Purpose

This report is to bring forward
the decision to develop a home for children with complex needs in
South Norwood.
 
The report will detail the
expenditure and funding proposal to convert the asset into a home
for children with complex needs and will include a business case
showcasing financial and non-financial benefits to the Council and
service users. The report will also seek approval to go out to
tender for the construction works and to go out to tender for the
service provision to find a provider to run the home and deliver
registered services.
 

Content

1.   
To delegate to the Corporate Director for Children
Young People and Education (CYPE), in consultation with the
Corporate Director of Resources and S151 Officer, to accept the
Department for Education’s (DfE) offer of grant funding
(£780,000) subject to review of and approval of terms of the
funding agreement.
 

2.   
To note that, once the funding agreement has been
executed,the commissioning of appropriate contracts for:
 

-      
Delivery of construction works by contractors and
associated services including appointment of a design team to
develop and refurbish the home site for its proposed use, as set
out in this report, shall be procured in accordance with the
requirements of the Contract Standing Orders and relevant
procurement legislation.
 

-      
A provider to run the home and deliver registered
services shall also be undertaken in accordance with the
requirements of the Contract Standing Orders and relevant
procurement legislation.
 

Reasons for the decision

Section 22 of the Children Act
1989 establishes the general duty of local authorities regarding
children in their care and the safeguarding and promotion of their
welfare. This duty underpins all local authority activity involving
looked after children.
 
Section 22G of the Children Act
1989 (‘the 1989 Act’) requires local authorities to
take steps that secure, so far as reasonably practicable,
sufficient accommodation within the authority’s area which
meets the needs of children that the local authority are looking
after, and whose circumstances are such that it would be consistent
with their welfare for them to be provided with accommodation that
is in the local authority’s area (‘the sufficiency
duty’). The Sufficiency Duty set out in Care Planning and
Review Regulations 2010 makes it every local authority’s duty
to provide sufficient accommodation for children looked after in
their area.
 
Reduced use of high-cost
unregistered homes and Deprivation of Liberty Standards (DoLS)
orders. Since November 2023 12 children who had a DoLS order made
for them were placed in unregistered accommodation. Because of the
complexity of needs, unregistered provision can typically cost
between £10,000 - £15,500 per week.
 
The specialism of this
provision and the nature of it being comprised of three solo homes
would be to enable Deprivation of Liberty Standards (DoLS)
restrictions to be safely provided within a local home; a need that
is clearly evidenced through our current reliance upon unregistered
provision for children with high levels of safeguarding need. This
is also in line with forthcoming changes to Ofsted regulation of
DoLS arrangements.
 
Improved outcomes for some of
our most vulnerable children - avoid the need to apply for DoLS
orders, reduce isolation and institutionalisation and quickly start
to work with children and their families on targeted,
evidence-based therapeutic interventions that enable safe step-down
from residential care to less costly provision with better outcomes
for families and individuals. 
 
Increased proportion of
children with complex needs placed locally, thereby maintaining
local connections, access to local partner services, family
relationships and lower cost provision of council services to
them.
 
The funding will support the
Council’s priorities (Mayor’s Business Plan and Future
Croydon – the Council’s Transformation Plan 2024
– 2029) and the Stabilisation Plan as detailed in Section 5
of this report.
 

Alternative options considered

Sale of the property has been
explored as an alternative; the ongoing financial benefit this
would achieve is less than the anticipated revenue savings of
turning the property into a children’s home as described in
this report.
 
Do nothing. Continue to
purchase Children’s Home care from the open market at market
rates, accepting that children will continue to need to live away
from their homes. Recent DfE reporting states that the cost of
Children’s residential care has risen on average 50% in the
last 2 years. This option will not contribute to making
savings.
 
Decline the offer of grant
funding – this is not an option as capital funding is needed
to develop the home and bring it up to the safety standards that
will be required to achieve Ofsted registration.