A report to the Fife Council Education and Children’s Subcommittee has shown an overspend in the Children and Families Service by £10.16 million, compared to just under £4.8 million in the equivalent report in August 2019. Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Councillor James Calder is worried about this.

Councillor Calder has said

It appears that this overspend has more than doubled since last year and with Council finances hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, this is yet another damaging financial blow for Fife.

Much of this is due to third party payments for care placements, like last year. After I raised this at the Committee it was explained that Fife was anticipating this to reduce significantly, meaning much less was budgeted for this. However clearly things have transpired differently.

The SNP and Labour Council coalition need to sort this out as the Council’s financial predicament remains perilous