Tory council puts vulnerable children at risk

4.33.16pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 30th May 2006

East Sussex County Council dismissed a Lib Dem-led attempt to block the reintroduction of charging parents with children in care at meeting of the full council on 23rd May. This cynical exercise is part of a wider move by the Tory-controlled County Council to cut services for both adults and children in East Sussex, which has been strenuously opposed by Lib Dem councillors.

Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet member for Children's Services, Rosalyn St Pierre, said of the move: "Once again the Tories are penalising the most vulnerable in our society. This decision may well dissuade those most in need of care from getting it as their parents may be put off by the prospect of being charged. Unusually, already overworked social workers will be given discretion over how much families should be charged.

"This measure will clearly hit those on the lowest incomes the hardest, as is typical of this Tory administration. What makes this decision particularly vicious is that even the charging the full amount recommended will only recoup 15% of the actual cost of keeping a child in care. How many of us would begrudge waiving such an amount to know that we were protecting the most at-risk children in our society?"

Leader of the Lib Dem group, David Rogers, added: "We will continue to fight the Tories over these pointless and harmful policies. The Liberal Democrats believe in fairness and there is nothing fair about potentially putting children's well-being at risk when even the finances of it don't add up."