The Children and Families Committee met on 15 September 2025, and approved recommendations regarding the first financial review of 2025/26, a new primary school at Basford East, a new domestic abuse service, and supported accommodation for children in care and care leavers. The committee also heard updates on the Families First programme and the Children's Services improvement plan.

Cheshire East Domestic Abuse Service

The committee approved a new service model and authorised procurement for a new service contract for a three-year term, with a possible two-year extension, for the Cheshire East Domestic Abuse Service. This followed a review, consultation, and engagement on the domestic abuse safe accommodation service, and the new Domestic Abuse and Sexual Abuse Strategy 2025/28.

The recommendations followed consultation activity over the summer and a rapid review which advised the council to:

• Increase the number of safe accommodation bed spaces to a minimum of 27.
• Increase the mix of communal/dispersed refuges.
• Develop the support offered to children and young people in safe accommodation.
• Improve communication between Housing Options and the safe accommodation provider.

The committee also approved the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy 2025-28 for endorsement and adoption by the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership. The strategy's vision is:

To work towards ending domestic abuse, sexual violence and violence against women and girls, and ensure that the people of Cheshire East can live safe, equal and harm-free lives, in homes and neighbourhoods without abuse .

The strategy has four strategic priorities: prevention, trauma-informed service provision, partnership and collaboration, and accountability and learning.

The annual budget for the Domestic Abuse service for 2025-26 is £1.740m.

First Financial Review of 2025/26

The committee reviewed the first financial review for 2025/26, which showed a forecast adverse net revenue financial pressure of £3.1m against a revised budget of £440.5m. The report highlighted that the key areas causing an overspend were children and families, and a shortfall against in-year cross-directorate transformation savings.

The committee approved supplementary revenue estimate requests for allocation of additional grant funding over £500,000 and up to £1,000,000.

The report noted that the opening Dedicated Schools Grant¹ (DSG) deficit was £112.1m, with a projected year-end deficit of £145.6m. The committee also heard that a separate report would be brought to a future meeting outlining the plan to stabilise the DSG and reduce the deficit.

Approval to progress with the proposal for the provision of a new Primary school at Basford East, Shavington

The committee approved a proposal to progress with the free school presumption process to open a new primary school at Basford East, Shavington. This included attracting potential sponsors to run the new school, and entering into a pre-construction services agreement.

The new 1 form entry primary school, with the option for 30-place nursery, is proposed to open in September 2028. The building will be designed to allow expansion to 2 forms of entry if needed. A site for the school has been secured via a Section 106 agreement².

The committee requested that the design team consider the inclusion of additional classrooms, solar panels, sprinklers, noise reduction facilities, and mitigations for parking issues.

Supported Accommodation for 16–25-year-old Children in Care and Care Leavers

The committee approved a new service model and authorised the procurement of a new five-year service contract, with a possible two-year extension, for supported accommodation for 16-25-year-old children in care and care leavers.

The new service model will include:

• Supported accommodation for 16-17-year-olds in North Cheshire East (16 beds, including one emergency bed).
• Supported accommodation for 16-17-year-olds in South Cheshire East (27 beds, including two emergency beds).
• Supported accommodation for 18-25-year-olds in North Cheshire East (21 beds, including one emergency bed).
• Supported accommodation for 18-25-year-olds in South Cheshire East (42 beds, including two emergency beds).
• Supported accommodation for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children aged 16-17 in all of Cheshire East (20 beds).

The committee stipulated that any costs above the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) budget should be reported back to the committee at the earliest opportunity.

Improvement Plan Progress Report

The committee received an update on the progress against the children's services improvement plan, following the Ofsted inspection of local authority children's services in February and March 2024.

The report included findings from the second Ofsted monitoring visit in June 2025, sector-led improvement partner work in August 2025, and councillor visits to frontline services in July 2025.

As of 22 July 2025, 49% of the actions in the improvement plan had been completed.

Families First Task and Finish Group Feedback

The committee received feedback on the work of the Families First Task and Finish Group, which was established to understand the rationale and evidence base for place-based locality working, and to contribute towards the development of the Families First Partnership plans.

The presentation highlighted that the Families First programme is underpinned by strong multi-agency working, and that it aims to improve safety and wellbeing of children.