COUNCIL bosses have put a block on bringing in new staff to handle social care for children, education and York’s cultural network because of a huge cash gap.

The budget for City of York Council’s learning, culture and children’s services department is expected to spill over by £1.6 million at the end of the financial year, after the number of children that the authority looks after soared by 35 per cent.

Rising school transport costs and shortfalls in income from libraries and the now-closed Edmund Wilson Swimming Pool have also contributed to the predicted overspend, leading to a freeze on recruitment being put in force across the directorate.

The council says “individual” requests for more staff will be considered if they are needed to avoid putting children’s safety at risk or threaten key services. Employees’ taxi use, travel and conferences outside York, the booking of non-council venues for meetings and the purchase of new office and computer equipment have been suspended.

The department’s financial situation and the steps being taken to deal with it have been outlined in a report which will go before the authority’s learning and culture overview and scrutiny committee this week.

It reveals the children and young people’s services portfolio – which has responsibility for adoption and fostering, services for children with disabilities and education – was set to break through its budget by £1.9 million, while the projected overspend for the leisure and culture arm of the council, covering areas such as libraries, sport, arts and parks, stood at £228,000 at the end of 2009.

That contributed to a likely £2.6 million shortfall for the entire department being identified. Since then savings totalling £885,000 have been identified and £100,000 of additional school transport funding secured, but a directorate management team has now put further cost-cutting measures in place.

“A recruitment freeze is now in place across learning, culture and children’s services,” said a council spokeswoman. “However, where key activities, such as safeguarding responsibilities, income streams or grant funding could be compromised, or where the freeze will result in the unacceptable closure of a significant service, then exceptions will be considered on an individual basis.”

The report added that although the number of children in the council’s care has risen “significantly” in the last four years, this has not been matched by a budget increase. Last week, The Press revealed the number of children had climbed from 157 in March 2007 to 223 at the end of 2009.