County Cllr Barry Lewis on childcare costs

Derbyshire Times

Derbyshire County Council Leader Barry Lewis calls for more Government funding to support childcare.

Transcript

00:00 It's no secret our Council faces significant in-year financial challenges.

00:05 We've always been prudent as a Council.

00:07 It's not down to crazy schemes or bad contracts or frivolous spending.

00:12 It's rising demand and inflationary pressures and higher than expected wage increases.

00:18 But there's one area in particular that has caused a significant spiral in runaway costs,

00:24 and that's care home placements for children.

00:26 In Derbyshire, the number of children in care has increased by 25% since 2020,

00:32 and we now look after more than 1,000 children.

00:35 The factors behind this are well described elsewhere.

00:38 But in a market where demand outstrips supply, we've seen a further increase in costs,

00:44 another 15%, while care providers can pick and choose which children to accept

00:50 and charge hyperinflated costs.

00:52 This issue continues to burn through our funds and it is jeopardising our ability to balance our budget.

00:58 It's an issue that affects all Councils with these statutory responsibilities.

01:02 Our costs of caring for children have increased by £40 million in the last five years.

01:07 That's an increase of 105% and it's untenable.

01:11 Fostering nationally is declining, and while locally we're doing all we can to encourage more people

01:16 to come forward to offer a loving home to children that need it,

01:20 the sheer increase in admissions that we and others are facing means that we are forced

01:26 to put more and more children into very expensive residential care placements.

01:31 Private independent care providers have always been part of the way we look after children,

01:36 but in recent years this market has become heavily distorted,

01:40 with some of the biggest care providers making profits of over £300 million last year,

01:46 all on the backs of some of the most vulnerable children in the country,

01:50 and paid for solely by the taxpayer.

01:52 This is immoral. We have placements that cost over £12,000 a week.

01:57 Some companies involved are offshore, motivated purely by profit,

02:02 less by a concern for young people.

02:04 This isn't right. It's exploiting the misfortune of young people who deserve better,

02:09 and it's treating the taxpayer as a cash cow.

02:12 We've called upon the government before to deal with this issue, to cap fees,

02:16 or to intervene in this market in some way that can bring these extortionate costs under control,

02:21 and they have not, and now this risks bringing well-run councils into bankruptcy.

02:27 We're drinking in the last chance saloon.

02:30 We're faced with cutting services that residents value.

02:35 Perversely, we're now having to look at reduced preventative and early intervention services,

02:40 which would stop young people from coming into our care.

02:44 We're faced with feeding a spiral that will only erode our budgets quicker,

02:49 because there are simply now no other alternatives.

02:53 We're calling upon our MPs and government to tackle this with urgency.

02:58 We need urgent additional funding now,

03:01 and a pledge of radical intervention in the immediate future

03:05 to fix the deeply broken and uncompetitive market for residential care.

03:10 It would be a move that could potentially save millions overnight.

03:15 [Silence]

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