Homes for Children and Young People in Coventry 2023-27 (Sufficiency Strategy) - Print version

Coventry City Council Sufficiency Strategy for Looked After Children and Care Leavers

Coventry’s vision is that all children are cared for in safe, supportive, and where appropriate placed in local placements that best meets the child or young person’s needs. This is to ensure that children can maintain important links with family and friends, continued local education and access to health services. 

Above all Coventry City Council believe in securing good quality, stable, local homes for Coventry children and young people so that they can stay within the communities which they are connected to wherever this is possible and safe to do so. This supports them in maintaining their networks and therefore their resilience and gives them a better chance of stepping down, back to a family environment quickly, where appropriate, but also supports positive outcomes and stability for those that stay in care, nurturing their capacity for personal independence.

Coventry faces a number of system challenges in delivering placement sufficiency. These include (but are not limited to):

• Local homes for children with complex needs and challenging behaviours potentially requiring a therapeutic input 
• Crisis provision – emergency, same day provision 
• Local provision for children with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities   
• Placement Stability particularly for our more challenging young people

Coventry has actively improved placement sufficiency locally with the growth of our internal provision, both in increased numbers of foster carers and connected persons and also an increase to 5 residential homes, which has resulted in more children remaining with family, staying in or returning to the city. Following the success of this, Coventry is planning to open further residential homes to meet current needs and local gaps in the market e.g. a home for our children with disabilities and a ‘same day short stay’ emergency provision.  

There is a need for providers who will work with young people with complex needs and challenging behaviours and Coventry is embarking on a partnership approach with a small number of external providers who will deliver homes for our hardest to place young people, ensuring they are supported by specialist staff teams in small homes with therapeutic packages designed to stabilize, support, and step down when they are ready.  

Our Homes for Children and Young People in Coventry Sufficiency Strategy sets out how Coventry will meet its sufficiency duty as laid out in Section 22G of the Children Act 1989 between 2023 and 2027. It indicates our current position, gaps and needs and planned work or commissioning intentions, to secure the placements required. 

This document is informed by a number of local and national strategic documents, reports and data sources including:

• One Coventry Plan [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/onecoventryplan]
• Coventry Children’s Services response to OFSTED
• Coventry Health and Wellbeing Strategy [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/health-wellbeing/coventry-health-wellbeing-strategy]
• Coventry JSNA [/jsna]
• Competition and Markets Authority (2022) Market study into children’s social care in England, Scotland  [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-market-study-final-report]
• Children’s Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love Government consultation response [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1185931/Children_s_Social_Care_Stable_Homes__Built_on_Love_consultation_response.pdf]
• The independent review of children’s social care final report [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-childrens-social-care-final-report]
• The Fostering Recruitment Strategy
• Coventry Fostering Service Annual Report 2021 – 2022
• “Children Looked After in England including Adoptions” published data
• ONS population statistics
• Coventry Census projections

Executive summary – plan on a page

Sufficiency Strategy - Homes for Looked After Children and Care Leavers

• Aims to ensure sufficient placements, both in terms of numbers and quality, available locally to meet the needs of children and young people who need our care.
• Number of placements available nationally hasn’t increased at same rate as number of children coming into care; scarcity of particular placements e.g. for more complex needs
• Placement costs rising due to inflation, cost of living, difficulty recruiting/ retaining suitable staff
• Coventry continues to develop internal provision to contribute to sufficiency, e.g. foster carers, new residential provision
• Ongoing regional work in West Midlands to manage placements markets to improve choice, cost and quality

Fostering

• Increased foster homes within Coventry or within reasonable travelling distance of schools
• Highly trained foster carers for those children with complex needs including additional needs and disabilities.
• Foster placements that can care for siblings so that they can stay together

In-house

Fostering Excellence Project:

• Strengthen training offer to foster carers, widen mentoring to include Connected Carers
• Growth of the Next steps fostering scheme.
• Recruit more specialist carers – for complex needs and disabilities
• Maintain retiring carers as advisors and mentors

External (IFA)

• Explore innovative evidenced based fostering service models, e.g. Mockingbird
• Engage with providers – develop step down, specialist carers for complex needs, children with disabilities
• Lead for W Midlands IFA framework recommissioning

Residential

• Encourage new homes in Coventry so CLA can see family, friends, maintain school and health support
• Provision linked to  foster care to support step down
• Provision able to care for young people with complex needs and challenging behaviour
• Provision for disabled children, with suitable adaptations
• Provision for vulnerable CLA, particularly teenagers at risk of exploitation (Criminal/ Sexual)
• Crisis / same day provision

In-house

• Grow internal provision: home for children with disabilities; ‘same day short stay’ provision

External

• Continue with Hard to Place contract development
• Engage with providers to encourage new local provision to meet needs
• Develop provision for step down from Tier 4 MH places
• Develop step-down provision to foster care from residential
• Lead for W Midlands Res Care framework recommissioning

