The total savings of £1.483m are broken down over the following budgets:

Actions being taken include:

· Children and Families Services have identified savings over a number of areas including the repayment of estimated surplus of the Children's Trust, the holding of some vacant posts; the reduction of support to low level family support initiatives, the management of placements through minimising reliance on NCPs and IFAs and the maximisation of the use of in-house resources.

· ICT underspend of £457,000 resulting from delays to schemes and use of alternative funding

· £136,000 of Standards Fund grant aimed at workforce remodeling is available to be re-directed to address other priorities

· Vulnerable children's Standard Fund grant under spend identified, £131,000

· Up to £300,000 may be available through reviewing the core contribution to the Business Units for one year, with the effect of reducing year end balances.

Further areas that are being explored include:

· Reflecting that much of the budget pressure is activity related, several pieces of County Treasurers' consultancy work are underway to look at NCP and IFA provision

· The department is also looking at the extension of the Level 5 Skills Foster Care options to achieve cost avoidance as well as carrying out a full case review to ensure that appropriate value for money placements for children are made

· All aspects of the pay budget, including historic pay and special allowances, are being reviewed given the impacts of the Pay and Benefits implementation

· There will be one-off turnover savings arising from the Children's Services departmental re-structure (through the natural delay in filling vacancies via external advertisement)

· Developing a protocol for arranging continuing care costs jointly with the newly formed PCT.