ST HELENS Council’s cabinet have given the green light to plans to establish three children’s homes as it tries to exert influence from “profit-making” private companies.

Labour councillors agreed to commission housing provider Torus to buy a property on the open market, which it will lease back to the local authority.

Following this, the council will review the options for two further homes, in light of the progress of the first home.

READ > Whiston Hospital opens fourth Covid ward as admissions rise fast

The proposals have been driven by Cllr Nova Charlton, cabinet member for children and young people, who has raised the issue of costly private children’s homes on numerous occasions.

Of the 33 registered children’s homes in St Helens, 28 (85 per cent) are private sector provision.

A new council report says if the market is left unchecked as demand for placements grow, costs and private profitability are likely to continue to rise.

This will ultimately mean that local authorities’ influence on the type, location and cost of provision will continue to diminish.

Speaking at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Cllr Charlton said: “Residential provision is becoming increasingly difficult for us to place young people.

“We need more placements to enable our children and young people to remain in St Helens, close to their own homes in the same schools and close to primary health care facilities.

“We’ve got a growing reliance on profit-making organisation and there’s concerns because this creates an instability within the market, and there’s just rising costs.

“We’ve spoken about that many times, or I’ve spoken about it about, about the rising costs of placements and the demand for placements.

“So by having our own provision that offers us more stability.”

Last May, Cllr Charlton warned that private companies were making huge profits by charging “extortionate prices” to care for children and young people.

The comments came after two reports by the Children’s Society, Barnardo’s, Action for Children, NSPCC and the National Children’s Bureau analysed the impact 10 years of austerity has had on children’s services, and how this is now being exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the key concerns  highlighted in the report is about escalating costs of care placements, Including both residential care and fostering placements.

The report said limited marketplace availability was forcing local authories to use independent agencies, some of which are racking up huge profits.

The high cost of this is also driving some local authorities to rely on their reserves to fund the placements.

As of March 31, 496 children and young people were cared for by St Helens Council as of March 31, 2020 – a 20 per cent rise compared to 2014.

A snapshot on September 18, 2020, showed that 60 children and young people in the care of St Helens were in residential provision.

Out of these, 57 children were in external residential provision at an average weekly cost to social care of £3,638.

St Helens currently has four in-house spaces in residential care at The Grove.

Weekly placement costs, per week, £3,537, at 75 per cent occupancy and £2,653 at 100 per cent occupancy.

The report that went to cabinet set out three options: buying a suitable property from the market, building a bespoke property or renting a property.

The preferred option is to commission Torus to buy and lease the property back to the authority.

Analysis of costs to buy, build or rent suggests that renting from a registered provider is likely to deliver the lowest premises costs.

Commissioning Torus is likely to deliver the highest premises cost, with the difference is in the region of £14,300 per year.

However, the report says this is a relatively small figure in the context of the overall cost of running a children’s home.

The council believes true benefit of this option is being able to leverage Torus’ expertise in managing neighbourhood concerns or issues and in residential property development and maintenance.

READ > Boost for St Helens' mass Covid vaccination programme

A review of the property market has shown detached, five-bedroom properties in Rainhill, Eccleston, Rainford, Billinge & Seneley Green, Haydock and Newton for sale between £350,000 £550,000.

Once a suitable property is found it is estimated to take four to six months until it is ready for use, which includes up to 16 weeks for planning approval.

The first home is expected to be ready by May, with the second, if it is approved, to be ready by December 2021.