Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Acknowledged
The Department told us it wants the care system to be more flexible, and accepts...
Conclusion
The Department told us it wants the care system to be more flexible, and accepts the system is currently not very good at adapting to innovative or usual requests. The result is that the child will often end up in care settings that cost more than the adaptation might have done. The Department explained it wants the system to start from an understanding of “What will help this child get the right outcome, and how can we deploy this amount of money that we are highly likely to spend on the child anyway?” The Care Review estimated that the average cost of the provision of public services for those who enter care was £70,900, and above £200,000 for the annualised costs of an independent sector residential care placement.44 The Department stressed however that the funding system is not within its individual control, and can be hard for it to influence.45 Securing the benefits of evaluation
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of flexible funding and is testing Family Network Support Packages in local areas, alongside reforms to Family Help and child protection, through an end-to-end Families First for Children Pathfinder. They are also delivering a fostering recruitment and retention programme in the North-East.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
4. 2 The department already works closely with both the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and HM Treasury (HMT) at working and ministerial levels. All departments have an interest in children’s social care policy given the considerable impact on local government funding and council budgets. In 2021-22, local authorities spending on children’s and young people’s services was £11.9 billion. This has increased by 32% (£2.9 billion) since 2015. 4.3 The department has worked in close collaboration with DLUHC and HMT on the publication of Children's social care: Stable Homes, Built on Love which seeks to put children’s services on a long-term sustainable footing by pivoting majority service use to early family help and support and, where appropriate, increased (and more easily accessible) use of fostering and kinship arrangements. The government is therefore satisfied that the publication of its implementation strategy addresses this recommendation. 4.4 The government wants local authorities to use funding flexibly where there are financial barriers to implementing family-led alternatives to care, through family network support packages. The department will test how to optimise implementation of Family Network Support Packages in local areas, alongside reforms to Family Help and child protection, through an end-to-end Families First for Children Pathfinder. 4.5 Further, the department will be delivering an initial fostering recruitment and retention programme in the North-East Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance. This will introduce a regional support hub and targeted communications and will aim to improve retention using the evidence-based model Mockingbird. The aim is to create end-to-end improvements in fostering recruitment and retention. This initial programme will allow the department to test and develop a best practice regional model that can then be delivered more widely.