Issue details

Proposed decision

The Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services is asked (subject to selection by the DfE as an appropriate Pathfinder region) to:

A)   Agree to become a member of the Fostering Recruitment and Retention programme.

B)   Agree to enter into relevant agreements with the DfE to join/ a Pathfinder Region for the delivery of the creation of end to end improvements in the Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme (Agreements to include the acceptances of relevant Memorandums of Understandings and associated funding, and partnership agreements with other local authorities in the assigned regional cluster)

C)   Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services, to take other relevant actions, including but not limited to, finalising the terms and entering into required contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision.

Reason for the decision

The DfE has confirmed that, following an Expression of Interest in joining the Fostering Recruitment and Retention programme, KCC has been accepted at Stage 1 of the process. The service is required to develop a full proposal for submission in the second week of September 2023. KCC will need to work with their assigned improvement partners, and in line with the funding allocation (to be advised) to develop a fully costed proposal which is to be implemented by April 2024. At this stage no LA is bound to be part of the bid, however from when the fully costed proposal is submitted in September, final membership will need to be confirmed. 

Currently, it is proposed that the cluster will be include Portsmouth, (Lead LA), Brighton and Hove, Kent, Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Achieving for Children, Brighter futures, Medway, Wokingham,  Slough, Bracknell Forest, Surrey,  Hampshire, Southampton, Isle of Wight, West Sussex and East Sussex which equates to 16 LA Partners.

There will be funding for successful Local Authorities that become part of the programme; no allocations have yet been announced.

Background

The Stable Homes, Built on Love strategy published by the Department for Education set out a vision to re-balance children’s social care away from costly crisis intervention to more meaningful and effective early support.

As part of the Strategy, the government has pledged to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme so foster care is available for more children who need it, investing over £27 million over the next two years. After two years the strategy will be refreshed, scaling up the new approaches that have been tested and bring forward legislation (subject to parliamentary time).

DfE are looking to run two regional pathfinders to test creation of end-to-end improvements in the Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme. The regions taking part will play a key role in shaping future delivery.

Pathfinders are voluntary and confirmation of interest is required. Financial support will be provided to support Pathfinder regions to get started.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

To not put KCC forward to contribute as a Pathfinder for Fostering – this was decided against because of the significant pressures and challenges in recruiting and retaining in-house Foster Carers requiring action..

How the proposed decision supports the Strategic Statement:

The proposed decision supports Framing Kent’s Future Our Council Strategy 2022-2026, Specifically Priority 4 New Models of Care and Support

1.Explore all opportunities to integrate our commissioning of services to improve health and care outcomes.

It also supports delivery of the Kent Sufficiency Strategy 2022-2027