Supported Accommodation

• Develop further good quality, local supported accommodation provision to meet the needs of care leavers in transition to independent living
• Monitor risk of Block Providers not Registering and /or meeting new Regulations.
• Continue to support providers with Ofsted registration. 
• Continue to support providers to meet new standards and initial provision of quality documentation.
• Commitment to House project to promote independence skills
• Supported Accommodation block contracts due to expire in 2026, need to review impact of new standards and regulations on market before planning renewal of these contracts.
• Engage with providers to deliver provision to meet complex needs and challenging behaviours, particularly CSE. This also relates to young people who have reached the age of 18 but are not eligible for adult statutory services.
• Continue to work with Housing and providers to ensure there is a supply of quality accommodation within the city.

Legal duties and legislative changes

There is a duty of ‘sufficiency’ that requires local authorities and Children’s Trust partners to ensure that, through direct provision or commissioned services, a range of placements sufficient to meet the needs of all children in care are available locally or that there is a plan in place to move towards that position. The regulations require a strategy that describes how Local Authorities intend to provide sufficient care placements for its children in care.

As a local authority, the Council is subject to a range of duties towards children within our area which are related to the sufficiency duty. In particular:

• Section 17(1) of the 1989 Act provides that it is the general duty of a local authority to provide a range and level of services to children in need (as defined in section 17(10) of the 1989 Act) and their families in the local area which are appropriate to their needs.
• Section 20 of that Act requires local authorities to provide accommodation for children in need within their area who appear to them to require accommodation in accordance with the provisions of that section.
• Section 21 requires a local authority to accommodate certain children who are either removed or kept away from home under Part V of the 1989 Act or who are subject to a criminal court order under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE, 1984)
• Section 22C (5) requires local authorities to place children in the most appropriate placement available. In determining the most appropriate placement for a child, section 22C (7) requires local authorities to take into account a number of factors (such as the duties to safeguard and promote welfare; promote educational achievement; ascertain the wishes of the child and family; and give due consideration to religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural background).
• In determining the most appropriate placement for a child, section 22C(7)(a) also requires the local authority to give preference to a placement with a relative, friend or other person connected with the child and who is also a local authority foster parent.
• Section 22C sets out the additional factors (in no order of priority) which the local authority must take into consideration when deciding the most appropriate placement:
• allowing the child to live near his/her home.
• not disrupting the child’s education or training; enabling the child and a looked after sibling to live together.
• meeting the particular needs of disabled children; and
• Providing accommodation within the local authority’s area, unless that is not reasonably practicable.
• Section 23(1) (a) requires a local authority to provide accommodation for a child who is in their care (by virtue of a care order).
• The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012, defines all children aged 10 to 17 years old who have been refused bail as a Looked After Child under section 21 of the Children Act 1989 for the duration of the remand.
• Local Authorities have a duty to accommodate all homeless young people aged 16 and 17 years and care leavers under statutory legislation (Children Act 1989 (as amended by Sections 17(6) and 22(1)), The Children Leaving Care Act 2000, The Children and Social Work Act 2017, Housing Act 1996 (as amended), The Homeless (Priority Need) Order 2002) and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Care Leavers aged 18-20 years, and YP aged 16-17 years who are not a ‘relevant child’ or a ‘Child In Need’ owed an accommodation duty under S20 of the Children Act, are in ‘priority need’ for assistance if homeless.

Supported Accommodation regulation will introduce a new set of national standards and require supported accommodation providers to register with Ofsted and show they meet the new regulations. These regulations will give Ofsted additional powers to act against illegal unregistered children’s homes.  

Ofsted began registering providers from 28 April 2023. Registration will become mandatory from 28 October 2023, meaning that any supported accommodation provider accommodating a looked after child or care leaver aged 16 or 17 must be registered with Ofsted or they will be committing an offence.

There is a transitional period whereby providers who submit a full application to Ofsted before 28 October 2023 can continue to operate until that application has been determined. This could lead to sufficiency issues across the sector.

Demographic information and demand forecasting

Coventry City Council is ranked the 54th most deprived local authority of 317 in England.

Coventry’s population is growing, changing and increasingly diverse. In the past ten years, Coventry’s population has grown by a fifth, making it the second-fastest growing local authority outside of London. In 2016-17, its growth rate was the seventh highest.

Coventry is a diverse and cohesive city with a relatively young population, in 2021, just over one-fifth (22%) of the city’s population were children and young people aged under 18, and the city had a median age of 32 years compared to the UK average of 40 years. In recent years, the city has experienced an 8.9% growth in its population, from 316,915 in 2011 to 345,300 residents on Census Day 2021. This is higher than the rate in the West Midlands (6.2%) or England (6.6%).

The city’s growth is a consequence of international migration as well as births. As a result, the city is becoming increasingly diverse. In the 2011 census, 33% of the population identified as people of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) background, compared to 22% in 2001. It is likely that the population has become even more diverse in recent years since 2011.

