A Derbyshire council is set to spend £7.5m buying and converting five houses into children’s homes as they grapple with a 125-child waiting list and costs of £50 million a year for private facilities.
Derbyshire County Council is looking to buy the houses in a bid to curb the pressure that private children’s home placements put on its budget and to curtail the number of children waiting for care.
In a cabinet report to be discussed this week, the council says it has 136 children placed in private children’s homes and that demand for places has “surged” with a 100-125 child caseload at “any given time”.
It states that private children’s home placements cost nearly double the council’s fees, at £6,744 per week per child, on average, compared to £3,642.
The report adds that private children’s home placements cost the authority £50 million a year – around a third of its entire children’s services budget.
Meanwhile, the council itself is responsible for 1,030 children, a figure which has risen by around 40 per cent since 2018. Of these children, 64 per cent are placed with foster families.
It says each children’s home project will cost a maximum of £1.5 million to buy and convert, with homes to cost around £700,000 each to buy and between £500,000 and £800,000 to refurbish.
This will involve buying three four-bed houses and two two-bed houses, providing 16 new beds for children in need of care.
The council currently has 12 children’s homes – eight mainstream and four specialist – and this scheme would increase that to 17, saving it it £5 million a year in private placements.
There are 52 private children’s homes in the county, the council says.
A report details that 50 Derbyshire children are placed in children’s homes within the county, 35 are placed within the wider Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (D2N2) boundary, and 113 are placed further afield.
Meanwhile, 140 children are living with foster families in Derbyshire, 159 within the D2N2 boundary and 192 further outside of the two counties and cities.
The council says there are 27 private placements costing more than £10,000 per week, compared to zero in 2018.
It details: “This initiative aims to deliver high-quality care for children and achieve significant cost avoidance savings through a reduction in the use of expensive private provisions. By expanding its internal portfolio, Derbyshire County Council builds on the success of its existing 12 Ofsted-rated ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ homes, further enhancing its capacity to provide exceptional care.”
It says the scheme would save the council around £3 million per year (after the price of buying and renovating the homes, with £6.7 million cut from its private home placement budget over the next five years.
The council writes: “This proposal is a financially sound and strategically aligned initiative that prioritises the welfare of children while addressing the council’s operational and budgetary challenges.
“By investing in local provision, Derbyshire County Council will enhance the quality of care, reduce long-term costs, and establish a sustainable framework to meet the growing demands of children in care.”
