Monday, 27 September 2010

Barnet Council chops £30 million from childrens service budgets (and other auditing gems)

I was shocked to see the scale of cutbacks that Barnet Council have made in the last year. These are exposed in this document produced by auditors Grant Thornton.

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=9644

It seems that £30 million has magically disappeared from the childrens service budget.
Of course not everyone in Barnet has suffered cuts, on top of the five "superleague" salary kings of Barnet, detailed in THIS BLOG, we have all of these "second rung" posts on huge salaries as well.

(click on the image to make more readable).

Perhaps the oddest comment in these accounts is the one about the money deposited with "other local authorities"

What I can't understand is how the note of explanation ties up with the table. None of these authorities actually border on Barnet ????? Whilst I'd probably trust any of these authorities more than I'd trust Barnet with our cash, why are they depositing £21.5 Million pounds in with Southend? 

Anyone care to explain. Do we earn interest on these deals? Is it a necessity for the function of the Borough?

2 comments:

  1. Citizen Barnet28 September 2010 at 11:32

    These could be for children with special needs, including physical, who have to go to specialist schools. I heard a little about this from someone I met on one of the Burnt Oak anti-cuts stalls.

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  2. Broadway Blogger2 October 2010 at 09:51

    Yes - often London Boroughs send children to areas where there is residential accomodation. I seem to remember that the Welsh place is one of those and often these places are well out of London. It could be for schooling or for holiday schemes. Still seems alot of money though but if it is spent on vulnerable and disabled children and adults then it is well worth spending this money......

    ReplyDelete

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