Committee: Corporate Parenting Panel
Date: 28 October 2022
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
Recommendation: The Corporate Parenting Panel is recommended to comment on and note the report.
1. Background and supporting information
1.1 Services for Looked After Children 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 each month, is scrutinised and cleansed where necessary. There were 630 children who were looked after at the end of September, which was a decrease of 8 from the previous quarter. This was largely due to a cohort of children who either left care or turned 18. The service was very busy and the sufficiency of any placements either in-house, or in the independent sector, was, and remains, extremely challenging. This is a reflection of a national issue across the UK.
1.3 A total of 352 children were living in foster care at the end of September which was a decrease of 13. Of that number 255 were living with ESCC carers and a further 97 children were living with agency carers. In addition, 70 young people were living in supported housing options, homes or hostels, this figure remained the same as the previous quarter. 19 children were placed for adoption; 7 of whom were placed with foster carers, who were also approved adopters, as part of the Fostering for Adoption pathway.
1.4 At the end of the quarter 88 children were living with kinship foster carers, 1 more than in the previous period.
1.5 The number of children living at home with their parents (PWP) whilst remaining subject to a care order to ESCC, remained at 21. Planning for placements of this sort is monitored rigorously to mitigate any risk factors. Agreement and authorisation for PWP placements is given at a senior level unless it is court mandated.
1.6 At the end of September, the number of children living in residential children’s homes decreased by 1 to 77. Of that figure 18 children were living in ESCC children’s homes and 59 were placed in external homes. Our staff work strenuously to place children in our in-house provision before they seek agreement from a senior manager for an agency placement. Robust negotiations on both quality and price are a feature of every external placement search. An additional ESCC children’s home has now been registered and has a number of children in placement.
1.7 At the end of September we had 2 ESCC children placed in the Secure Children’s Home at Lansdowne, and 1 other child was in an external secure unit.
1.8 There were no children remanded into youth detention accommodation in this quarter.
1.9 ESCC remained an active participant in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) for Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). The number of UASC was 64 at the end of September. In addition, there were 92 UASC who were Care Leavers during this period.
2. Conclusion
2.1 There were significant pressures in the Looked After Children’s system during this period. This was not just driven by the numbers of children coming into care but compounded by the complexity of the children’s presentations and challenging behaviours. This in turn, with the national shortage of care placements, has proved very challenging for the service.
3. Recommendations
3.1 The Corporate Parenting Panel is recommended to comment on and note the report.
ALISON JEFFERY
Director of Children’s Services
Contact Officer:
Kathy Marriott, Assistant Director, Early Help and Social Care
Tel: 01273 481274
Local Members:
All
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
None