THE leader of Newport City Council has stressed the need for more local residential placements for the city’s most vulnerable people.

Despite the council reporting a £1.29 million revenue budget underspend, costly out-of-area placements for children with special education needs (SEN) led to a near £2 million overspend.

Councillor Debbie Wilcox told her cabinet on Wednesday that such issues had been shared with Sally Holland, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

“There is a need for Wales to have its own places for our most vulnerable people and this would help us all across the country,” said Cllr Wilcox.

“I know of a child in Caerphilly that was sent to a placement in Newcastle. How can those parents go through that? We must start tackling that.

“I’ve suggested having places in south, mid and north Wales to start with. It’s got to happen.”

A cabinet report revealed that the local authority currently pays for 25 out-of-area placements of “varying costs” using a budget that can only accommodate 13 placements.

Additional overspends of £914,000 in the council’s education service were also attributed to demands placed on SEN budgets.

The report says there are plans to bring placements back into the area by developing alternative residential capacity in Newport at a lower cost.

Councillor Debbie Harvey said the council “couldn’t just shut the door on our most vulnerable”, while Councillor Gail Giles added: “These children need specialist support immediately, they can’t keep travelling all over the country.”

Cllr Giles also spoke about another significant area of expenditure – the city’s schools, where there was a collective £974,000 overspend.

In total, 38 of the local authority’s 61 reported overspend positions, with two schools ending the financial year with six-figure deficit budgets.

“There’s great concerns about next year’s budget and it’s going to be extremely difficult,” said Cllr Giles.

“Whilst schools have been protected for many years, they are really recognising the demands placed on us.

“We are doing everything we possibly can to support them and their budgets.”

Cllr Wilcox reinforced the council’s protection of its schools while suggesting that schools across the border were facing similar, even greater, financial pressures.

“I spoke to a teacher of English school and he said that he’d let 10 staff go and had lost £1 million,” said Cllr Wilcox.

“This was an ordinary school, not an academy. The difference between Wales and England is palpable.”