Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People

The Scrutiny Committee considered proposed changes to provision of homes for children in the County Council’s care. These proposals were due to be considered by Cabinet at their meeting of 17 January 2024.

Members received a presentation outlining: the vision; national, regional and local context; the residential care framework; the range of options considered; and the financial impact of proposals, including capital costs, estimated running costs and operational costs.

To help compliment the current homes and provide smaller homes for children & young people (C&YP) who have more complex needs the Scrutiny Committee heard proposals to open six in-house local authority run children’s homes. The aim was to help maintain some control over the market by enabling the County Council to take C&YP that the private sector were reluctant to take without a significant increase in their fees. This proposal would require a contribution of £0.3m in 24/25 from the Council’s transformation fund to meet upfront costs incurred during the transition process.

There was also a proposal to join the West Midlands Framework for the Provision of Residential Placements 2024. The current flexible framework contract was due to expire in December 2024. The plan would be to implement a new framework earlier, by October 2024, aiming to encourage more providers to join and therefore enabling a wider choice, broader specialisms and achieve better value for money. This contract was currently led by Coventry on behalf of the West Midlands region.

The final proposed change was to join the West Midlands Foster Care Framework 2024. This framework would replace the existing framework which had been in place since April 2020 and was due to expire in March 2024. The current framework had been successful in maintaining costs and had helped access to a wide market. The current contract could be extended by 3 months given that timescales were tight.

Members discussed the proposals in detail, particularly the concept of disrupting the care home market and the rationale and expected impact of that. The Committee had particular concerns around the required 85% occupancy of the six proposed new homes to ensure they were financially viable. Whilst this remained a risk that would need monitoring, it was seen as a risk worth taking to ensure the needs of children were met and to help address the continued price growth from the private sector.

Members were made aware of the requirement to match children within a home, with smaller homes enabling this process to be more easily achieved. It also enabled more complex needs of children to be catered for and provided more local places, enabling continuity for children in their schooling, with their friends etc. Members also considered issues around staffing the potential new homes.

The Committee supported the proposals, whilst having some reservations around maintaining the 85% occupancy and successfully staffing the proposed new children’s homes.

Resolved: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee supports the recommendations for Staffordshire County Council to:

a)   open six in-house local authority run children’s homes;

b)   request a Contribution of £0.3m in 24/25 from the Council’s transformation fund to meet upfront costs incurred during the transition process;

c)   join the West Midlands Framework for the Provision of Residential Placements – from October 2024; and

d)   join the West Midlands Foster Care Framework from April 2024.