Contact: Colin Hardy 07718 146800, [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 Members of the Select Committee received a report in February 2007 in relation to the development of a commissioning strategy for children in care and subsequently, in May, the Executive Member approved the strategy for implementation. The key features are summarised below.

· To increase the capacity of in house foster care in order to reduce the level of purchased foster care

· To review some in house residential care services in order to consider options for developing intensive community support services

· To seek to reduce the level of purchased residential care by reviewing the statement of purpose of some existing in house residential care units

· To reinvest in local preventative services to better support those on the edge of care and to better support care placements which are under pressure

1.2 In July 2007 the Select Committee received a further report identifying the trends in the overall number of children in care and their care placements in relation to other Local Authorities.

1.3 Since that time the residential service at Stonecroft in Havant has closed and the service at The Corner House in Aldershot has not reopened following a temporary closure. In both cases the Executive Member agreed that the resource should be retained to support the development of intensive support to those on the edge of care and to provider additional support to carers to seek to improve placement stability.

1.4 In earlier discussions members identified a number of key issues they wished to monitor as summarised below

· Concern that local young people should not have to travel further to school following the closure of Stonecroft

· That continuity of staff should not be affected

· That the resource upon the closure of Stonecroft should be retained

1.5 This report identifies the current position in the following key areas.

· Activity and trends in relation to Children in Care, including some National comparator data

· Progress in developing an intensive support service in South and North and East Hampshire

· Current position in relation to in house foster carers, including foster care allowances, recruitment and retention

2. Children In Care

2.1 There were 1004 children in care at the end of January 2008 and the total number has fallen from the highest point of 1092 in August 2006. The total number of children in care has fallen from 1037 at March 2007 and the majority of this reduction is in relation to the number of children placed for adoption.

2.2 The following chart shows the position of Hampshire in relation to national and SE Authorities. The rate per 10,000 population is likely to be lower in Hampshire at March 2008

Children in Care at March 2007	Number per 10,000 population under age 18
England	55
SE UK Authorities	42
Hampshire	37

2.3 The following table shows the position for the number of children in care placed in foster homes or in residential care at March 2007.

March 2007	Foster Care	Residential Care
All England	70%	12%
SE UK	71%	10.6%
Hampshire 2007	67%	11.2%
HCC estimate for March 2008	71%	10% tbc

2.4 The number of Hampshire residential care places has reduced by 12, to 40 places, with the closure of Stonecroft and The Corner House during 2007/8. The commissioning strategy for children in care identified a risk that the total number of children may in crease and that placements in purchased care services may rise if the developing intensive services were not able to provide sufficient support or if there were continued difficulties in recruiting and sustaining in house foster carers. The following chart shows the position over 2007/8 and confirms that whilst the number of HCC residential care home places has reduced the total number of children in care has continued to fall and also that the number of purchased residential and foster care places has remained stable. This reflects the emerging impact of more intensive support to prevent the need for care, better support carers and increasing numbers of in house foster carers

Placements of children in care in Hampshire

The position at the end of each month	March 07	June 07	Sept 07	Dec 07	Jan 08
Total number of children in care	1037	1008	997	1016	1004
Placed in HCC residential care Disabled children With no disability (inc those in HCC secure accommodation)	0 42	0 37	0 35	0 29	0 30
Placed in purchased residential care Disabled children Children without a disability	38 19	39 21	39 18	42 15	41 15
Placed in HCC foster care	541	534	534	553	561
Placed in purchased foster care Disabled children Children without a disability	10 132	13 139	12 132	12 142	12 135
Other placements including at home, in supported lodgings and placed for adoption	255	225	227	223	210

2.5 In general terms the risk that fewer in house residential care places might lead to an increase in foster care placements or purchased care has been managed by the emerging intensive support services, which have been able to maintain a number of young people in the community and have been able to provide better support to existing foster care placements. The trends are summarised below.

