Cash-strapped council pins hopes on 'family-style' children's home

Kelly Field manages Somerset Council's new home for children in care

With council budgets across England under strain, some are looking for innovative ways to save money.

Behind the front door of a typical-looking house in a quiet residential street in Somerset, there's something quite radical going on.

The property has been bought by Somerset Council and converted into a family-style home for children in care.

Three teenagers currently live there, supported round-the clock by a team of staff.

Manager Kelly Field says: "Dinner's just similar to any other home. We all sit down together, we talk about what's gone on in the day. There's a little bit of fun, a little bit of laughter.

"This is a family home and everything in it is representing what a normal family home should look like."

Somerset Council has teamed up with Homes2Inspire, part of a charity called Shaw Trust, to open a total of 10 of these homes in Somerset, with seven due to be up and running by September.

It's a departure from what's been the trend across the sector in the past few decades, which has seen fewer council-run residential children's homes and more reliance on private providers - which can often mean young people are sent far away from where they live.

"The main aim of what we’re trying to achieve is to set up what I’d describe as normal family homes," Ms Field says.

"There’s a lot of stigma attached to children's residential homes and what they might look like and we need to try and beat that."

There's another reason behind this too.

Across England children's services are under pressure, with growing demand and increasing costs adding to the financial strain councils are facing.

Somerset Council says opening their own residential homes is a cheaper long-term solution.

Buying and converting them has required investment of about £3m from the council, as well as a £2.9m grant from the Department for Education.

In the first year the council says it saved £2m in their day-to-day spending on children's social care.

The Lib Dem council leader, Bill Revans, says: "We were having to find placements, though I prefer to think of them as homes, in other parts of the country and pay a huge amount of money for those when really if we can provide a cheaper and better solution here in Somerset that's better for everyone."

The council says opening their own homes for children in care is cheaper in the long run

Somerset Council declared a financial emergency last year, and since then has made extensive cuts to services to try and avoid bankruptcy.

In January there was a huge campaign to save a local sports facility, Yeovil Recreation Centre, when its future was threatened because of the council's finances.

Somerset Council reached an agreement with Yeovil Town Council, who have taken over the running and maintenance costs, to the relief of many who value the centre, but it has required council tax rises to protect that and other local facilities.

Handing over services to town councils is another way Somerset is trying to save money, with smaller authorities stepping in to keep services functioning, from funding CCTV provision to managing parks and open spaces.

Council tax rises were needed to save Yeovil Recreation Centre and other local facilities from closure

But while Somerset Council has managed to balance its budget this year, the leader says next year already looks challenging.

"We are doing everything we can to make this council as efficient and productive as possible," Mr Revans says.

"But the simple fact is a lot of councils are going to run out of money because the demand for our services and the price of providing those services is far greater than our income that’s coming in."

The council has already undergone significant reorganisation, with five previous councils becoming one overarching authority for the whole county.

Now they’re looking to reduce the council's wage bill by 25%, which will see around 1,000 posts go, and they're selling off non-operational council assets including land, offices and some listed buildings.

At Chard Community Hub people can get help mending clothes

The decisions the council has made aren't without controversy, and have had an impact on local communities.

In South Somerset, the Chard Community Hub is a volunteer organisation that offers support to local residents with everything from food parcels and mending clothes, to helping people fill in forms for support they qualify for.

Chief executive Roz Hall, who used to work in local government herself, says they're plugging gaps that are left behind when public services are squeezed.

"There isn't anywhere else for them to go and find that help because all the public sector [has] disappeared in terms of that front face, so how do you access it?" she says.

"Who do you go to? There’s nobody there."

Roz Hall says voluntary organisations are plugging the gaps left by council cuts

The pressure on local authorities across England is widespread.

Social care for adults and children, as well as spiralling costs for housing services, has seen many sound warnings about the future financial viability of the sector.

Somerset Council has written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, calling for urgent action to prioritise local government.

Since taking office, ministers have attempted to strike a more collaborative tone with local government, promising to hand powers down from Westminster and provide more stability over funding.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says: "The government will fix the foundations of local government and work closely with the sector to do so.

"We will get local government back on its feet by doing the basics right, by providing councils with more stability through multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system."

But with the government already warning about pressure on public finances, there's no simple fix for a sector where services have been under strain for some time, often leaving communities feeling the consequence.