Agenda item

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

63.1     The Panel considered a report by the Director of Children’s Services which provided an update on the annual performance of the LAC Service for 2023-24.

63.2     Sally Carnie and Fiona Lewis, Head of LAC Services drew the Panel’s attention to the following points:

·       Ofsted Inspection: LAC judged to be outstanding:

o   Children go into care at the right time after all family options have been explored.

o   CIC are well cared for and live in placements which meet their needs and car leavers were well supported. 

o   Social workers and personal advisors were found to support young people very well.

·       883 children looked after over the year; the rate is higher post pandemic and officers are working to stabilise and then reduce the figures. The level of complexity is much higher which makes finding appropriate placements more challenging.

·       30% of children have a global majority background and most of these are separated children and a number of care leavers (1/3) now made up of that co-hort.

·       The has been a significant increase in children placed in agency children’s homes; a 60% increase since 2021 in use of homes which is the reason for cost escalation and reflects the national situation.

·       There have been improvements in adoption numbers and timeliness and more than 3 placements and outcomes for care leavers.

·       ESCC is part of a regional adoption partnership, 15 children were adopted and officers remain highly ambitious for children in care.

·       There has been significant amount of work to increase the number of Fostering households with a net increase of 8. Recruitment remains very challenging and is a national issue, there is a new payment structure in place this year so much more competitive.

·       The placement support service is vital to the success of the placements which has helped 134 children this year.

·       ICB recognise that these children’s health needs should be prioritised across the system and mental health and emotional wellbeing of LAC key focus.

·       Education: virtual school is an area of excellence, extended duty for children in need and on protection plans and adopted children and there is a focus on employment opportunities for care leavers.

·       Officers have worked with Impower to do improved forecasting work and whether the right interventions were in place and could the placement mix be managed differently. Achieved some significant changes for some children using the Valuing Care approach and now want to embed it across the service and the new dashboard will highlight if this is having the designed impact.

·       There was an overspend of £27 million and work is focused on fostering placements and to manage the market more efficiently and the residential strategy.

63.3     The Panel noted that it can be challenging to forecast the costs of very complex care delivered in house however in house residentials generally offer better value for money. There is often more staffing required for in house placements and the cost is also driven by the need

for health to be available to them all the time. This is part of the work of the regional groups which will look at regional sufficiency and best practice in other LAs which has helped expedite setting up in house facilities.

63.4     The Panel thanked the Children’s Services team for all their hard work and RESOLVED to note the report.