Costs for child protection services in Staffordshire rise £4m during coronavirus crisis
Unexpected costs for child protection services across Staffordshire have hit more than £4 million during the coronavirus pandemic.
An additional £1.3m has been spent keeping vulnerable children and families safe, while lost income and delayed planned savings have cost the service £2.9m.
Staffordshire County Council’s Children and Families Services department invested to cope with the unprecedented demands of continuing to provide front line support during the pandemic.
This included additional foster carer support and funding for care leavers who would have been allocated housing but the housing associations had stopped placing people during lockdown.
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Mark Sutton Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “Everyone connected to the Children and Families Services department has been fantastic.
“Since lockdown began, staff have worked flexibly to continue providing essential support to those who need it and I’m proud to say that we have maintained the quality of our service to keep vulnerable children and young people safe.”
A report to the county council’s safe and strong scrutiny committee highlights: all children considered to be at most risk were seen for up-to-date risk assessments, arrangements were put in place to ensure every key worker needing childcare had it during lockdown, scheduled care leavers are staying with the county council beyond their 18th birthday until housing associations can begin allocating accommodation again, staff volunteers were supporting domestic abuse refuges to stay open and staff availability averaged 86 per cent, with 60 per cent able to conduct home visits.
The report also highlighted work to support new and existing foster carers, with recruitment of new carers and support for existing ones quickly switched to online.
Along with practical support in the shape of a ‘lockdown allowance’ to 450 foster households, carers had access to online training, had their regular scheduled conversations with allocated social workers and used virtual support groups to keep in touch with each other.
Councillor Sutton added: “These last few weeks have been tough for staff and carers who have faced extra practical and emotional challenges and everyone has worked hard to support each other and focus on keeping young people safe.”
