Cash saving shake-up for child care service

Radical change will see homes for young people scrapped

Spiralling costs in child residential care have forced council bosses to adopt a radical new approach which will see traditional homes for troubled youngsters scrapped by 2018.

A £1.7 million shake-up of residential services in Perth and Kinross has been proposed to address a surge in the number of vulnerable children needing specialist care.

Council chiefs want to overhaul the way youngsters “on the edge of care” are looked after, with greater focus on early intervention and prevention measures.

The new set-up, which will rely on foster families for accommodation, is based on a pioneering scheme launched in North Yorkshire – No Wrong Door – which has been called “outstanding” by Ofsted.

It will be the first service of its kind in Scotland.

Councillors were told change was needed to cope with increased budget pressures resulting from an annual 10% rise in the number of looked after children.

In the last three years, the council has overspent its residential care budget by £2.3 million, mainly by using out-of-area placements.

If no changes are made, the local authority faces extra annual costs totalling around £3m by 2020. The proposed option will be to scrap traditional council-run services at The Cottages, in Almondbank, which offers residential support for around three of four youngsters.

The building will be turned into a nonresidential hub, staffed by specialists teachers and therapists.

It will cost about £1.7m to establish the new service, providing extra training for staff as well as creating specialist roles. A new site may also have to be bought for accommodation for emergency cases.

However, officials believe the scheme will cut the number of external placements by half, leading to a projected underspend of around £200,000 by 2022.

The new model aims to empower troubled youngsters and help them “restore and maintain relationships with their families and communities”.

Sheena Devlin, executive director for education and children’s services, said: “This proposes an innovative, bold and forward-thinking approach to enhance the lives of our young people, who we would describe as on the edge of care.

“This is the time to make a radical change to the way we provide care to our most vulnerable young people and build upon our already high quality services.”

During talks between councillors and education chiefs, the new scheme was widely supported but there were concerns about the transitional period when the hub launches in late 2018.

SNP group leader Dave Doogan called for a decision to be postponed but councillors voted to push ahead with the scheme, without a deferral.

This proposes an innovative, bold and forwardthinking approach to enhance the lives of our young people. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR EDUCATION SHEENA DEVLIN