Motion by Councillor Eddie Reeves
This Council regrets the way its retendering of services to neurodiverse families, children and young people was handled, leading to Autism Family Support Oxfordshire (AFSO) having funding for its youth groups and family support work cut from 1 April 2024.
The decision means that only funding for AFSO’s Easter and Summer holiday activities will now be funded.
This Council further regrets the minimal oversight of such decision afforded to elected members and underscores the importance of democratic accountability in decisions taken in respect of services for vulnerable residents.
Specifically, one would have expected such a change to have been taken with the approval of the Leader of the Council, relevant Cabinet member and/or with pre-scrutiny of such decision having been taken on a cross-party basis. In the latter case, this did not occur.
The effect of such an arbitrary decision by this Council is that, from 1 April 2024, two well-qualified members of AFSO’s team will be made redundant. Given that AFSO has provided cost-effective support for children and young people from diagnosis up to the age of 25 for over a decade – managing a caseload of 4,500 families – it is reasonable to assume that cutting its services will make matters worse for families.
Given that the annual cost of maintaining these services is only £90,000, this Council requests that Cabinet review the decision and recommends that a paper be taken to the Education and Young People Overview & Scrutiny Committee explaining the chronology and governance surrounding it.
Decision:
The time being 3.30 pm, Items 17 to 28 were considered dropped in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 5.2.