

JUST a month after Warrington’s children’s services department was shortlisted for a top national award, it faces the possibility of cutbacks affecting vulnerable children and families, a union has warned.
The borough council is consulting staff and unions on up to 46 redundancies in the families and wellbeing directorate.
Town Hall union Unison says it is “very anxious” about the possible impact of the cuts.
In addition, directorate chief Kath O’Dwyer (pictured) – who is credited with the recent successes of the children’s department – is leaving the authority.
Earlier this week, announcing her departure for a top job with education watchdogs Ofsted, council chief executive Prof Steven Broomhead said: “Kath took over Warrington’s children’s services at a time when they were judged to be poor, and she’ll be leaving them in a state we can be proud of.
“In the meantime Kath has taken over the wider remit of families and wellbeing, and she has applied the same kind of rigorous thinking to delivering social services that are high quality and value for money. “
In 2009, Ofsted condemned Warrington’s children’s services as “inadequate.”
Two years later – after Ms O’Dwyer had been brought in to turn the service around – they were said to be performing well and only last month they, and four other services within the families and wellbeing directorate, were shortlisted in the prestigious Local Government Chronicle awards.
Now Unison says the sterling work carried out by an already reduced workforce is at risk because of the scale of the impending cuts.
They say they will impact on disabled people, vulnerable children and families.
The council says that all its services, including the families and wellbeing directorate, have to find savings for the coming financial year while at the same time continuing to modernise and transform services.
A spokesperson said: “Proposals for budget savings have been drafted and we are now consulting on up to 46 redundancies with staff, unions and key stakeholders. This figure represents 2.5 per cent of the whole families and wellbeing workforce (not including school staff).
“However, we are working hard to significantly reduce this number and although we are facing some tough decisions, we are committed to exploring all alternatives to compulsory redundancies by looking at voluntary options and seeking to recruit staff to available posts in other structures.
“Staff will be kept up to date and will be offered a range of support and advice during this process and all options will be fully explored before any final decisions are made.”