· Fewer overall children in care, mainly resulting from fewer children placed for adoption and there is an underlying stability in the number of children in care

· Fewer HCC residential care places, with resources reinvested in community support services in two areas in Hampshire

· A reduced number of purchased residential care places for children without a disability

· Stable or reducing purchased foster care places

· Increasing number of children placed with HCC foster carers

3. Progress in developing intensive support services

3.1 The intensive support service in South Hampshire began to develop in May 2007 upon the closure of the residential care service at Stonecroft in Havant and whilst the service at The Corner House in Aldershot closed temporarily in mid 2007 and permanently later that year the intensive service in North Hampshire is still developing as initially the staff were relocated to other residential care homes

3.2 The business case for the South Hampshire service noted that over a full year the residential service had been able to support in the order of 30 young people and it was anticipated the community support service might be able to support 20 young people at any one time and reach between 50 and 60 young people over the year from the same staff resource.

3.3 The summary data at paragraph 2.4 indicates that the closure of these residential services has not had a negative impact on the overall position and has enabled a better reach to vulnerable young people as summarised by the following headline activity in the South Hampshire service between May 2007 and January 2008.

· 80 young people were referred to the service, of which 68 were living with family carers and 12 with foster carers

· It was possible to engage with 69 young people of which 42 were from Havant and 27 from Fareham and Gosport

· Of the 69 young people who engaged with the new service12 young people were placed with foster parents where a greater level of support was required

· 57 young people were living with family members and at risk of a disruption in their care - on the edge of care

· 25% of those supported were not attending school at the initial point of contact and 40% were on some form of reduced timetable.

· In the order of 35% were in full time education.

· Following intervention over 82% of those in contact with the service were in full time education.

· 19 young people were successfully returned home following a short period in foster care

· The period of engagement with young people and their carers has typically been between 1 month and 3 months and 25% of those in touch with the service have required support for over a 3month period

· Over 80% of those young people supported were aged over 13 years

· On average each young person or their carer were supported for 7.5 hours each week (over 7 days). The range of support was between a minimum of 1 hr a week and up to 14 hours

· A majority of young people accessing the intensive support service had health care needs and contact with community health facilities has been considerable.

· The majority of referrals to the service and have been young men aged over 13.

3.4 In relation to the concerns expressed by members of the Select Committee at earlier discussions it can be confirmed that the total staff resource has been retained to develop the new service both in South Hampshire and in the North Hampshire. In both cases as the residential care service closed a number of staff wished to remain in residential care and have transferred to work in other homes.

3.5 In South Hampshire since the closure of Stonecroft there has been no increase in the use of residential care or foster care placements out side of the area and consequentially travel to school has not been adversely affected. On the contrary, as the summary above shows, there has been a marked improvement in school attendance and an increase in those in full time education following intervention by the intensive support team. As the service in North Hampshire is still developing it is too soon to be able to comment on any impact on school issues in that area.

4. In house foster care service

4.1 The initial invest to save proposal, £480,000 of the LPSA1 reward grant has been allocated to pump-prime investment in the in-house foster care service to increase recruitment and improve support to existing carers. The aim of the project is to reduce the need to purchase care from Independent Foster Agency placements (IFA s) and so to reduce increasing budget pressures in coming years.

4.2 It was anticipated that in-house foster care capacity could be increased by:

· Increasing the number of foster carers recruited to the service.

· Increasing support available to a targeted group of existing foster carers in order to reduce placement moves for children and young people and reduce the loss of carers.

· Providing intensive support to a targeted group of children and young people starting new foster care placements to reduce the need for additional payments to carers.

4.3 It was anticipated that an additional 30 in-house foster carers would be recruited during 2007/08 through phased recruitment throughout the year. As some of these carers will be able to take more than one placement, it has been anticipated that these additional 30 carers would equate to an additional 36 placements. It had been assumed that this pattern of recruitment will continue during 2008/09, i.e. in addition to the 30 carers recruited in 2007/08, a further 30 foster carers could be recruited in 2008/09, again on a phased approach throughout the year.

4.4 The project has resulted in 16 new foster carers being recruited, or being assessed, over and above what would normally be approved in 2007/08. The availability of new carers has made some difference to the numbers of purchased foster care placements, but the project is falling short of the target of 30 more carers in 2007/08 as it does not deal with the fundamental issue of how much Hampshire is paying its foster carers in comparison with other local authorities and the rate paid by independent agencies. Hampshire County Council's fees and allowances for foster carers were in the bottom quartile when compared to statistical neighbours and follow a more complex structure than many authorities

4.5 The additional support provided to foster carers has improved retention of carers and has led to an overall net increase of 23 foster carers during 2007. At the end of January 2008 561 children were placed with 482 HCC foster carers as compared to 546 children placed with 459 in March 2007.