According to the latest school census, 52% of Coventry’s school children are from a BME background, up from 38% in 2011. The biggest population growth in school children is seen in Black African, Asian Other and White Other groups.

On 31st March 2023 there were 724 Children Looked After (CLA). The profile of our CLA is based on those in care at the end of March 2023. 724 CLA represents 1% of the Coventry child population. Naturally the number of Looked After Children fluctuates, rising and falling across the year.

Table 2 shows the rate of children looked after per 10,000 children aged under 18 years on 31 March for the last 5 years. On 31 March 2023, the rate of Looked After Children was 89.6 per 10,000 children aged under 18 years and is similar to 2019. The fluctuations in numbers over the last 5 years, with increased numbers post-Covid reflects a similar pattern to national, statistical neighbour and West Midlands rates.

Overall available data shows in March 2022 94 per 10,000 was higher than England as a whole at 70 per 10,000 and 89.2 and 88 for Statistical Neighbours and the West Midlands respectively. Coventry’s rate had dropped in the March 2023 figures but national and statistical neighbour comparators are not yet available.

Fluctuations in numbers of CLA, particularly recently can, in part, be attributed to the cost-of-living crisis, impact of Covid pandemic and an increase in Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children amongst other factors.

The chart below gives a detailed breakdown of the type of provision where CLA were placed on 31 March for the previous 5 years.

The figures show the majority of CLA are placed in foster care.

Coventry is looking for providers of both residential care and fostering, who will work with foster carers to support young people to step across or step down from residential care and provide support to both the child and the carers to make a successful move. On occasion there can be an inappropriate demand on Residential places where there is shortfall in Fostering sufficiency.

Whilst this period has seen fluctuations in the number of CLA in all age groups, the proportions of children in each placement type have not changed significantly. Similar to national trends and statistical partners, there are high numbers of adolescents amongst Coventry’s CLA population and a changing number of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC).

Young people aged 10-15 made up 33% of all CLA on 31 March 2023 which is a decrease of 4% from March 2022. While the number aged 16 and over has increased from 22% from March 2022 to 26% on 31 March 2023, this is in large part due to the increase in UASC of that age.

The overall ratio of girls to boys among Coventry’s CLA in March 2023 is 40% female and 60% male (similar to national averages). For more information on our local context please see the Coventry Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) Coventry JSNA [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/facts-coventry/joint-strategic-needs-assessment-jsna/5].

The ethnic profile of CLA over the last 5 years to 31 March 2023 is relatively unchanged, though numbers of White children have been falling since 2020/21 whilst numbers of Asian or Asian British have increased over the 5 year period.

As of 31 March 2023, White children are still over-represented but have reduced from 68% to 65% of the CLA population, followed by Mixed Heritage (15%), Asian or Asian British (8%) and Black or Black British (8%) with 3% Other Ethnic Groups and 1% Other.

Coventry’s trend is like that of statistical neighbours. However, whilst Asian or Asian British and Black or Black British are not disproportionately represented compared to the Coventry population as a whole, 16% of CLA are Mixed Race, compared to the Coventry population where Mixed Race accounts for 10%.

Numbers of Coventry CLA with a statement of SEN or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and those with SEN have risen since 2018/19, which is broadly similar to Statistical Neighbours and nationally. With disruption to schools during the Covid pandemic and lockdown, there is not an effective data set for 2021/22 and data is not available for 2022/23 but numbers are likely to have risen alongside increased numbers in the general population.

Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are a specific area of need. Assessments for ASC are an issue for all children and young people in Coventry, not just for CLA. With children and young people having to wait longer for an assessment, there may be hidden need linked to ASC, especially for those who are not presenting with assessed Learning Disabilities who would be receiving wider support.

Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children

Whilst the number of CLA has fluctuated over the last 5 years, the number of young people aged 16 and over entering care over the period has increased from 22% on 31 March 2022 to 26% on 31 March 2023 due, in large part, to the increase in UASC of that age.

Coventry has a proud history of supporting refugees and migrants as has been shown in the response to the Syrian Refugee crisis. Coventry has increased the number of UASC being looked after in the city, taking more than the minimum number expected by Government’s National Transfer Scheme.

The % of CLA who are UASC has been 10% for the first three months of 2023, which is the highest it has been in the past eight years.

Existing programmes and projects

Family Valued

The Coventry Family Valued programme was developed with the support from Leeds Relational Practice Centre and is based on the success of the Leeds Family Valued project. Family Valued focusses on the importance of relationship-based practice.

Coventry Family Valued brings a change programme that supports practitioners to truly work with children, young people and families, placing a lens on practice which continues to promote children and young people remaining in their families and communities wherever safe to do so. This includes making the best-informed decisions for children at critical stages in their journey with Children’s Services, including actively looking for family connections to look after children before making decisions around whether children should enter the care system and actively working towards re-unification of children with their families.

