Social work opinion is split on whether regional care co-operatives (RCCs) will improve placement provision for children, a poll has found.
In November, children's minister Josh MacAlister confirmed RCCs - first proposed in his 2021-22 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care - would take over responsibility for children’s placements across England from local authorities.
The co-operatives are designed to create and commission placements at a regional level, giving councils, collectively, more influence over the market. They will also be tasked with placing children where they have existing connections.
MacAlister has presented RCCs as the solution to sector-wide issues, including a shortage of foster carers, a lack of “family-based homes”, “inappropriate use of residential care” and profiteering by providers.
'Too early for conclusions'
However, a recent Community Care poll found practitioners were divided over the co-operatives' potential.
Of 464 practitioners, around two in five (42%) believed RCCs would be too remote from children and would struggle to co-ordinate their member councils.
A comparably-sized group (41%) argued that it was too early to draw conclusions, on the grounds that the two pathfinders - in Greater Manchester and South East - only began testing the new model in April and June of this year, respectively.
The remaining 18% believed RCCs would be able to shape the market to ensure children received the care they needed.
Early evaluation results
According to the Department for Education (DfE), RCCs should, as a minimum, analyse regional data, alongside the NHS and criminal justice agencies, to forecast demand, identify and address gaps in care through creating new provision, act as a single customer for external regional care providers, run recruitment and support hubs for foster carers, and enable swift decision-making and long-term investment.
An early DfE-commissioned evaluation of the pathfinder RCCs found that both had demonstrated progress in meeting the above requirements, with the least developed area being the foster carer hubs.
A challenge identified in the report was a delay in changing commissioning approaches due to the time required to get sign-up from all local authorities within the region.
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