Council pays £29k weekly on some children in care

Plymouth City Council has spent more than £29,000 a week per child on some care packages in unregulated placements.

A report for the city council said that, due to an "overall shortage of fostering and residential placements", a small number of children needed "high-cost unregulated placements in settings not registered with Ofsted".

There is a forecast overspend of £5.85m this year in the budget for children in care.

Jemima Laing, cabinet member for children's social care, said it had been a "really challenging year" but the council was "starting to see progress" and had reduced the number of children in unregulated placements to two by the end of 2024.

The report prepared for the city council's cabinet meeting on Monday said there was a national shortage of foster carers which had caused an increase in the number of children in residential children's homes.

It said there were 16 children in homes in Plymouth but 44 children were in "homes at a distance from Plymouth".

It also said the council was dealing with "a deteriorating position month-on-month".

The average weekly cost of a child in a residential placement has risen to £7,523 per week from £6,906 per week in September 2023, according to the report, with an average cost of £12,000 to £16,000 a week for unregulated placements.

Laing told the meeting the council was "urgently recruiting more foster carers" and was in the process of buying two properties in Plymouth to be developed as homes for children.

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