The programme includes:

• Expansion of the Family Group Conferencing (FGC) Service
• A Reunification Project
• Focus on connected carers for those children who are unable to remain in the care of their parents, to support these children to remain within extended family, networks and their communities
• Training and support for Children’s Services and Partner agencies, to embed relational and restorative ways of working into practice

Family reunification

When children and young people come into the care of Children’s Services, the priority is securing their protection from harm. However, wherever possible, practitioners are working towards them being able to leave care and be reunited with their families where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

The Edge of Care service works with children in care where family reunification has been identified as a viable option. Professionals within the Edge of Care service will work intensively with the child and their family, with early and robust care planning and IRO-led reviews to explore options for children and young people’s safe return home.

As of 31 March 2023, of the 724 CLA, 102 (14%) had been in care previously.

In the six months prior to 31 March 2023, there were 101 children and young people that came into care and of these only 6 (6%) of the 101 had been in care previously.

16+ Developments

• The Coventry House Project - was set up in 2021, it is now one of the established pathways for young people leaving care. The Through Care team identify potential candidates who apply to join the House Project. Following an assessment, if successful they are recruited to join a cohort of up to 12 young people who follow a six-month induction to develop resilience and independent living skills. young people who successfully complete each section of the programme will achieve accreditation under the AQA Unit Award. Each young person who successfully completes this phase can then move to their own Social Housing tenancy (Citizen Housing) prior to their 18th birthday, rather than moving to supported accommodation. 
• Staying Put - Young people in foster care can stay in the placement beyond the age of 18 years old (until the age of 21) if they wish to do so and the family agrees.
• Training Flat – The training flat provides an opportunity for young people over the age of 16 years to spend 2-weeks living in a semi-independent setting.  It allows young people to experience independent living and gain skills to prepare them for the transition from care to independence.   
• Staying Close- Children who are moving on from a children’s home in Coventry, continue to receive ongoing support from their former carers, access to Lifelong Links and the House project, to ensure they maintain meaningful supportive relationships as young adults and build a network of support.

Child Friendly Cov

The aim is for Coventry to be the best place in the UK for children and young people to live and grow up in. Child Friendly Cov is a campaign to make Coventry a child and young person friendly city, ensuring that Coventry is a place where children and young people are valued, supported and enjoy themselves. Children’s Services is working together with local children and young people and have identified the following themes as priorities for how to make Coventry a child friendly city.

Children and young people in Coventry should always:

• feel and be valued
• have opportunities
• feel and be safe
• be healthy

In order to make Coventry a city which is child-friendly, partners need to work together, committing to always keep children and young people at the heart of what is done. There is lots already happening in Coventry which makes this a great city for children, young people and their families – Child Friendly Cov wants to showcase what is already being done and build on it to make Coventry a city which is truly child-friendly

Mental Health Support

Coventry’s CAMHS LAC service is an integrated mental health service, which is currently delivered via a partnership between Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust (CWPT) and Coventry and Warwickshire Mind (CW Mind).

The service brings together specialist CAMHS tier 3 support delivered by CWPT, and tier 2 support delivered by CW Mind. From October 2023, the tier 2 support will be delivered by Compass working with CWPT.

Regional Placement Portal Development

The West Midlands placement portal is used by all 14 West Midlands Local Authorities to obtain over 8,000 accommodation placements for children in their care per year. However, the current system is slow, unreliable, and out of date. The Wets Midlands Placement Portal redevelopment project is being led by Birmingham Children’s Trust on behalf of the region supported by the West Midlands Commissioning Hub. This project will replace the current system with an up-to-date solution that will be faster and easier to use for Placement Officers and Providers. It will also digitise much of the data to provide Commissioners with real time intelligence to shape and manage the market.

Voice of the child and young person

Engagement of children and young people is well established in Coventry across Children’s Services and in particular for children who are looked after and care leavers.  The Coventry Participation strategy seeks to actively involve within decision making all children and young people receiving services who are CLA, care leavers, children in need or on child protection plans.  Children and young people are viewed as experts through their lived experience and uniquely placed, as equal partners, to help Coventry City Council provide services which are fit for purpose.

Coventry uses a variety of methods to gain the views of children and young people, which include:

• Mind of My Own App
• Service user feedback forms
• Consultations

Children and young people are actively involved in:

• Recruitment and selection of staff
• Workforce training/development
• Commissioning of services
• Corporate parenting board

The Children in Care Council, known locally as Voices of Care, is a young person led group made up of CLA and Care Leavers who contribute directly on the development of policy, practice, and services. Voices of Care have been noted both locally and nationally for the quality of their work.

