Blackburn with Darwen BC must prioritise savings to fill a potential £18.6m funding gap by 2027 while improving children’s care services, a peer review has warned.

A Local Government Association corporate peer challenge (CPC) report warns Blackburn’s existing financial challenges will continue, with a predicted £18.6m funding gap for the period to 2026-27 alongside agreed savings of £3.7m to balance the budget this year.

But the peer review team said the financial challenge must be met while Blackburn is under pressure to improve local care offerings.

A 2022 Ofsted review changed Blackburn’s children’s services rating from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’, and the authority quickly put in place an improvement board and plan. A more recent joint targeted area inspection found improvements, but warned there is ‘more work still to do’.

‘In this context, it will be important for the council to maintain focus on delivery of the required savings. The council will need to ensure the right balance in terms of ensuring continued progress in relation to the borough’s ambitious growth plans and the need to meet the ongoing pressures within both children’s and adults social care,’ the CPC report states.

In response, Blackburn has drafted an action plan, approved at a council meeting on 5 October, which outlines how officials will deliver children’s services improvements and meet tough medium-term financial targets.

Referring to Blackburn’s financial work, the action plan states: ‘The work to do this will start during Autumn 2023 and, when it is considered necessary to do so, proposals will be brought forward for consideration by the executive board, Council and with public consultation as appropriate.’