Democracy doesn't work when people don't know  Upgrade to paid

NEWS

Underperforming county council children’s services to receive nearly half of proposed spending increases

Details of simultaneous £50 million 2023-24 spending reductions not yet published as finance director cites service delivery ‘re-prioritisation’.

Leigh Curtis with Ollie Heptinstall, Local Democracy Reporter

Devon County Council is expected to increase spending by just over 10% next financial year, with nearly half of the net inflation-level increase allocated to its underperforming children’s services.

The Conservative-run council intends to spend £696 million on service delivery from April, an increase of £66 million over this year, with final budget approval due next month.

Children’s services would receive an additional £32 million and adult social care an additional £27 million.

Spending on climate change, environment and transport would increase by £2.8 million and public health and communities by just £1 million.

However £50 million of spending reductions in other service areas are also planned.

Devon County Council headquarters at County Hall Devon County Council headquarters at County Hall

Devon County Council’s children’s services were judged as inadequate by Ofsted in January 2020 and the Department of Education issued a statutory direction ordering the council to make improvements.

Further Ofsted monitoring and a review by the Children’s Commissioner for England followed.

In July last year a joint report by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission highlighted significant concerns about Devon County Council’s services for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) following an inspection.

Devon County Council acknowledged its failings but in October the Department of Education found that while there had been some improvement the council was “still failing to perform to an adequate standard”.

Then in December the county council was told that its children’s services were considered the “third or fourth worst in the country” and would be taken into special measures and taken over by an independent trust if improvements were not made.

Subscribe to The Exeter Digest - Exeter Observer's essential free email newsletter

Your personal information will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy

County council leader John Hart said last November that deep service cuts would have to be made without additional central government funding.

It now expects to overspend by £7 million this year, £26 million less than forecast after it reduced in-year spending.

The county council has also identified almost £50 million of spending reductions for next year, which will be laid out in its detailed budget next month.

County finance director Angie Sinclair called the combination of spending increases and reductions a “re-prioritisation” of its service delivery.

Conservative cabinet member Phil Twiss said he was certain that the target figures for the upcoming financial year were “both realistic and achievable”.

However Liberal Democrat opposition leader Julian Brazil said: “I think I probably heard him say that at the last budget and then within two months we were £30 million off [a predicted overspend].”

Labour group leader Carol Whitton also expressed scepticism that the county council’s books will balance either this year or next.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know

Public interest news that holds power and influence to account is more important now than it has ever been.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know who is deciding what on whose behalf and what the costs and consequences of those decisions will be.

Exeter Observer was created to deliver the independent investigative journalism our local democracy needs.

It exists because people who think what we do matters are willing to chip in each month to help cover our costs.

We need more of our readers to contribute like this so we can keep producing and publishing our essential reporting.

137 of the 300 paying subscribers we need have signed up so far. Join them today to help us reach our goal.

If you value the work we do please support our work from less than £2/week. It's a small investment for a very big return.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
Illustrative view of proposed co-living blocks from Heavitree Road

Heavitree Road police station student accommodation and “co-living” scheme consultation extended

Developers revise application for full planning permission for 813-bed seven-block complex submitted in May as similar proposals proliferate across city centre.

Boneyard arcade games

Unique retro games arcade to create new Sidwell Street venue after long search

Boneyard arcade seeking permission to change use of empty Brighthouse retail unit after making way for “co-living” block at previous Red Lion Lane location.

Proposed revised Mary Arches Bartholomew Street East co-living block elevation

Mary Arches “co-living” developer resists “miniscule” room size criticisms as design revisions prompt further consultation

Changes include increased building footprints and removal of twelve rooms to provide eleven communal kitchens – between residents of 297 studios – while gates obstruct pedestrian thoroughfare and site’s historic setting and significance essentially ignored.

September 2025 permitted replacement scheme west elevation

Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval

Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.

, updated

Grace Road Fields in March

Botched consultation restarted on sale of 8.5 acres of Riverside Valley Park green space

Council land disposal to include rights to lay underground distribution pipework across River Exe floodplain following “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields heat plant planning approval in face of Environment Agency sequential test concerns.

On Our Radar
Jo Eades

FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER 2025

Spork! Dead Poets Slam 2025

Halloween spoken-word special featuring Jo Eades and Samuel L. Cohen with a £100 cash prize poetry slam.

EXETER PHOENIX

Carmen with rose graphic

SATURDAY 8 & SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2025

Carmen

Exeter Opera Group performs Bizet’s tale of a free-spirited woman and her passionate and destructive love affair with a soldier.

EXETER CASTLE

Exeter Philharmonic Choir

SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2025

The Weather Book

Exeter Philharmonic Choir performs a new weather-inspired work plus pieces by Brahms, Poulenc and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

EXETER CATHEDRAL