Agenda item

a)  That the one-off revenue funding allocated in the current financial year be incorporated into the base budget for future years.

b)  That a separate one-off “invest to improve” project based budget (£826k) be set aside in the current year to resolve the legacy of the placement costs for looked after children and be separated from the operational costs of the Children and Families budget to enable accurate monitoring.
That the projects identified above are funded on an “invest to save” basis over a two year period to decrease the number of children who are looked after per head of population; and to decrease placement costs.

c)  That these projects, alongside those covered by the safeguarding improvement plan, be included in the SBC “Gold” Projects to enable effective management, monitoring and monthly reporting to members. 

The Cabinet was presented with a report seeking to address the residual effects of the rise in the numbers of looked after children.  There had been an increase in the number of looked after children and the cost per placement had also risen, the cumulative effect of which had resulted in significant increased spending.  Additional expenditure had been covered from other areas within the department’s budget and consequently, no significant overspend was expected.

The report concentrated on the offering of permanent solutions for children who would never be able to return to their families.  Members were advised that since January 2011, twelve additional children had been placed with adoptive parents and 24 with special guardians.  In addition, 13 new foster parents had come forward within the last year.

The Cabinet was informed of two projects which would be carried out, for which a budget of £826k would be allocated.  The first focused upon reducing the number of children who were looked after per head of child population, which included increasing the active recruitment of adopters and implementing a special recruitment project for children five years of age and above.  The second project was to focus on ensuring sufficiency of placement supply and reduction of the individual and collective placement costs for looked after children, which would be aimed at reducing the cost per head of placements by improving effective commissioning arrangements.

It was noted that these projects were very much worthy of investment however it would be critical that the investment be tracked to ensure its efficient use.  The Cabinet was informed that this would become a Gold Project for the Council and would be monitored regularly and monthly progress reports would be provided to Cabinet.

Resolved:

a)  That the one-off revenue funding allocated in the current financial year is incorporated into the base budget for future years.

b)  That a separate one-off “invest to improve” project based budget (£826k) is set aside in the current year to resolve the legacy of the placement costs for looked after children and is separated from the operational costs of the Children and Families budget to enable accurate monitoring. 

c)  That the projects identified above are funded on an “invest to save” basis over a two year period to decrease the number of children who are looked after per head of population; and to decrease placement costs.

d)  That these projects, alongside those covered by the safeguarding improvement plan, are included in the SBC “Gold” Projects to enable effective management, monitoring and monthly reporting to members.