Council predicts £8.2m children service overspend

Sarah-Jane Smedmor is the executive director of children's services at Suffolk County Council

The rising cost of young people in care means a council is on course for an £8.2m overspend in its children's services, according to the most recent budget report.

The 2025-26 budget for children and young people services at Suffolk County Council had been set at £209m.

The executive director of children's services, Sarah-Jane Smedmor, says the pressure is coming from specialist private placements which can cost more than £15,000 a week.

A recent National Audit Office (NAO) report said rising residential costs were driven by a record number of children in care and the increasing complexity of their needs.

Ms Smedmor said: "Where we are seeing costs at that level, it's where children have the most complex needs, have experienced the most significant trauma and the costs that we're being charged in that space are mainly for staffing to wrap around and support the care for our children."

She went on to add that bespoke care "allows them the ability to start to build some trust, particularly in the adults who are caring for them and then to get stability in their lives".

Bobby Bennett, the county councillor responsible for children's services, said the authority was "moving in the right direction"

The county council is the corporate parent for children in care and has a statutory duty to look after them.

There are more than 900 children in care in Suffolk; 65% are looked after in a family setting via foster parents.

About 130 children (14%) are cared for in residential homes, with 23 staying in council-run homes, while 107 are in private placements.

It is these private placements which are putting the pressure on the budget.

They can cost £15,000 per week and in some cases, even as much as £25,000.

The council says it is seeing older children coming into care who have more complicated needs and are vulnerable to criminal and sexual exploitation.

'Break the cycle'

The councillor responsible for children's services at the Conservative-run authority, Bobby Bennett, says her teams "are building more residential homes for children in Suffolk" so they can provide their own placements.

The council was bidding for more funding from the Department for Education (DfE), she added.

The problem of rising residential costs for children in care was recognised nationally in the NAO report in September.

It said costs had doubled in the last five years and that authorities were competing against each other for private provider places - therefore driving up costs.

The DfE said in a statement it was "driving the largest ever reform of children's social care" to "break the cycle of crisis for children".

A spokesperson pointed to its planned recruitment of more family-help workers and new legislation aimed at ending profiteering in care homes.