Findings from the 2022 annual Pledge Survey, which is a list of promises made by the Council as Corporate Parent to all of Coventry’s children looked after and care leaver population include:

• 97% feel their current placement is right for them
• 88% feel listened to by staff
• 100% feel safe in their placement
• 98% feel healthy

Voice of the child / young person about their placement

As part of the Commissioning Team’s Quality Assurance visits to both Residential and Supported Accommodation provision, Commissioning Officers ask providers to undertake “6 quick questions” with the young people to highlight their thoughts and feelings about their home; if the young people are home during the visits the Officers may speak to the young people to ask them directly.

Below are some examples of the responses Officers have received from children and young people:

Residential Special School, voice of young person:

They felt safe, listened to and they could tell staff if they were not happy. They enjoy going on the bus, going for walks and the Dragon class

Supported Accommodation, voice of young person:

The young person was present during the QA visit. The young person said “they liked the flat, there were no issues with the other tenants in the building and the location of the flat was good as it was close to local shops and it easy to travel to town”.

Standard of low support accommodation very good

young people like the independence that low support gives. They feel less “babied”, be good if they had more single flats, to give to 18-year-olds to practice more independence skills.

Placement finances

In common with many other local authorities, the placement budget is challenging; there have been rising costs across the placements market, exacerbated in the last 12-18 months by significant increases in utility bills, cost of living pressures, inflation and the need to pay staff a reasonable living wage.

In addition, Coventry is seeing increased use of external residential, particularly placements for young people with more challenging needs and behaviours which are often spot purchased; increased use of IFA provision and increased need for emergency unplanned accommodation which may be met via short term unregulated provision.

However, the Family Valued work is also resulting in increased numbers of Connected Persons, SGOs and successful reunification of children and young people with their family.

Coventry will continue to work with providers to secure good quality placements that are the best match for the child and their needs whilst ensuring Best Value for public funding to deliver the best outcomes for children who are looked after.

The following table shows the average annual cost of different placement types (excluding supported accommodation) over the last 6 years.

Placement requirements

Foster Care

Coventry City Council is committed to ensuring high-quality local placements are available to meet the diverse needs of Coventry’s children who are looked after, when they are unable to continue living with their family, and preferably place them within a family setting.

• 74% of all CLA placed in foster care
• 137 children in IFA placements
• 385 CLA are in internal placements
• 74% of fostering placements are Coventry Foster Carers

Internal Fostering

The Fostering Service sits within Children’s Services as part of the Looked After Children service and has responsibility for the recruitment, assessment and support of foster carers and the assessment and support of special guardians.

The Fostering Service has grown significantly in the past seven years. The Fostering Transformation Project took place between April 2016 and March 2021. The project was successful in increasing the number of occupied internal mainstream fostering placements from 149 to 266 during this period.

The work of the Connected Persons Team has also grown since 2017. Initially, this was as a result of improvements in the consistency of practice in supporting connected persons households as foster carers.

Since April 2021, improvements in support to Connected Persons, Foster Carers and Special Guardians have been strengthened by becoming a key workstream of the Coventry Family Valued Programme. It is the aim of Children’s Services that as many children becoming looked after as possible can be supported to live with a connected carer. Around half of all children looked after in Coventry are cared for by a fostering household approved by the Fostering Service.

Following the end of the project, ongoing targets for growth continued to be set to enable more looked after children to experience family life close to their home. However, these targets have not been met, with the number of children living in a mainstream fostering household remaining largely static since March 2021. On 31/3/23 there were 266 children placed in an internal mainstream fostering placement. This was a shortfall on the target for this number to be 285. The current target for occupied internal mainstream placements is to be 299 by 31/3/24.

At the 31 March 2023 there were 724 children in the care of Coventry Children’s services. Of these 724 children, 503 children were placed in foster care, with 385 of these placed with Coventry foster carers. This equates to 76% of those children in foster care are placed with internal fostering provision, an increase from 69% in March 2022. 118 children were placed with independent fostering agencies which is a decrease from 163 in IFA placements in 2022.

Of the total number of looked after children 53% are placed with Coventry foster carers. This is a similar percentage to that on 31/3/21 although this figure is impacted by the rise in unaccompanied asylum seeking children placed in supported accommodation in Coventry through the National Transfer Scheme.

Service Intentions

Fostering Excellence Project:

In response to the stalling in internal mainstream fostering growth, the service began work with the commercialisation team to consider ways to address this. This work is titled the Fostering Excellence Project. The project was started in October 2022 and aims to address the barriers to ongoing growth through three workstreams:-

• Brand Awareness & Marketing Activity
• Improved Processes & IT Infrastructure
• Departmental Review including enhanced foster carer training & support.

Key aims to:

• Continue to develop further support to ensure placement stability and permanence by reviewing the placement matching.
• Support foster carer confidence in caring for teenagers and children with behaviours that challenge.
• Continue to develop foster carers who can care for children with disabilities. There is an increasing gap with fewer skilled foster carers available to care for children with disabilities.
• Recruit further carers to the in-house out of hours rota of foster carers to ensure placements are available as needed outside of office hours.

