Bid to curb spiralling cost of caring for Blackpool's vulnerable children

A five year strategy has been unveiled to try to cut the spiralling cost of children’s services in Blackpool while still ensuring vulnerable children are protected.
Using more foster parents will help cut costs of looking after children in careUsing more foster parents will help cut costs of looking after children in care
Using more foster parents will help cut costs of looking after children in care

Measures will include a £1.6m investment in foster care to reduce the reliance on expensive residential places for looked after children.

Around 80 per cent of the children’s services budget is spent on children in care, with numbers reaching 540 in recent times. Around 55 per cent of the budget goes on residential placement costs.

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Residential care for the most complex cases can cost up to £7,000 per week.

Janette Richards, deputy director of children’s services, told a meeting of the council's executive committee it was hoped to reduce expenditure by around a third over the next five years.

This year the department is expected to overspend by £11m, following on from annual overspends around the £5m mark in recent years.

She said the department was “trying to achieve quality social work practices” as part of its improvement journey, but recognised the concerns around financial planning.

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The main reason the council spent more than other local authorities was because it had more children living in care, some of which was more costly as it was specialist residential care often provided out of the area.

Ms Richards said the council had to tackle this by doing more to keep children with their families where possible, or by being able to provide more of its own foster care rather than using expensive fostering agencies.

A report to the committee added: “Working with colleagues from Essex County Council, Blackpool has reviewed critical parts of its children’s services designed to keep children with families and reduce the cost of finding homes for those children who have to enter care.”

The five year plan includes reducing the total number of children placed in residential provision by 66 per cent, the number of children placed in foster care with independent fostering agencies by 75 per cent ( or 120 children) and the overall total number of children in care by 47 per cent.

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