GOOD PRACTICE

Milton Keynes (I) - reducing the numbers of looked after children
Summary of Context
The population of Milton Keynes is expected to rise to above 250,000 by 2011 (and further in recently announced Government plans) making it one of the fastest growing areas in the UK. Approximately 73,000 people are aged under 25 and the population of children aged under 18 grows by around 1,000 every year.
The starting position for the Authority was one of reliance on expensive external residential placements and agency foster placements. Numbers of looked after children, costs and expenditure were all high. The Council initially attempted to anticipate reductions in numbers looked after rather than plan the services that would achieve them. Children's Services' budgets were reduced in advance of the cost savings being realised and resulted in repeated overspends. In 1999/2000 the Children's Services budget was overspent by around £1 million. A key turning point was when Councillors recognised that the budget did not reflect the pattern of need and agreed an addition to the 2000/1 budget of a sum similar to the previous year's overspend.
The 'invest to save' approach led to well managed reductions in numbers of looked after children and an under-spend in 2000/1 of £590,000. The 2001/2 budget was able to include £500,000 savings without adverse impact on service provision. A small under-spend was projected for 2001/2 alongside the redirection of savings on placement costs into further family support initiatives, in effect, achieving the 'virtuous circle'. See Overview.

Good Practice
In essence, Children's Services have been promoting a child and family-centred approach with increased emphasis on partnership, greater use of family and community-based support services, more judicious use of formal child protection procedures and less use of expensive and inappropriate residential care. Local fostering and adoption services have been substantially enhanced.
This has enabled the Authority to control its volatile children's placements budget and divert resources towards more support services, in turn, further increasing community and family alternatives to residential care.
The development of family support services has been an integral part of the Authority's approach to increasing partnership work with families and other agencies and reducing its previously high levels of expensive and inappropriate formal interventions. Examples include:

  • direct and effective provision via the Family Advice and Support Team (FAST) which works closely with the Referral and Assessment Team and Family Support Teams to provide responsive hands-on support to children and families at risk of family breakdown;
  • extensive use of the Family Group Conference Service, which is now embedded in the culture of the authority; and
  • the combined Learning and Development Directorate has supported good collaboration between Children's Services, Education and Youth, Leisure and Community Services and there is a sound child focus to service planning and delivery.

Benefits from the 'refocusing' approach included:

  • substantial and well managed reductions in the numbers of looked after children (a fall of over 130 between Jan 1999 and September 2001);
  • a significant increase in the number of children being adopted, (14 per cent of looked after children were adopted in 2000/1, nearly 3 times the national target of 5 per cent);
  • increased numbers of foster carers. (By 2001 64 of 99 foster carer households had been approved in the previous 4 years);
  • reduction in the number of (expensive) placements with Independent Fostering Agencies from over 50 to 11;
  • good and improving access to a range of family and community-based support services;
  • families reporting better partnerships and less adversarial relationships with services; and
  • budgets being managed within target and generating further capacity for 'investment to save'.

Trends in numbers of looked after children in Milton Keynes July 1998 - March 2002

Contact: Paul Sutton Tel. No. 01908 253324
e-mail address paul.sutton@milton-keynes.gov.uk