In addition, a new post for a Placements Liaison Officer is being created to focus on placement searching for those children who either need to move from a residential placement into fostering or need to move between fostering placements to achieve permanence.

External Foster Care – IFA market

To complement our internal provision and provide greater placement choice, particularly where needs cannot be met by internal provision, Coventry commissions placements from the external IFA market via the West Midlands Fostering Framework, the current regional contracting arrangements. As of 31st March 2023, around 82% of IFA placements were made through this arrangement.

Whilst the framework has served Coventry well in securing general placement offers, it has worked less well in being able to offer local placements. There is a need for IFAs to develop more local placements to enable children to live closer to their support networks and avoid disruption to their education and healthcare plans/service agreements.

The current IFA framework is due to expire in March 2024. Working with the West Midlands Commissioning Hub that Coventry hosts, Coventry is leading on the recommissioning of the West Midlands Regional Fostering Framework on behalf of the region. Regional commissioners are keen to encourage IFAs to provide West Midlands placements for West Midlands children.

Within The West Midlands Fostering Framework, there are specific providers who recruit foster carers for Step Down from Residential to Fostering Care for those children and young people who are ready to move from residential into fostering. Coventry’s Commissioning Team is undertaking targeted work with approximately 6 providers who provide the majority of Coventry’s IFA placements, to establish relationships that support CLA to step down from residential care to fostering provision. The aim is to increase the number of children and young people living within a family setting where possible.

This project will work with these specific providers, as well as the Placements Liaison Officer mentioned above, to effectively plan the step down in the best interest of the children and young people and will help Coventry in meeting three key priorities:

• Improve placement stability,
• Reduce the number of children in residential care,
• Keep children in and near to Coventry.

The Commissioning team is reviewing current arrangements to look to enhance local sufficiency for all children within fostering, including looking at a range of contracting arrangements, such as block contracts.

Commissioning Intentions

• Continue to develop further support to fostering providers to ensure placement stability by reviewing the placement matching, particularly where there are children already in the household and/or there are family pets.
• Work with IFAs to seek foster carers who are confident to care for teenagers and children with behaviours that challenge.
• Work with IFAs to seek foster carers who are confident to care for children with disabilities. There is an increasing gap with fewer skilled foster carers available to care for children with disabilities.
• Work with IFAs to secure a number of emergency foster carers who are able to place a child at short notice.
• Coventry would like to work with providers in increasing the supply of local placements which meet all of the child’s identified needs.
• Coventry City Council is leading on the West Midlands Regional Fostering Framework, working with the 13 West Midlands Local Authorities and providers to develop and improve the West Midlands Regional Fostering Framework to meet the needs of children and young people.

Residential Children’s Homes

Coventry recognises that the preferred option for most children is to be cared for in foster care, but residential care can be a positive option for some young people.

As of 31 March 2023, there were 14 children’s homes including one residential special school currently registered with Ofsted in Coventry. The total capacity of these 14 homes amounts to 54 long-term placements for CLA and 4 respite placements. There is also one CQC registered home that has five placements for people aged 16-25 with mental health and/or learning disability needs.

Although there are seemingly enough beds to accommodate most of Coventry’s CLA within Coventry, there are barriers to accessing local placements which include competing with other local authorities for placements, and local provision may not meet the need for same day placements and complexity of need/behaviour. Most of the homes are registered for CLA with Emotional, Behavioural Difficulties (EBD) with a small number able to deliver placements for CLA with mental health needs, learning disabilities or sensory impairments.

An analysis of need in 2022 suggested that approx. 15% of Coventry’s CLA that require residential care have complex needs and challenging behaviours which mean they need a more intensive or bespoke placement than an EBD bed and can make it particularly difficult to find a suitable placement for them.

This situation is not unique to Coventry, there are many local authorities struggling to find suitable placements for children with more complex needs; the lack of placements and competition in the market can result in young people being placed in unsuitable provision who can go on to experience multiple placement breakdowns, which in turn exacerbates their needs.

There are a number of reasons for this complexity of need, with young people presenting with increased risk(s) that can include:

• Increased verbal and physical aggression
• Missing episodes
• Levels of substance misuse
• Traits of ASD and ADHD which may not have been diagnosed.
• Criminality
• Complex and challenging behaviour
• Poor emotional health and well-being, mental ill-health
• Levels of self-harming behaviours to themselves and others
• Gang affiliation or possible links to gangs
• Vulnerability of exploitation e.g., ‘county lines’
• Experience of multiple placements, and placement breakdown

71 CLA placed in residential provision on 31/03/23

Of the 71 children, 43 are male (61%) and 28 are female (39%)

43 children are 11-15 years (60.5%), 27 are 16-17 years (38%)

Of the 71, 57 have EBD/ Complex needs and 14 have specialist needs

Internal provision

Coventry has five of their own homes - four homes deliver long term care to children who display EBD and one home delivers short breaks to children with disabilities. All homes deliver a ‘Good’ service and have held a consistent level of occupancy since opening.

