Children’s trust determined health board pays debt owed for child placements
Health bosses have been refusing to pay contributions to children’s care packages for three years
By Sarah Ward
The finance director of Northamptonshire’s overspent independent children’s trust says he will continue to chase the county’s health board for debts owed.
It has been recently made public that the trust has been in a financial dispute with the county’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) about millions of pounds of debts it owes for contributions to children’s care.
At a meeting of North Northamptonshire Council’s corporate scrutiny board on Tuesday, the children’s trust’s finance director Andrew Tagg said he was hoping matters would be resolved at a meeting next week.
He said:
“We wouldn’t have thought we would still be in a discussion at this stage but the meeting on the 17th is pivotal.
“On the 17th there are a number of courses of action that can be taken, but we are looking for resolution at that point.”
The trust will overspend its £153m budget by as much as £30m this year, an overspend that will rest on the two unitary councils, which are themselves looking at going over budget and may have to take from reserves to balance the books.
The majority of the overspend is due to the cost of private placements.
Placements for some costs where there is a health need for a child, typically should be charged to the health board, but the ICB has not been paying.