Durham council urged to prioritise its own children’s homes

Councillors in County Durham warned the local authority is “lining millionaires’ pockets” by using services provided by private companies due to increased demand. 

Private companies operate four-fifths of children’s homes across the country, as the price of adults’ and children’s social care continues to rise. 

Councillor James Pickard, Reform member for Sacriston and Witton Gilbert, said the council should resist using homes linked to external providers. 

He added: “We are essentially lining millionaires pockets at the expense of our children. 

“Private firms are good at fleecing councils, that’s always going to happen, but when children are concerned, we need to move away from that and do better.

“It will have a positive impact on the children if you put more emphasis on your own homes, instead of paying private firms.”

Members of Durham County Council’s children and young people scrutiny committee were told that the local authority is having to balance an increasing demand but limited supply of accommodation. 

The number of beds in local authority-run children’s homes is set to double from 26 to 52 through the development of new homes across the region. 

And Cllr Rob Crute said that should be the priority going forward. 

“I understand the private sector can sometimes fill in gaps, but we need to look at what we can do to bring more services in-house,” he told the committee. 

The Labour member for Blackhalls and Hesledens added: “Providers have us over a barrel and they are taking every penny they can get. If we can take more of that capacity in-house, it can reduce costs. There will be savings in the long run. 

“We need to look at what we can do as an authority to cut the private sector out as much as we can.”

Last October, the Reform-led local authority moved to reduce the number of children in care and improve accommodation by agreeing a new sufficiency strategy to tackle the issue. 

It comes as the council revealed that the cost of children’s care placements has increased by £58 million over four years due to rising demand. 

Lindsey Herring, commissioning project manager, said: “We have a really ambitious programme with new homes being developed, and they are more specialist for children with more complex needs, with a higher cost of care. 

“There is also a lot of work taking place nationally by Ofsted on private providers who charge an arm and a leg for children’s care provision.”