Northants council backs £20 million budget to build more in-house children's homes
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has backed a £20 million budget to create more children's homes, keep young people within the county and ultimately cut costs.
Accommodation for children and young people in care is currently largely provided in the private sector, which typically is more expensive than in-house care and can be in less suitable locations.
The WNC cabinet endorsed plans on Tuesday (September 17) to give key officers and portfolio members permission to draw from a pot of money set aside, with an overall cap of £20m, to deliver the children's homes projects. Officers argued that it would be "time-consuming" to bring each children's home scheme to the council for budget approval.
The full council will need to sign off on the overall children's homes budget before it is used.
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Cabinet member for children and families, Cllr Fiona Baker told the meeting: "This is a really good move forward so that we are providing good quality accommodation at reasonable cost so we are not inflating the bank balances of providers in the public sector.
"We want them to be in an area that they recognise as being the home that they live in, not some far-flung county because that’s the only place we could find a house for them."
An initial set of proposals has been prepared for homes in West Northamptonshire and several individual accommodation schemes are at various stages of development according to the report.
Cllr Baker confirmed that each home would accommodate a maximum of three to four children. The scheme is likely to favour new builds, but the purchase and conversion of existing homes will also be included.
Cllr Ian McCord, leader of the Independent Group at the council said the people taking advantage of the cost of private placements were "basically shysters on the most vulnerable part of society".
"I fully support what you’re trying to do- my only criticism is that it needed to have been done quicker.
"The only way we’re going to take these people on and compete with them is to outplay them on their own field."
Currently, there are approximately 650 children in care in West Northants. WNC says if the entire £20m budget is used it would provide placements for 51 children and young people, at an average saving of at least £19k per child each year.
Leader of WNC, Adam Brown added: "If this does bear fruit and pay dividends I believe we will be back here seeking the permission of first cabinet and then council for an extra capital sum to invest in this sort of project.
"£20m is an awful lot of money, it will go a long way in the first instance. As we see the performance of the scheme over the next months and years we can then consider how much more we should be investing in this venture."