by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR
The annual cost of keeping more than 70 cared for Scottish Borders children in accommodation outside the region has become financially unsustainable at £16.9 million and is not delivering the best outcome for the vulnerable young people involved.
That is one of the conclusions reached in a report from Scottish Borders Council's Director of Education and Children's Services Lesley Munro which proposes measures to reduce the financial burden on the local authority while, at the same time, bringing more Borders children home.
Councillors will consider the report next week. It recommends a refreshed whole systems approach to reduce the number of children and young people who are cared for in Out of Area [OOA] placements and to take a preventative approach to minimise the number of such placements in the future.
A total of 213 children and young people from Scottish Borders are currently being looked after by Scottish Borders Council (SBC), 72 of whom are residing in OOA care and one in a bespoke placement within the Borders at an annual cost of £16.9million.
Ms Munro explains that a project group has identified work streams in a bid to address the situation. These are: Young people will live, learn and be looked after in Scottish Borders. Support will be provided within locality or cluster areas taking a preventative, early intervention approach to service planning and provision.
Support to families will be delivered through a multi-agency partnership approach. Resource management and allocation will be determined to maximise outcomes for young people and their families while delivering best value.
"In order to effect this change, additional resource is required in the short to medium term with the aim that a move from reactive to preventative support will allow more children, young people and their families to ensure they are cared for at home or in kinship care and therefore long-term reductions in the cost of out of authority placements can be achieved to allow a sustainable position."
The report says that in 2023/24 the average cost of a residential placement was £249,000 per annum. In 2017/18 this equated to £75,000 per placement representing a 330% increase in average cost.
A single placement which has been created within SBC is currently costing £1.3 million per annum. Overall, costs have increased by £8 million over a two-year period. In 2017/18 the cost was £5.88 million.
"Nineteen young people have been identified as potentially able to move from out of authority placements and return to Scottish Borders", according to the report. "The potential reduction in the cost of out of authority placements if this group of young people were to leave external residential care could achieve £3.8 million full year saving."
But Ms Munro adds that well-being of the children and young people must take priority. Return will only be possible if the conditions for their return and associated care packages and supports are in place.
"In order to stem the flow of young people who are at risk of requiring to be placed in out of authority provisions, there are measures which can be implemented immediately to reduce pressures resulting in young people being escalated to requiring an external placement. Increasing capacity in the system involves actions which can be implemented immediately, for a 18–24-month buffering period until new systems and infrastructure can be implemented."
The council's Social Work Duty team currently comprises a team leader, two senior social workers, six social workers and 4.5 Social Work Assistants.
"As well as over 2000 referrals per year, this team covers all Initial Referral Discussions and at present there are over 300 child and young person referrals on a waiting list. In order to address this it is proposed to increase the staffing in the duty team by one team leader, two social worker and six Support Workers.
"A Whole Family Wellbeing team which will be grant funded to the end of March 2026 is being created. This team will provide holistic family support focusing on issues such as parenting, housing issues, health and wellbeing issues, offending behaviour, school related difficulties, employability, income maximisation and substance misuse. It is envisaged that this team will be in a position to engage with around 150 families at any one time, dependant on the complexity of individual cases who may require additional focus."
The proposed staffing measures are likely to cost £2.23 million until the end of financial year 2025/26.
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