An £800,000 cut to council services for children, young people and their families has been quashed after opposition from councillors – but future cuts haven’t been ruled out.

The authority has to cut £30m from its services over the next two years, as a result of cuts in Government funding.

Lewisham Council proposed to make the cut for next year’s budget last September, despite increased demand on the service.

But the children and young people select committee found the cut couldn’t be made without “serious reductions in service.”

This was after deferring the decision for nine months.

The committee found: “At the time of considering the budget in September 2018, the Committee felt it was unable to properly assess the impact of the cuts without information on what the redesigned service would look like. As a result, the decision whether to support the cuts was deferred to allow for the completion of the Early Help review.

“Although the review has yet to be completed, the committee now has sufficient understanding to lead it to the conclusion that the objectives of the early help review will not be met should the decision be made to make the cut.”

Council officers have now agreed the £800,000 cut will not go ahead.

“Given the minimal statutory basis for the services in question however, it is likely that these services will need to be considered in future as having potential for cuts should the council’s budget position not significantly improve,” a council report said.

The children and young people directorate is still under more than £1.2m of financial pressure, with a further £1m risk should the troubled families grant also be cut by the Government, the report continued.