The government has selected two groups of councils to test the commissioning and delivery of looked-after children's placements at a regional level.
Greater Manchester and the South East have been chosen as pathfinders for so-called regional care co-operatives (RCCs), under which individual councils pool their resources and plan placements centrally.
RCCs were proposed by the previous Conservative government - based on a recommendation from the Independent Review of Children's Social Care - in its Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy published last year.
They are designed to give councils - collectively - greater clout to shape services across their regions and ensure sufficient high-quality placements for children in care, in the context of widespread concern about current provision.
This relates to a shift in provision from foster to residential care, the increasing cost of placements to councils, high profit levels, particularly among the biggest providers, the mismatch between need and where children's homes are set up and the lack of services for children with the most complex needs, including those needing secure care.
Role of regional co-operatives
The DfE expects the pathfinder RCCs to perform the following functions:
- Carrying out regional data analysis and forecasting future needs of homes for children in care, in partnership with health and justice services.
- Developing and publishing a regional sufficiency strategy setting out current provision and action to fill gaps.
- Working as one customer with providers to shape the market, address local needs, improve value for money and commission care places.
- Recruiting foster carers through a regional recruitment support hub and improving the support offer to both new and existing foster parents.
- Developing new regional provision to increase capacity where gaps have been identified, including relating to children currently placed out of area.
The pathfinder RCCs are due to go live next summer, existing in shadow form until then. The South East has each been given £1.95m and Greater Manchester £1.5m to develop the co-operative, while both have received a further £5m to fund additional placements.
In the South East, West Sussex County Council has taken on the role of lead authority on behalf of the other 18 local authorities, which will involve employing staff and receiving payments from the DfE. Its director of children's services, Lucy Butler, seconded to lead the RCC.
Providing 'loving, local homes for children' in South East
In a post on LinkedIn to mark her appointment as director of the South East RCC, Butler said it was "all about making sure we provide loving, local homes for our children. We are excited to work with local authorities, health colleagues , providers, children and young people to work out what needs to change to make this a reality for ALL our children."
In its pathfinder bid, the South East authorities said that, besides the DfE requirements, they would also look to use the RCC to set up an academy to develop the region's children's home workforce. They also planned to take a region-wide approach to managing placements for unaccompanied children, to relieve pressures on Kent council.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which consists of the 10 local authorities and regional mayor Andy Burnham, said that the region's project would be managed collaboratively councils' directors of children's services.
Earlier this year, the GMCA launched a "shaping care fund" for voluntary and community bodies to support care experienced children and young people to engage in the development of the RCC.
Existing Greater Manchester work to tackle placement gap
The Greater Manchester RCC will build on existing GMCA-led work to tackle the insufficiency of placements in the region, including Project Skyline, which is designed to develop new children's home capacity across the region for specific groups of children.
Both pathfinders will be supported by public services consultancy Mutual Ventures, which won a £1.7m DfE contract in May to perform this role and also provide national support with forecasting, commissioning and market shaping in relation to children's care placements.
The pathfinders were selected in the summer, a year after the then government invited bids from regions to take part. The time taken is likely to reflect significant scepticism among sector bodies about the impact of the reform.
Sector scepticism about RCCs
In September 2023, the DfE reported that 48% of respondents to its consultation on Stable Homes, Built on Love had raised potential difficulties about the model, including the remoteness of RCCs from children and small care providers.
The Association of Directors of Children's Services had previously warned that there was “no evidence” that RCCs would address pressures on the placement market, creating them would be “costly and time consuming” and they risked triggering a mass exist of providers.
In response, the DfE committed to working with the sector to co-design RCCs and pledged to develop them on a "staged basis", with a set of minimum expectations established for the two pathfinders.
Labour stance on reforms
Meanwhile, it is still unclear what stance the new Labour government will take on RCCs and the wider Stable Homes, Built on Love agenda.
On 9 September, children’s minister Janet Daby was asked by fellow Labour MP Josh MacAlister – author of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which formed the blueprint for Stable Homes – about the government’s plans.
In response, Daby said ministers were considering MacAlister’s review as part of their reform programme for children’s social care, which includes the forthcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill.
“Children’s social care is a key priority for this government, evidenced by our commitment to the Children’s Wellbeing Bill announced in the King’s Speech in July”, she said. “A full programme for delivery will be produced in order to support that commitment.”
Legislation 'to strengthen regulation of social care'
The bill is designed to keep children “safe, happy and rooted in their communities and schools by strengthening multi-agency child protection and safeguarding arrangements”.
Also, in line with Labour's election manifesto, children's minister Janet Daby said this week that the government aimed to "strengthen the regulation of the sector to return children’s social care to delivering high quality outcomes for looked after children at a sustainable cost to the taxpayer".
