Salford City Council leaders have agreed to enter a partnership agreement with GM (Greater Manchester) local authority partners to deliver Project Skyline, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier in the year.
The project seeks to improve availability of children’s homes places for the region’s most vulnerable young people, whilst at the same time reducing the spending on private external residential placements.
Local authorities, the GMCA and GM NHS signed a MoU for Project Skyline in January 2024. The MoU recognised the commitment of partners to the ambitions of the project including the investment case, which would see the homes acquired and owned by GMCA.
Analysis in 2022 undertaken by the GMCA Research team found Greater Manchester’s local authorities were spending more than £480m on children’s social care budgets. The report highlighted that 50% of the total £481m expenditure across 2021/22 related specifically to 6,000 children, with around £100m spent on external residential placements.
Salford City Council, rated by Ofsted as ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ for leadership and care leaver services, still faces significant challenges in providing sufficient high quality placements for cared for children. A combination of market pressures and rising costs, along with increased case complexity and excessive profit levels from some independent care providers is behind these unprecedented challenges.
A more recent review of the costs of independent sector placements has confirmed the average weekly cost of a residential externally commissioned placement is now around £4,850. This is up 14% on the previous average twelve month figure and one that is expected to continue to increase.
Read More About Salford Children’s Homes: New Children’s Home Plan Could Mean The End Of A ‘Tranquil’ Cul-De-Sac
Alongside financial analysis, there is evidence of an increased proportion of children being placed outside of their home local authority and even outside the Greater Manchester area. This then contributes to making it harder than ever for children in care to experience the stable conditions they need in order to thrive and achieve positive outcomes.
Project Skyline has been developed as a response to these mounting challenges. The aim is to increase availability of looked after children placements in the GM region, whilst tackling the significant costs associated with these type of placements.
The plan is to create ten new homes that can accommodate 24 children. This will include complex care mental health support homes, residential homes supporting younger children with a view to transitioning them back to foster care, residential homes supporting older teenagers, residential homes supporting children / young people at risk of sexual exploitation and residential homes supporting children / young people at risk of criminal exploitation.
Councillor Jim Cammell Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services, said:
“The current landscape across children’s services has led us to this strategy,
we needed to act and we have done, this is part of our response to challenging times and we are looking for other opportunities to expand our own services in Salford. Skyline is a unique approach and by working collaboratively with our regional partners we will increase support and improve the lives of children and young people.
In Salford we have a proven track record of improvement through our support for children and young people and delivering positive outcomes. Following our good and outstanding Ofsted rating, this project highlights our ongoing commitment to focusing on meeting the needs of our vulnerable children and young people. I look forward seeing Skyline delivering on our promises in the near future.”
Salford City Council is committed to creating a creating a fairer, greener, healthier and more inclusive city for all. This project supports that commitment to delivering that vision and forms part of a plan which sets out seven interconnected priorities as the focus for council’s work from 2024 to 2028.
Following modelling of local authority requirements across each local authority, a tendering exercise is currently running until the end of September 2024. GMCA is leading the procurement on behalf of the ten GM local authorities, with a confirmed £5m funding to acquire properties to be used for Project Skyline.
It is hoped Salford will be part of the first tranche of Skyline homes, alongside Bolton, Bury, Wigan and Trafford. Following the tendering exercise, the focus will be on the search for suitable properties to convert into Skyline homes.
