'Huge concern’ as children’s services crisis continues to deepen

The children’s services crisis in Rochdale is continuing to deepen, as the service is now forecasting an end-of-year overspend of £5.5m – an increase of more than £750,000 from the position reported at the end of September.

Latest council finance reports say ‘unprecedented’ numbers of children coming into care and a lack of local authority foster carers is resulting in an increased use of high cost external placements.

High demand is driving up costs, with the average figure for an annual residential placement increasing by £12,000 in recent months.

A report was presented to a meeting of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the council’s Number One Riverside offices on Tuesday (23 January).

Committee chairman Councillor Michael Holly raised concerns that, despite the council’s best efforts, the budget was ‘almost out of control’.

Addressing Jill McGregor, the council’s assistant director of children’s social care, he said: “It’s gone up in £770,000 in two months, how confident are you that it won’t go up any more in the remaining months of the year?”

Ms McGregor outlined the stark reality facing the service as the number of children needing care continues to increase.

She said: “I’m not confident at all, the figures in front of me say the position we report at the end of the year will have indeed worsened.

“For example, in the last two months, we have 11 cared for children that have needed external residential placements – I have spoken to the committee previously about the cost of these placements.

“Three of those children with disabilities and complex needs related to their disability, three young people we have had to put in crisis provision because there have been no placements nationally.

“The cost of crisis provision has been £5,950 per week.”

She added that a court this month had also directed the service to find a mother-and-baby placement at the cost of £3,500 per week.

In Rochdale, the number of cared for children at the end of September last year stood at 537 – an increase of 65 from 12 months previous.

A number of residential placements – not all of which are council-owned – are occupied by children from outside the borough and Greater Manchester.

And across Greater Manchester, there is a need for a further 90 foster homes to meet children’s needs.

Ms McGregor told the committee: “It’s a hugely concerning picture but, what I can say is, that the level of overspend and demand on children’s services in Rochdale absolutely mirrors the national picture.

“The two previous years we were bucking the trend. We are now catching up, albeit in a negative way, with the rest of the country.”

However, there was some good news about the council’s drive to recruit more foster carers. The authority is on target for an increase of 30 beds this year – compared to just four in 2017/18.

However, Ms McGregor stressed this had to be considered in the context that many foster carers were older people, and that the borough was losing some due to age and changes to personal circumstances.

She said this meant the council should continue to set itself ‘ambitious targets’, not just in terms of the number of people it recruits, but also in attracting people who could deal with children with challenging, specialist and complex needs.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter