Sandwell Council to examine plan to save £14 million in children’s care

Jacqui Smith, chair of Sandwell Children’s Trust, put forward the proposals this week as she predicted a £2.3 million overspend this year.

The forecast comes only four months after the council ploughed an extra £5 million into the service in June to cover a £6.9 million deficit in last year’s budget.

Speaking to councillors on the Children’s Services and Education Scrutiny Board she said since the trust was established in April 2018 the number of children in care has increased from 778 to 921 in the space of 16 months.

The rise has seen the placement costs for youngsters jump from £23.9 million to £31.7 million.

In response, the Trust has drawn up a medium term financial plan designed to reduce its use of expensive agency staff and recruit more in-house fosters carers who provide home placements for children.

Introducing an annual review and improvement plan for the service, Ms Smith, said: “There is a growth in demand across the country for children social care services and we certainly seen that reflected in what’s happened here in the Children’s Trust.

“If you look at the profile of that trajectory, while it is clearly an increase, actually the largest part of that increase occurred by far in the first 12 months of the Trust and what we have seen since in the last few months is very much a stabilisation and in fact a beginning of a reduction in the children we are looking after.

“We have a strong focus on how we can reduce that number while always remembering that our primary objective is to ensure that where children need to come into care for their safety we are able to facilitate that.”

She added the Trust was also working with referral agencies such as schools, courts and health bodies to help provide earlier support to prevent children being taken in care and develop alternative support for families and youngsters.