A LACK of resources could put children’s lives at risk, according to a new report on child services in East Lothian.

The report said there was a high risk that the service would fail to fulfil its duty of care, adding it “could result in the death, serious harm or detriment of a child”.

The risk assessment of the council’s children’s wellbeing service, which earlier this month revealed it was currently running nearly £400,000 over its budget, warned that a lack of resources could cause the failure. And it said that the axing of 14 full-time professionals from the service in January had resulted in increased tensions over current practice.

It warned the service currently ran a “high risk” of failing, revealing measures to improve the situation would need to ensure the budget was increased to provide the help needed for vulnerable children.

Sharon Saunders, the council’s head of children’s wellbeing, on Tuesday told the local authority’s audit and governance committee that her team was already under “quite severe scrutiny” over its spending, and she said there were statutory requirements to provide to children whether the money was there or not.

She said: “We are spending more money than is in our budget because we are responding to the need for resources.” Councillor Stuart Currie, head of the SNP Group on East Lothian council, which has already called for emergency funding to be given to both child and adult social services, questioned how the department could balance its books without affecting services to young people.

And he said if the service was already spending far above its budget then money should be found from another area which was underspending to boost the department’s funds.

Alex McCrorie, the council’s deputy chief executive for resources and people services, acknowledged that Mr Currie raised “good points”. He added: “It may lead to a budget review.” The risk assessment also warned that vulnerable adults in the council’s care were at a critical risk of suffering harm due to a lack of appropriate operational processes and resources.

Adult wellbeing services has also reported an overspend in its budget by £579,000 so far this year as it struggles to meet demand for help in the county.

The report warned there was a high risk that “demographic pressure increases the cost of service delivery which cannot be dealt with due to budget constraints”, and placed the danger of a vulnerable adult suffering harm at “major risk” – just short of “catastrophic” on its scale.

Mr Currie raised concerns again about the need for a review of the council’s current budget strategy and voiced concerns that vulnerable adults would have to reach crisis point before they qualified for help if cuts to services continued.

Murray Leys, head of adult wellbeing, said: “They are very good points being made. We have experienced a significant amount of demographic pressure in the last year. Staff are constantly reviewing the care so we can make best use of the scant resources we have.

“There is no doubt we have significant pressures in adult wellbeing which will have to be looked at in the future.” Mr Currie described the pressure on the service as leaving him “wondering when we put the paddles on the chest and shout ‘clear’”, asking what would happen if the department had to raise the criteria for people in need of help from “substantial”, as it currently stands, to “critical”.

Mr Leys said: “We are constantly reviewing our position with eligibility or criteria. If at any point we consider there will need to be a change it will be brought back before elected members.”