Committee:                             Corporate Parenting Panel

Date:                                      30 April 2021

Title of Report:                        Looked After Children (LAC) Statistics

By:                                           Director of Children’s Services

Purpose of Report:                 To update the Panel on changes in the last quarter

Recommendations:              The Corporate Parenting Panel is recommended to comment on note the report.

1.         Background and supporting information

1.1  Services for Looked After Children (LAC) are predominantly funded from the Children’s Services base budget with some additional smaller funding streams supporting specific activity e.g. Virtual School activity from the Pupil Premium Grant.

1.2       Data is drawn as a snapshot on the last day of the month and inevitably there will be some changes subsequently as data is cleansed, however the past quarter have seen an increase in numbers of children and on the last day of March there were 612 children in care, up from 607 in December after the figures were cleansed. It remains extremely busy with ongoing pressure on the Fostering Duty system to find placements as new children come in and existing children disrupt and need to be moved, often at short notice. The ongoing context of Covid-19 has continued to place significant additional pressure on many households, including on ESCC (East Sussex County Council) foster carers, although an early decision to offer Covid vaccination to ESCC foster carers has been helpful in supporting fostering household to take new children.  Both internal and external placement options have continued to be limited and, in particular, duty staff remain unable to source any external fostering agency placements, which has again meant that some children who would previously have been placed with agency foster carers have had to be placed within a residential setting. Internal ESCC foster carers continue to work incredibly hard to make placements available wherever possible and to retain existing children placed with them.

1.3       A total of 360 children were in foster care at the end of March, with 83 of those children in agency placements, the same number as at the end of December. In addition, we have 65 young people in supported housing options, homes or hostels, a rise of 3. 22 children were placed for adoption, 4 further children being placed with foster carers who are also approved adopters under the Fostering for Adoption pathway.

1.4       At the end of the quarter the number of children with kinship carers stood at 65.

1.5       The number of children placed at home with their parents whilst remaining subject to a legal order stands at 22. Planning for placements of this sort is always monitored rigorously in order to mitigate any risk factors and agreement to begin or end a placement with parents is given at a senior level, unless it is court mandated when realistically ESCC has no choice in the matter.

1.6       At the end of March, 58 children were placed in residential care placements, down 4 over the quarter. Staff continue to make every effort to place children in our in-house beds before they seek agreement from a senior manager for an agency placement and robust negotiations on both quality and price are a feature of every external placement search. As set out above, the use of residential placements is linked to the availability or not of in-house or agency fostering options.   

1.7       At the end of March 2 ESCC children remain secured at Lansdowne, 1 having experienced sexual exploitation and the other having been transferred from Brodrick Road following a lengthy period of very violent and sexualised behaviour. Exit planning is ongoing for both but it will be very challenging to find suitable placements for either of them. 

1.8       At the end of the quarter there was 1 child remanded to custody.       

1.9    The numbers of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking (UASC) young people fell to 60 at the end of March, down 2 over the quarter. 

1.10     The numbers of children subject to Child Arrangement/Residence Orders have stayed steady at 342 and Special Guardianship Orders have decreased by 1 to 453.   

1.11     There were no complaints from a LAC in the last quarter. 

2.         Conclusion and recommendations

2.1       Pressure on the system continues, driven by complexity and costs for children and by the context of Covid-19 which is making placements very scarce. 

2.2       There have been no complaints from a child in the last quarter.  

2.3       The Corporate Parenting Panel is recommended to comment on and note the report.

STUART GALLIMORE

Director of Children’s Services

Contact

Liz Rugg - Assistant Director, Early Help and Social Care
Email: liz.rugg@eastsussex.gov.uk

Tel: 01273 481274      

Appendices

Appendix 1 - LAC Summary between 01/04/2020 and 31/03/2021

Appendix 1 - Children's Services LAC Summary between 01/04/2020 and 31/03/2021