Government-acclaimed unit for care placements to close
Sue Learner
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A regional commissioning unit for care placements, which was held up as an example by the government, is to cease operating after it failed to save local authorities money.
Funding for the North East Regional Commissioning Unit, described as "the lead partnership for work on regional commissioning", will stop at the end of March.
The units were created as part of the Care Matters reforms and were intended to reduce costs and prevent looked-after children being placed in foster or care arrangements far from their original home.
The North East unit is currently funded by the region's 12 local authorities and was set up in September 2005.
Jonathan Ewen, chair of the local providers' group and director of Barnardo's North East, said it would be a tragedy if providers were no longer able to work with commissioners.
"Ultimately it is the children who will suffer," he added. "We will lose an arena where we were able to talk to commissioners on a regular basis."
Jonathan Stanley, manager of the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care, said: "The experience of people on the ground was that the work was positive and providers tell us the level of co-ordination and communication was essential. There is anxiety that these people will no longer be there."
Maggie Atkinson, director of children's services at Gateshead Council, said: "The regional unit has done really useful work and we will build on that. However, in terms of tangible outcomes and money saved it is looking likely that working in a sub-regional, rather than a regional, way will be better. All local authorities are under pressure to find efficiency savings and most of us don't have that resource to put in an extra pot."
But while the North East pilot has run into trouble, the approach is working well in the South West. The region's collaborative commissioning support unit has saved more than £930,000 for three councils - Devon, Torbay and Cornwall - according to John Lees, programme manager for the South West Centre of Excellence.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families was unable to comment as CYP Now went to press.
- Additional reporting by Chloe Stothart.