Regional care co-operatives, stronger family support and action on profiteering among reforms backed in call to Government

21 September 2023

Redcar & Cleveland’s Cabinet Member for Children, Cllr Luke Myer, has called on the Government to overhaul the children’s social care system, warning that councils cannot continue to shoulder soaring care costs without fundamental national reform.

In his Annual Report as Cabinet Member yesterday (20 September), Luke said ministers should implement the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, alongside restoring council funding and investing more in children and families. The landmark review concluded that the system had become too focused on responding to crises rather than preventing them, leaving too many children entering care unnecessarily while councils struggled with rising demand and spiralling placement costs.

The review recommends a major shift towards earlier support for families, bringing services together through a new Family Help model, expanding family group decision-making to keep children safely within their wider families wherever possible, strengthening fostering, tackling excessive profits in the children’s care market and creating Regional Care Co-operatives so councils can work together to commission children’s placements instead of competing against one another. It also calls for greater investment in the social work workforce and stronger support for care leavers to help improve long-term outcomes.

Alongside making the case for national reform, Luke’s report highlights significant progress locally. Highlights are the new Child Poverty mission, the new Family Hubs to provide joined-up support for families, improvements recognised by Ofsted in children’s safeguarding, new partnerships with employers to help more young people into work and training, and innovative early intervention programmes such as No Wrong Door to help more children remain safely with their families while reducing the need for costly residential care.

Cllr Luke Myer, Cabinet Member for Children, said:

“The cost of children’s social care is rising at an unsustainable rate across the country. Councils are doing everything we can to protect vulnerable children, but we cannot solve a national problem through local budgets alone. That is why I am calling on the Government to deliver the comprehensive reforms set out by the MacAlister Review, restore council funding and invest directly in children and families. That means strengthening early intervention, expanding childcare and family support, helping tackle child poverty, and reforming the children’s care market so that vulnerable children come before profit. We’ve made real progress here in Redcar & Cleveland, but it is clear that national action cannot wait.”