“By working together across the South East, we will provide the right care for you that is available locally and when needed. We will be loving, caring and consistent with high aspirations for you.
We will listen to you, put your needs first and will not give up on you. By working together, your voice will be stronger and more influential.“
National context
In 2022, both the Independent Review (led by Josh MacAlister) and the Competition and Market Authority’s market study exposed several challenges within the children’s social care system.
Local authorities (LAs) struggle to forecast and plan for future needs due to their small size and significant year-on-year variations, especially of children with complex needs. LAs lack the buying power and capacity to shape the market for the long-term or invest in their own care provision. This results in a shortage of suitable placements and decisions based on availability rather than the best match for the child, leading to poor care experiences for many children.
To curb these challenges, the government’s response (“Stable Homes, Built on Love”) proposed a host of recommended solutions, including introducing a new Regional Care Cooperative (RCC) model to improve outcomes across residential care, fostering, and secure care. The South-East was awarded a contract in early 2024 to develop a pathfinder RCC to go live in 2025. We are one of two national pathfinders, the other being Greater Manchester.
Why are we doing this?
- Growing cohort of children and young people with very complex needs.
- More children in residential vs fostering & increases in provider unit costs.
- Unsustainable increases in placement expenditure & budgetary overspends.
- Limited impact from individual commissioning & brokerage activity,
- Foster carer recruitment, retention and utilisation challenges.
- Change in regulation for supported accommodation predicted to increase LA spend by 2026/27.
Our Ambitions are to:
- Place all children locally unless there is good reason not to.
- Build strategic partnerships with providers so that we have care places that meet the needs of our children and young people.
- Improve access to care places that represent good value for money in the region.
- Use our influence to develop South East secure accommodation for our children and young people.
- Have a highly skilled and valued workforce for the region.
- Work with health and youth justice to create stable homes for children and young people with the most complex lives.
The Impacts will be:
- The right care and support is available at the right time for a child or young person. No child is given up on.
- Care is needs-led and tailored to the child’s circumstances. Step-down to foster care is readily available when residential care is no longer in the child’s best interests.
- Looked after children and young people remain closer to their home, families and community. Family bonds remain intact while a child is looked-after.
- Homes feel like homes for children and young people.
- Everyone involved in children’s social care shares the same high aspirations for children and young people.
- There are more highly skilled staff in the region who deliver quality care to children and young people.
- The care which children receive is at the cutting edge of best practice.
For more information please email us at regionalcarecooperative@westsussex.gov.uk