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