Private children's care costs 'unsustainable'

Blackpool Council said the costs of private residential care is "unsustainable"

A council is considering how best to house children in care as its private residential care costs are an "unsustainable" £21m a year.

Blackpool Council has carried out a scrutiny review, looking into several options including developing an in-house residential care home in the town.

The council currently spends about £290,000 per year for each child in private residential care - and with 74 children currently in such placements, these costs account for 55% of its spending on children.

Councillor Dave Flanagan, who prepared the review, said: "The most important priority is delivering the right standard of care for these children, which is what we are looking into."

He added: "However, the current cost of private residential care in Blackpool is unsustainable and we are looking into the options of a number of different models."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Flanagan said they are looking at other councils to see what they have done.

'Alternative models'

"Rotherham has gone from having no council-run facilities to having 12, so we are looking closely at what they do," he said.

"The obvious preference is to keep children in family environments, be it their own families or foster families, but that is not always possible, we need more foster families."

Flanagan's report highlighted that, nationally, there has been a shift in thinking about residential care provision, with many local authorities now reconsidering their previous decisions to outsource this function entirely.

The report said: "The financial sustainability of the current model is increasingly questioned, with private placement costs having risen by approximately 40% over the past five to six, well above inflation rates.

"With Blackpool Council currently facing significant financial pressures from private residential care costs, there is a strong incentive to consider alternative delivery models."