Northamptonshire County Council in ‘crisis talks’ to protect services for vulnerable adults

Northamptonshire County Council held ‘crisis talks’ last week in a bid to find a way to protect its services for vulnerable people amid drastic cutbacks.

The council vowed to retain its services for vulnerable adults and children, but will cut it back to a ‘core offer’ which could see services stripped back to the legal minimum.

They vowed however that a ‘robust’ system will be put in place to safeguard the sector.

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The talks were held as the Council are tasked with cutting back selected services to save £70m by next March, with the authority having imposed emergency spending controls twice in the last six months.

Speaking to the BBC, Brian Roberts, one of two government-appointed commissioners overseeing the council, said the authority’s finances were in a “truly perilous state”.

Council leader Matthew Golby warned the authority has to decide what it can “realistically provide”.

He said they would “safeguard all children and young people” while ensuring a “robust safeguarding system to protect vulnerable adults”.

A section 114 notice issued last week, severely curtailing spending at the council, follows the issuing of the same notice in February.

Prior to this, there had only been two issued in the UK since 1988.

The news came on Friday that the former leader of Northamptonshire County Council had resigned from her party, citing that she “cannot cope” with comments from new councillors.

Cllr Heather Smith, who had been a Conservative councillor for 11 years, announced her resignation on Twitter on Friday after a tumultuous past few months.