The homes ensure that children can remain local, keeping links with family and friends, continuing to attend local educational provision, and access to health services.

Service intentions

In the short-term, plans are in place and work is underway to create 2 new residential homes – a residential home for children with disabilities and a ‘same day, short stay’ emergency home.

In the medium term, Coventry proposes to create more internal provision to ensure it can meet its sufficiency needs, with a residential strategy being developed for the next 3 years.

External residential market

Coventry follows a mixed market approach to commissioning residential care placements from the external market.

Current residential placements are commissioned through a number of contracts:

• A Partnership Call-off Flexible Framework Contract with 2 providers.
  • Each provider provides 1 local four bedded home supporting CLA with EBD/Complex needs, this provides 8 block beds in total.
  • A subsequent call off provided a further block contract for 4 floating beds for CLA with EBD/Complex needs, in residential homes in or close to Coventry.
  • A new block of 3 beds with therapeutic support for young people with more complex needs has been called off
• The West Midlands Residential Flexible Contracting Arrangement (FCA) is utilised when the block contracts are unable to meet needs.
• Spot Contracts are negotiated where these arrangements cannot meet needs.

The Commissioning team have been developing a ‘Hard to Place’ (H2P) contract based on the needs analysis that was carried out in 2022. This contract aims to engage with a small number of providers who will work in partnership with Coventry, based on relational practice, to meet the needs of the particular group of young people identified who have complex needs and challenging behaviours, providing a therapeutic supportive placement using experienced staff who will ‘stick with’ the young people even when they are being challenging.

This contract went out to tender and despite very positive feedback from the market, no providers tendered. As a result, the Commissioning team have been able to approach selected providers to potentially direct award the contract. A couple of providers who are new to Coventry have been awarded and are developing new provision in or close to the city and discussions are ongoing with a number of others who have expressed an interest.

Commissioning intentions

• Progress with the Hard 2 Place Contract to increase sufficiency for children who require more specialist provision.
• The Commissioning team will continue to build relationships with providers to develop their local footprint in Coventry to support our CLA to live local to Coventry where it is safe for them to do so, to maintain their support networks and reduce further disruption to their Education and access to wider support/health services.
• The Commissioning team will continue to work with providers when children’s placements become unstable to collectively work in the best interests of the young person, ensuring that where possible they are not moved in an unplanned way or in short timescales. This will ensure that young people are prepared for a move to take place, giving a new provider ample time to meet the child and make the necessary arrangements.
• Coventry occasionally requires a tier 4 bed for mental health or a secure welfare bed for a young person. These placements are under significant pressure nationally, when needed there is either no bed available or there can be 60+ national referrals for a place. Discussions are ongoing regionally to consider potential solutions collectively.
• A bid to pilot a Regional Care Co-operative is planned and would consider how such arrangements could improve the support available to the challenging cohorts of young people who all local authorities are struggling to place.
• Coventry is seeing an increase in the number of young people requiring a stepdown residential placement from Tier 4 mental health beds. These placements are particularly difficult to source, and the Commissioning team is keen to work with providers who can support these young people in a placement.
• The Commissioning team will continue to explore the benefits of wider placement support, for example a Placement Stability team who could be deployed to support the young person, carers and other professionals with targeted support to maintain placement stability.
• Coventry City Council is leading on the West Midlands regional residential framework and therefore will be working with the 13 West Midlands Local Authorities and providers to develop and improve the contract to get the best for children and young people.

Supported accommodation for 16+

Supported accommodation for young people provides accommodation with support for 16- and 17-year-old looked after young people and care leavers to enable them to live semi-independently. The aim of supported accommodation is to support young people to develop their independence in preparation for adult living while keeping them safe in a homely and nurturing environment.

• 21 CLA were placed in Supported accommodation on 31/03/23
• 58 UASC were placed in Supported accommodation on 31/03/23
• 3 parent & child placements in Supported accommodation on 31/03/23

Our current placing arrangements are via three block contracts. These block contracts offer 71 units of accommodation and 18 units of floating support to help young people when they move to their own tenancy.

A small number of additional units are purchased for young people with high support needs, who may be eligible for adult services or who require an out of city placement. These are spot purchased or secured via the West Midlands Supported Accommodation Framework. The Regional Framework and spot purchasing in addition to the block contacts, currently provide good capacity to meet placement needs.

The type of accommodation has been changed within the block contracts to reduce the number of solo placements and increase the number of shared houses to meet the needs of UASC young people. Some young people who have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRTPF) and who are awaiting a decision from the Home Office experience delays in being able to move on at aged 18 years. An alternative accommodation offer of 15 beds is available for this group, which allows them to live in low support accommodation independently until they gain status.

Coventry has a range of accommodation options available, which are provided through the 3 block contracts, regional framework and spot arrangements, the types of provision are:

The new West Midlands Regional Framework for Supported Accommodation providers has been in place since February 2022. This framework has appointed approximately 160 providers who successfully completed a rigorous selection process.

