Friday brief: Cost of residential child placements set to bust the budget again
Plus our regular news round up
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The cost of providing residential placements for Northamptonshire children is over budget by almost five million, just one year after the children’s trust had its budget upped by a huge £50m.
Expensive private placements, including to unregistered providers, is driving the huge financial problem which will once again land at the door of the county’s two unitary authorities.
In the most recent financial year of 2023/24, the children’s trust budget - which is split by the two unitary councils - started off at £130m before being upped to £150m. It came in around £30m over budget.
This financial year the children’s trust budget was set at £180m, yet a report to the children’s trust committee which meets next week, says that there is already a predicted overspend of £8m on the budget, with around £4m of that due to the cost of private children’s placements. £82m of the £180m budget is spent on residential placements for children who are looked after by the state.
The report says the children’s trust - which is managed by Colin Foster - is working with the two councils on an ambitious programme of work to create more in house placements.
Current plans are to convert two buildings in Brackley owned by West Northamptonshire Council and currently used for adult social care, into two care homes.
These would be then managed by the Rugby based private firm Home 2 inspire, which is run by former Ofsted inspector Philip Cass.
The cost of the capital works is approximately £400,000 and the report estimates that the homes could generate annual savings of between £170,000 and £335,000. One of the homes would support a young person with high needs who is currently placed in unregistered residential care which is costing £13,000 per week.
News in brief
There will be a by-election on North Northamptonshire Council after a long serving councillor is to stand down due to health issues. Chris Smith-Haynes has fallen foul of the six month rule (councillors are removed if they do not attend a council meeting during that time) and there will be an election on the Burton and Broughton ward for a replacement. NN Journal has heard an unconfirmed rumour that former Kettering MP Philip Hollobone could attempt to become the Conservative candidate for the ward. For many years he was a councillor on Kettering Borough Council.
Chris Smith-Haynes has been a councillor since 2003, first in Kettering Borough Council and she served on the county council during its final years from 2017 to 2021.
She told NN Journal yesterday:
“If I want to leave the house I need a carer to help me, so I’m not able to attend meetings and support the community. Being a councillor has been the greatest honour.”
She said she viewed her greatest achievement as the work she did while portfolio holder for housing in Kettering and was also proud of the work she has done on homelessness support.
Plans to completely transform a Northampton car dealership in the centre of town into a block of high-rise flats are set to be approved next week.
Tony Brooks, in Court Road, currently comprises a garage and car showroom which has been open since 1983. Now, the site could be demolished and become an eight-storey apartment block containing 54 flats.
Plans include a commercial area on the ground floor.
Plans for the flats were first submitted in 2021, but after receiving a series of recommendations the scheme has been altered significantly to address shortcomings such as wasted space, undersized units and an inefficient layout.
Due to its proximity to the station, existing car parks and its location in the town centre, no parking has been proposed. The applicant wrote that the site is “well located for access to all modes of travel”, highlighting the 400m walk from the rail station.
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) planning officers said the scheme is located in a “prominent location at the gateway to Northampton’s town centre on a site which is prime for siting a statement landmark building”.
It found there would be “public benefits of providing a car-free, environmentally sustainable housing” and said replacing the “unsympathetic” car garage would “help frame the gateway to the town centre”.
A series of planning conditions would also be imposed on the developers through Section 106 agreements to benefit the local community. This would include at least 35 per cent affordable housing, a payment of more than £200,000 towards education provision and a financial contribution towards libraries.
The application will be considered by members of the planning committee at WNC next Thursday, September 5.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
A West Northants Tory councillor has left the party and is now an independent. Cllr Louisa Fowler has reported another councillor to democratic services after what NN Journal understands was an internal fall out.
Council leader Adam Brown said he was ‘disappointed’ Cllr Fowler had decided to leave the party and wished her well for the future.
The council’s monitoring officer will now decide whether the issue complained of breaches council standards and if that is the case the details should be made public.
NN Events
⛪East Carlton is having a history weekend. The church will have events from 10.30am to 4pm on Saturday and 2[m to 4pm on Sunday.
🎶 The Undertones are playing at the Roadmender, Northampton tomorrow. Get tickets here.
Profiteering in this sector is immense. Vulnerable children have become a commodity. Pleased that more services are being brought back ‘in house’.
If there is consistent "overspend" on a budget year on year it's not the overspend that the problem, it's the Tory politicians who set the budget and the private sector who are profiting from caring for our children.