Return to Agenda

ITEM EX7

EXECUTIVE – 30 SEPTEMBER 2003

CHILDREN’S RESIDENTIAL PLACEMENT SERVICE

Report by Director for Social & Health Care

Introduction

  1. In January 2002 the Executive considered and agreed strategies to reverse the declining numbers of local authority foster carers and reduce the numbers of places provided in the children’s home sector, the latter to be achieved by relocating Holme Leigh in North Oxford and Warwick House in Iffley Road in three smaller units. The 2002/03 Policy & Budget Plans agreed by the Council in February 2002 reduced the residential children’s homes budget by £800k, implying an overall total reduction of beds by 15. The present report:

    • provides an update on the progress and changes within the placement service over the last 18 months;

    • seeks agreement for the sale of Holme Leigh and retention of the capital receipt for re-provision purposes;

    • requests that funding for this re-provision is made available prior to the sale.

Background/Progress

  1. The Government has increasingly focused attention on improving the quality of life and outcomes for children looked after. Smaller units with focused intervention from qualified and experienced staff and the introduction of minimum standards have been identified as key to achieving this, and in 2001 the Department of Health published National Minimum Standards for Children’s Homes and accompanying Regulations (SI 2001 No. 3967), which came into force in April 2002. These standards are the measure against which children’s homes are inspected and registered, and are legally enforceable.

  2. At the same time the National Care Standards Commission was created, as an independent, non-governmental body, taking over the regulation of social and health care services previously undertaken by local councils and health authorities. The Oxfordshire Placement Service has undergone its first inspections under the Care Standards Commission. The Foster Care Service received a positive report with no deficits identified. The Children’s Homes, all of which were in transition, were reported as making substantial progress.

  3. Work has been undertaken to rewrite local guidance in line with the new minimum standards with an anticipated completion date of September 2003. A dedicated recruitment officer for Family Placement has been appointed and new publicity material released. While there continue to be national and local difficulties in recruitment and retention of foster carers, Oxfordshire has managed to stop the downward spiral. The changes in the foster care resources in Oxfordshire in recent years is shown below.

    4.  

    1999

    2000

    2001

    2002

    Oct 2002

    Mar 2003

    Foster Carers

    367

    347

    327

    320

    289

    346

  4. The indigenous children looked after population has remained relatively stable at approximately 440 children at any one time. This is against a national increase of 4-5% over the past 4 years. However, there have been increases in the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children aged 15 and under, rising from 10 in February 2001 to 59 in July 2003.

  5. To meet the requirements identified in 2002, Warwick House was closed in August 2002 and the beds reduced across the remaining homes, to a total loss of 15 beds by 1 April 2003. While there has been some increase in the use of independent fostering agencies, the increased pressure from unaccompanied asylum seeking children and loss of beds has not resulted in an increase of residential agency placements.

  6. There have been significant developments in the following areas which will form the basis of a future report:

    1. play and leisure to prevent placement breakdown, enhance self esteem and capacity to learn;

    2. outreach support to prevent children entering the looked after system and to support existing placements (in conjunction with the Leaving Care team and many partner agencies);

    3. participation - the authority volunteered and has been chosen to participate in a major national initiative ‘The Blue Print Project’ designed ‘to make a difference in the care system’;

    4. health - a number of initiatives continue to be developed on an inter-agency basis to improve the health of children looked after;

    5. implementation of PSA bids to reduce the offending behaviour of children looked after and enhance their educational achievement.

    Current Position - Children’s Homes

  7. The capacity across the children’s homes is detailed below:

    1. Thornbury House – continues to offer 7 beds in the secure unit. The Open Unit has been reduced from 8 to 4 beds for adolescent boys between the ages of 10 and 17. There is 1 emergency respite bed.

    2. Satellite Unit – continues to offer 3 beds for young people aged 10 -18 needing longer-term care. It has been linked to the Holme Leigh management structure.

    3. Maltfield House – continues to offer 8 beds for children up to the age of 13. One of these is reserved for emergencies/respite. The introduction of the Minimum Care Standards means that when space requirements come into force (2007) one bedroom will be useable only for respite purposes.

    4. Holme Leigh – has reduced from 7 to 4 beds, with the manager assuming overall responsibility for the Satellite Unit.

    5. Warwick House – has been closed since August 2002. The capital receipt has been used for investment in IT for the Directorate.

    Proposal

  8. The proposal is to relocate and reprovide Holme Leigh as envisaged in January 2002, because the current building is not fit for the purpose of providing good quality care for 4 young people. The building is old, too big and not suitable for the task of providing care in smaller units. The sale of the existing building is anticipated to raise a capital receipt well in excess of the estimated cost of buying and equipping a suitable house to provide alternative accommodation for 4 young people. There would however be a need to advance capital prior to the sale of Holme Leigh in order for the reprovision to take place.

  9. It is also proposed that there should be a further report detailing developments within the Placement Service, and in particular the potential to relocate the Thornbury Open Unit and Satellite Unit. It is recommended that any surplus realised from the sale of Holme Leigh should be retained for investing in alternative accommodation for the Satellite Unit.

    10. Financial Considerations

  10. Providing the service at the levels detailed above has allowed the Directorate to make the revenue savings of £800k identified in the 2002/03 Policy & Budget Plans. In addition to this, the sale of Warwick House has generated a capital receipt of £563k which has been deployed in IT developments.

  11. The cost of providing new premises for Holme Leigh is estimated to be approximately £700-750k against a subsequent estimated capital receipt of the order of £1.1m. Provision for the temporary allocation of capital for this purpose as mentioned in paragraph above, with the balance held over to fund further re-provisioning as mentioned in paragraph 10, was included in the Capital Resources item considered at the meeting on 2 September (Agenda Item 6, Annex 3.) However, the detailed figures are to a certain extent provisional as the property sale and purchase prices are obviously dependent on market forces and the costs of relocating the Thornbury Open Unit and the Satellite Unit are uncertain at the time of writing.

    12. Staffing Implications

  12. The reduction of staffing levels (by 25.3 FTE residential social workers) has been achieved without the need for redundancies. The smaller units have significantly improved the working environment for staff as demonstrated by the reduction in the levels of violence. From January to June 2002 there were 65 violent incidents; for the corresponding period in 2003 the total number of incidents was 10.

    13. Implications for Children Living in Poverty

  13. Children and young people in residential care represent some of the most deprived young people in the County. The reconfigurations have already demonstrated the benefits of small group care, increasing the likelihood of offering stable living conditions and hence putting them in a position where they are most likely to benefit from education and other life chances

    14. Implications for Children from Ethnic Minorities

  14. Children and young people from ethnic minority groups are over represented in the care system. The development of small group homes means that we reduce the likelihood of them being marginalised in a large group of adolescents and increase their quality of care by improving the outcomes for children and young people in public care.

    15. RECOMMENDATIONS

  15. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to agree the proposals set out in the report for:

          1. the sale and reprovisioning of Holme Leigh subject to the retention of the proceeds of sale for reprovisioning purposes;

          2. the temporary release of capital to meet the initial costs of reprovisioning of Holme Leigh pending realisation of the proceeds of sale;

          3. a further report outlining developments, progress and challenges within the service.

CHARLES WADDICOR
Director of Social & Health Care

Background papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Phil Hodgson, Head of Social Care for Children, Tel (01865) 815833

September 2003

Return to TOP