All supported accommodation referrals go to Coventry’s block providers first. Where a place cannot be found via the block, the referral will go out through the framework to source a suitable place. If the framework cannot supply a place, then spot purchased provision will be sought. The framework allows Coventry and regional colleagues to develop relationships with providers, promotes quality assurance of provision and ensures safety and value for money.

In Coventry, Young People move on into Social Housing/ their own Tenancy by the age of 18 years and 3 months. Coventry policy is to support Young People to 18 years and 3 months to allow them to bid for Social Housing in reasonable time following their 18th birthday. Once a successful tenancy is secured, Floating Support provision is available to support them to maintain their tenancy for a further 3 months. This additional support has resulted in very low rates of tenancy breakdown.

There are significant changes being introduced nationally in 2023-24 with the introduction of national standards for Supported Accommodation, as this market becomes regulated with the requirement for providers to register with Ofsted and prepare for Ofsted inspection. It is difficult to assess the impact of these changes on the market and there are concerns about the future capacity in the market if providers choose not to register or struggle with the registration process and are not registered by the 28 Oct deadline. This could have an impact on Coventry’s block contracts or on the West Midlands Framework that may require further action. Coventry Commissioning team is working closely with their block and other contracted providers and is participating in regional work with West Midlands colleagues to provide support to providers with these changes.

Commissioning intentions

• The Commissioning team will continue to work with providers to support them to register with Ofsted.
• The Commissioning team will continue to work with providers to support them to meet overall standards and the initial provision of quality documentation.
• The Supported Accommodation block contracts are due to expire in 2026. The Commissioning team will review the impact of the new standards and regulations on the market before planning the recommissioning of these contracts.
• The Commissioning team will continue to work with providers to meet the complexity of needs and behaviours that challenge, particularly relating to CSE, missing episodes, mental health, self-harm and aggression. This also relates to young people who have reached the age of 18 but are not eligible for statutory services.
• The Commissioning team will continue to work with Housing and providers to ensure there is a supply of quality accommodation within the city for young people to move on to.

Quality assurance

Coventry Children’s Commissioning team has a comprehensive quality assurance framework that they use to assess placement provision from the external market and to internal residential provision.

The overarching principles of quality assurance (QA) activity in commissioning placements for Children who are Looked After are: 

• Keeping children safe 
• Ensuring high quality provision 
• Ensuring best value/ value for money 

The commissioning team’s QA activity aims to ensure placement contracts are being delivered by commissioned providers as specified, using an outcome-based approach, supporting and monitoring activities and reacting to significant failures in the market in a robust and consistent way.

Where a provider with a Coventry child receives an inadequate judgement from Ofsted for example, officers from the Commissioning team will endeavour to visit within 24 hours to assess the effectiveness and safety of the placement for the child, seeking assurance from the provider on their service improvement plan.

The commissioning team uses a risk-based approach to manage and monitor quality in provision through reviewing a range of data to direct resources where they are needed most and can make the greatest impact. This includes RAG rating providers using the following criteria: 

• High risk – Significant concerns/inadequate provider/home/ placement stop/ LADO investigation. If a provider is judged Inadequate by Ofsted a visit to the placement must be made on the same working day and a decision made within 24 hours as to whether the child is safe to remain in placement.  
• Medium risk – Moderate concerns/placement is unsettled.  
• Low risk – Minor concerns/placements are stable.   

The commissioning team undertake planned and responsive quality assurance activities to assess and review the quality of provision. These include: 

• Responsive visits to residential, fostering and supported accommodation providers where immediate safeguarding concerns or serious complaints have been raised.  
• A programme of planned visits to Coventry residential and supported accommodation provision in and out of Coventry based on levels of risk.  We aim that each provider who has a Coventry child in placement should be visited at least once a year.  
• Regular contract management meetings and monitoring of Key Performance Indicators with providers who deliver Coventry residential and supported accommodation block provision. 
• Regular contract management meetings with the main external fostering providers. 
• Information sharing with other West Midlands local authorities on quality concerns with providers on regional frameworks.  

The commissioning team aim to make this process challenging but supportive for the provider, discussing their findings and offering feedback, working with the provider to consider service improvement measures.

The commissioning team continue to work with the children’s participation team, social care and IROs to gain feedback on placements from children and young people e.g. via the Pledge Survey and at CLA reviews.

Governance

The Sufficiency Steering group meets monthly, chaired by the Strategic Lead for Looked After Children (Corporate Parenting). Membership includes Strategic and Operational Leads responsible for delivering the work programme outlined in this strategy and Finance colleagues. Officers report on progress and can escalate any barriers to senior managers.

Progress updates on the Sufficiency action plan are reported up to Children’s Services Leadership Team and the Director by the Strategic Lead for Looked After Children (corporate parenting).