IF MAKING cuts to council services is a difficult task, making cuts in children’s services appears nigh on impossible.

As schools budgets are protected, any attempt to make savings would most likely impact on family support services, school support services, children’s social care or youth services.

And what council will be prepared to slash the amount of cash spent on child protection or family intervention projects, knowing that these could potentially be life-or-death decisions?

It sounds dramatic – but it’s true. The tragic cases of Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter show just what can happen when the system fails.

Councils simply cannot afford to have a shortage of social workers, or to allow work to pile up so that even one case gets neglected.

This year, Dorset County Council has £25.4m in its budget to pay for social workers, fostering placements, children’s homes and other essential services.

Bournemouth expects to spend just over £9.9m on a variety of children’s services, including residential care, fostering services, respite breaks and the education of looked after children.

And the Borough of Poole anticipates spending £3.6m on an estimated 126 children in care.

Over the last few years, all three councils have seen an increase in the number of children in care, along with a rise in the number of referrals to social services.

Some of this is attributed to the “Baby P effect” and greater public awareness of child protection issues but whatever the reason, it’s a major headache for cash-strapped councils.

With some residential placements costing more than £2,000 a week, councils have looked to other options to keep costs down.

Money has been spent on early intervention projects, trying to identify problems and work with families at the very first opportunity.

Councils have also tried to recruit more local foster carers, who are not only a cheaper option than children’s homes (average weekly cost of £340 compared to £2,210 for a residential placement in Bournemouth) but are nearly always better for the child too.

But there are some costs that simply can’t be cut. It costs councils thousands of pounds to go to court and get a ruling on whether a child should be removed from its family but there’s no option if social workers feel a child is at risk of serious harm.

So while there could be some trimming of administrative and management costs, it’s far more likely that discretionary services such as home to school transport, careers’ advice and grants to bodies like Sure Start and the Youth Offending Team will be more vulnerable.

Supplementary services such as Dorset Music Service and Dorset County Council’s outdoor education service could also be forced to put up their prices to reduce the need for council funding.