COUNCILLORS fear short- term savings could shore up problems in children’s services.
Members of Calderdale’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel have to make £546,000 worth of cuts.
And a planned service tackling Child Sexual Exploitation now seems unlikely to go ahead.
It’s part of £6.2bn public sector spending cuts the Government announced in June.
Calderdale has to make cuts of £1.535m in total.
And it’s the children’s service which could be hit the most.
Scrutiny chairman, Clr Megan Swift, said they recognised that savings had to be made quickly, but she said the panel members felt more information needed to be made available before they could consider proposals in detail.
She said: “It’s already clear that under the current savings proposals, Children and Young People’s Services will take the biggest hit.
“What’s of real concern to me is that by making these short- term savings, we could be storing up problems for later.
“We need to ensure that we provide the support to our children and young people so that they can thrive, be safe and happy.
“Making cuts in the wrong areas now could result in the council needing to spend even more in the long run to deal with the problems that may arise.”