4.7 The increase in the number of carers has not been enough to reduce the numbers of purchased foster care placements although it has supported a better choice of placement, which over time will improve placement stability. If present placement trends continue then estimates suggest that the level of purchased foster care placements could reach 199 in 5 years, from current level in the order of 135 at January 2008. April 2007. This would result in a cost pressure of around £3m per annum by 2012/13. Currently there is a pressure of £468,000 projected into 2008/09.

5. Investment in in-house foster care services

5.1 A radical approach was needed with a major investment in Hampshire fostering services to make the service fit to compete in an aggressive recruitment market. The alternative would have been a weaker and more fragmented in-house services resulting in Hampshire incurring greater costs in purchasing care and a likely negative impact upon placement choice and stability.

5.2 Developing and maintaining a strong in-house fostering service is not only cost effective but crucial to improving the long term outcomes for children and young people. Placement stability, a key performance indicator and the key to improving outcomes, can only be improved if there is greater placement choice. There is a direct correlation between the numbers of in-house carers available in each Area and that Area's performance in relation to placement stability.

5.3 The Executive member for Children and Families agreed a net investment of £2.6m over the three years 2008/09 - 2010/11 to increase allowances and skills fees which in the medium term will achieve an increase of in house carers, and ultimately lead to a reduction in purchased care and annual savings from 2011/12 onwards.

5.4 The revised framework of allowances supports an increase in basic weekly payment rate to foster carers more in line with the Fostering Network recommended rate (see table below). This rate is based on the real costs of looking after someone else's child and is the rate that many local authorities pay.

New allowances and fees paid from 6 April 2008

Childs Age	Hampshire weekly rate 2008/09	Fostering Network recommended weekly rate 2008/09	Difference between Hampshire rate and Fostering Network recommended rate
	£.p	£.p	£.p	%
0 to 1 year	113.80	121.68	-7.88	-6.9
2 to 4 years	116.88	121.68	-4.80	-4.1
5 to 10 years	130.23	138.61	-8.38	-6.4
11 to 15 years	149.74	172.55	-22.81	-15.2
16+ years	193.87	209.86	-15.99	-8.2

5.5 Additionally changes have been made to the way in which skill fees are paid so that the minimum skills fees are paid per child and not per household as shown in the following table

Current Model			New Model 2008/09
	Rate per week £.p.			Rate per week £.p.
Skills Level 1	0.00		Skills Level 1	0.00
Skills Level 2	63.36	}	Skills Level 2	86.39
Skills Level 3	86.39
Skills Level 4	134.60	}	Skills Level 3	269.21
Skills Level 5	269.21

5.6 Following the introduction of the revised payment arrangements initial indications from recruitment and marketing has been very encouraging with an increased level of enquiries from people interested in fostering.

5.7 The improved foster allowances will put Hampshire in a stronger position to recruit additional carers and also to improve retention rates and will better support the target to recruit an additional 91 carers over the next 5 years in order to reduce the level of purchased care and reduce cost pressures that currently inhibit the development of better support to those on the edge of care as set out in the commissioning strategy

5 Conclusions

5.1 Overall the total number of children and young people in Hampshire has been steadily reducing over the past 2 years and the rate of those in care per 10,000 population under aged 18 is now significantly lower than National and South East UK comparators.

5.2 The number of children in care placed in foster care is increasing and is higher than National and local comparators. Additionally it has been possible to reduce the availability of residential care places in Hampshire without creating an increase in the level of purchased care.

5.3 The steps taken to improve the fee structure for Hampshire foster carers is intended to improve the ability to recruit and retain foster carers and to reduce the cost of purchased foster care. Early indications from the response to marketing has been encouraging and the number of Hampshire carers is steadily increasing.

5.4 The development of intensive support services to those on the edge of care in South Hampshire and more recently in North and East Hampshire is beginning to evidence an ability to reduce the number of children in care and to better support carers.

5.5 Increased support to young people in improving school attendance as a result of these new services is also encouraging and it will be important to monitor trends carefully to ensure the service is targeted to those in greatest need in support of schools as they seek to improve educational attainment.