Measures in Stable Homes, Built on Love, the government's response to the Independent Review of Children's Social Care, have the potential to significantly change the way children's social care services are commissioned in the future.
The reforms will see the creation of regional care co-operatives in two areas to test out the commissioning of residential and foster care placements across groups of around 20 local authorities.
These co-operatives will also involve health and youth justice agencies and work more closely with care providers to ensure the right placements are available in an area.
The government says the reforms will improve the sufficiency of placements available to councils, reduce the cost of care placements and minimise the need for children to be placed outside their local area.
Independent care providers and commissioning experts say the plans won’t deliver the benefits the government envisages and could result in some settings closing. Others don’t think the plans are ambitious enough and call for the government to fund councils and the voluntary sector to open more of their own not-for-profit provision.
The proposals, which are being consulted on by the government, come at a time when pressure on the care system is growing from rising numbers of children in the system and spiraling care fees due to the impact of inflation.
CYP Now's special report on commissioning children's social care analyses the government's proposals and the impact they could have, sets out the key data influencing commissioners’ work, and highlights examples of councils delivering good practice in navigating the current challenges.
Click on the links below to read more:
-
The big debate: Will regional commissioning improve sufficiency and efficiency of places?
-
Key data: Factors influencing children’s social care commissioning (PDF)
