Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reed has been accused by a Labor council of showing “arrogance, indifference and moral bankruptcy” towards children in social care.
In an unusually direct attack, Hartlepool council’s Labor leaders said they were “furious and dismayed” at Reed after a meeting with him last week.
A cross-party delegation had asked the Secretary of State for £3m to help alleviate the rising cost of social care.
The county town of Durham is one of the most deprived in England. It has the third highest number of children in care per capita in the country.
Pamela Hargreaves, Labor leader of Hartlepool council, told the Guardian that Reed said the government would not “reward councils for having large numbers of children in care” and then “dismissed” the discussion by saying: “That’s life.”
“That comment says it all,” Hargreaves said. “Shrugging our shoulders in the face of abused and exploited children is not political, it is moral bankruptcy.
“Calling adequate funding for children in care as a ‘reward’ is obscene and offensive. Protecting vulnerable children is a basic moral and legal duty of the State.”
He added: “Our children and our families deserve much better than arrogance, indifference and a shrug at the idea of ’that’s life’.”
The government said it was fixing an outdated and unfair council funding system and had made £78bn available to local authorities next year, as well as a 33% rise for Hartlepool council by 2028-29.
A government spokesperson said: “Our fair funding reforms will ensure councils get the funding they need to deliver the high-quality public services local people deserve.”
Reed has said ministers were “realigning” funding so that poorer areas got a fairer share.
However, local government leaders have said a significant increase in funding is needed to prevent more local authorities from going bankrupt after huge cost increases and cuts under the Conservative government.
Hargreaves said ministers were failing in his area in a system that “punishes deprivation”.
The Hartlepool Labor group said it receives far less than the national average for children in care as part of the Government’s Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, which equates to £6,674 per child.
They said children were being forced into expensive private and unregulated placements due to a shortage of foster carers across the country. Each placement costs the council between £13,000 and £20,000 per child each week.
Jonathan Brash, Labor MP for Hartlepool, said the government had offered a £3m cash boost but this was “the equivalent of funding around six children in care”, adding it needed an extra £3m to help balance the books.
Hargreaves said southern councils had relocated dozens of vulnerable families to Hartlepool over the past year, “effectively pouring millions of pounds of additional need into one of the poorest boroughs in the country”.
He said the government’s “highhanded and dismissive attitude” reduced vulnerable children to “a line on a spreadsheet”. He added: “These are children with a legal right to protection. Refusing to fix a rigged funding system and telling disadvantaged communities to impose harsher taxes is not leadership, it is abdication.”
The group of 21 Labor councilors said in February they were considering leaving the party after being “betrayed” by ministers.
Hargreaves said a mass resignation was still possible. The Labor group is not expected to increase council tax when the budget finalizes on Tuesday.
The authority was regained by Labor two years ago from a Conservative-independent coalition, but Nigel Farage’s Reform UK hopes to make significant gains when a third of the council’s seats are up for re-election in May. Its precursor, the Brexit party, briefly led the authority in coalition with the Conservatives in 2019-20.
