Purpose

This report presents a case for
Buckinghamshire to develop 10 new in-house children’s homes
(32 beds) over the next 3 years. These proposals will enable the
Council to meet its statutory duties around placement quality and
sufficiency for looked after children as well as reducing exposure
to financial and legal risks related to the use of unregistered
placements.

Content

Local authorities had a statutory duty to
provide sufficient high-quality placements for their looked after
children. Towards the end of the Covid pandemic in Autumn 2021 the
external (private) placements market collapsed. This had caused a
national crisis in placement sufficiency, which had been deepened
by a range of new challenges linked to the cost-of-living crisis
and economic downturn.
 
The scale of these challenges had prompted local
authorities to develop new and radical approaches to achieving
placement sufficiency. Local authorities across the South East were
exploring options for expanding in-house (Council-run)
provision.
 
Cabinet received a report presenting a business
case for Buckinghamshire to invest in up to 10 new in-house
children’s homes (32 beds) taking a phased approach. These
proposals would enable the Council to meet its statutory duties
around placement quality and sufficiency for future years, deliver
£4.998m savings (by 2027/28), while also reducing exposure to
financial and legal risk. The potential to work in partnership to
deliver this proposal was being explored.
 
Despite maintaining a stable proportion of
children in care, the Council’s spend on placements has
increased significantly over the last 3 years from £27.3m to
a forecast £38.4m this year. This reflected growing demand
for residential placements due to a loss of foster carers and unit
cost increases of 25-30% across all external placement types during
this period. This started to reveal the impact of the post-pandemic
global economic crisis on the national placements market. It was a
complex and dynamic picture, with various interconnected factors
creating a ‘perfect storm’ – with all placement
types becoming harder to find and costing significantly more. As a
result, in November 2021 the Council placed their first child in
‘unregistered’ provision. This was where a local
authority placed a child under the age of 18 in accommodation that
was not registered with Ofsted. Wider engagement across the South
East (via the South East Sector-Led Improvement Partnership) had
shown that all Authorities in the region were facing similar
pressures and challenges to Buckinghamshire in terms of demand far
outstripping supply and significant increases in average placement
costs.
 
RESOLVED –
 

(1)              
That a phased approach to invest in up to 10 new in-house
children’s homes (including 32 additional beds), to be
delivered in stages over the next 3 years be AGREED and ADOPTED, to
include:

 

(i)           
The addition to the capital programme of £11.184m of
capital expenditure, of which £984k to be added to the
2023-24 Capital Programme and £10.2m to the Capital MTFP,
phased over 4 years, funded from borrowing.

(ii)         
The inclusion of a net -£0.662m saving in 2025-26 rising
to -£2.981m saving in 2026-27 and -£4.998m in 2027-28
to the Revenue MTFP resulting from moving children currently in
high-cost unregistered and external residential provision into
in-house children’s homes.

(iii)       
Delivery of the programme in clear phases including a further
review of the business case by Cabinet within 12 months.

 

(2)              
That
authority be delegated to the Service Director of Property and
Assets, in conjunction with the Service Director Major Projects,
the Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration and the Cabinet
Member for Education and Children’s Services, to use the
Council’s existing property portfolio for this
programme (where the costs are in line with the agreed Capital and
Revenue budgets).

 

(3)              
That, if it is not possible to
identify suitable properties within the Council’s existing
portfolio, authority be delegated to the Service Director of
Property and Assets, in conjunction with the Service Director Major
Projects, the Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources
and the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services,
to undertake property searches, exchange and
complete on the initial four homes referenced in this report (homes
5-10 will be subject to Cabinet decisions before phases 2 and 3
commence).