Leading Liberal Democrat county councillor Steve Jarvis has blamed years of government under-funding for the emergency measures being taken by the county council to cut budgets by £16m.

But he says the impact could have been less, if the Conservative-led county council had taken action to address mounting costs in children’s services more quickly.

“There isn’t enough money in the system to deliver for our children,” said Cllr Jarvis, pointing to year-on-year reductions in government funding.

“And the county council has not taken the steps it should have done to reduce the effects as much as possible.”

Overall the council’s latest forecasts suggest that – without action – the county council will overspend by £16.4m this year (2023/24) year.

Most of the projected overspend (£12.9m) is concentrated in children’s services.

It includes an additional £3.6m for ‘independent’ placements for children in care, rather than ‘in-house’ provision, and an additional £1.1m in school transport costs for SEND children.

Cllr Jarvis suggests it’s the council’s failure to increase ‘in-house’ provision for children in care quickly enough that has resulted in the greater reliance on more expensive ‘independent’ placements.

He says the council has been too slow to increase special school places within the county, which would have a knock-on effect on school transport budgets.

“The overspend is driven largely by the fact that many of Hertfordsire’s ‘looked after’ children are looked after in very expensive commercial homes away from Hertfordshire,” he said.

“And although they have started to make some steps to provide more space for looked after children in Hertfordshire it’s going desperately slowly. 

“They are going very slowly and the plans are nowhere near ambitious enough.”

The scale of the financial pressures facing the county council emerged on Wednesday (September 27), in a report due to be considered by a meeting of the council's resources and cabinet panel next week (October 5).

That report includes emergency plans drawn-up in a bid to balance the books – including a freeze on recruitment to all but essential roles, referred to by the county council as ‘recruitment prioritisation’.

It also says that up to £10m of contingency funds have been earmarked for use, if required.

But Cllr Jarvis says the measures around recruitment are not a long-term solution.

“Given the hole that the council is now in, freezing recruitment for all non-essential positions may be the only thing to do,” he said.

“However, it is not a long-term solution and will have an increasing impact the longer it remains in operation, so people in Hertfordshire will pay the price for the Conservatives’ failure both locally and nationally.”

Councillor Richard Roberts, Leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “We are not in the same position as some other councils who have declared financial distress. In February of this year we set a balanced budget, but as you would expect, the external challenges we’ve faced mean that we are forecasting a shortfall this year.

"While the pace of change in our financial picture is demanding, I’m confident that our proactive and proportionate approach will enable us to deliver a balanced budget by the end of the financial year while continuing to deliver excellent council services for all.

“This can’t be done by sitting still. We have acted decisively and have already started making bold decisions and identifying significant savings and opportunities to positively transform the way we operate.

“We will do everything in our power to protect services and offer support to our most vulnerable residents and remain a county council with a long history of sound financial management in the years to come.”

Leader of the Labour group Cllr Nigel Bell also points to the Conservative government’s ‘underfunding’.

But locally he says Labour councillors will want reassurance from the county council that vital statutory services for vulnerable residents will be protected.

“It’s impossible for any council to manage budgets after the impossible financial constraints this government has imposed,” he said.

“And their failure to recognise the inflation and demographic pressures that have added to this.

“I understand the freeze in recruitment. But this must not be used to damage the long term futures of our children and also our vulnerable adults, if staff and resources are cut to the bone.

“Despite saying statutory services will be protected, we know from recent reports and the last county budget earlier in the year that ‘frontline services’ will suffer if any more budgets are cut.

“Clearly reserves are to be used, but the concern is that without more government funding it needs a careful and serious review rather than piece-meal measures.

“We have a Conservative council who know they are having to make decisions as a result of a national Conservative government failing to act quickly on the cost of living crisis and failing to find a more stable formula for local government finance.”