Fresh calls have been made for Blackpool Council to have its own children’s homes after latest figures show the authority is paying out £290,000 a year on average for each vulnerable child in its care.
That is the cost of using private residential care – and currently there are 74 children in the town housed in this way. That number has jumped by four since last year – leaving council tax payers with an extra £1m bill.
Figures from this year’s budget show the council is spending around £32m of its £64m Children’s Services budget on external placements.
Coun Carl Mitchell told a meeting of the full council: “I am aware of the efforts being made to reduce the reliance on private residential homes for our vulnerable young people.
“When I requested the latest figure, we are using 74 different places. This has risen by four places. The average cost is £290,000 a year so these extra four places will amount to over £1m annually.”
He said if this led to an increase in council tax next year, this would be “a bitter blow”.
Coun Jim Hobson, cabinet member for children’s services, said it had been hoped to get the numbers down.
But he said: “About two or three weeks ago we had a spike in children coming into care, including a sibling group of six. Because of their particular needs, they ended up in care.
“I do get where you are coming from on the finances of that. But what I will say is I am happy that every penny this council spends on children’s services is spent well.
“We have got Ofsted coming in in a year or so, and we are looking at a minimum of ‘good’. I am convinced the money we are spending will get us to that.”
Speaking after the meeting, Coun Mitchell, who is himself a foster carer, said: “If a family is in need, we need to step in and this is not about not providing places for children.
“But we do need to look at how we do that more cost effectively, including if that is by providing our own residential care as a council.”
The council overspent on its children’s services budget last year (2023/24) by £6.6m. This year it was hoping to make savings of £2.5m including by extending the foster care capacity and work to safely keep more families together.
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