Written question WQ92167

The total spend by local authorities on residential placements for looked after children is published annually on the StatsWales website. Local authorities spent approximately £198.25 million on such placements in 2022-3. [1]

We continue to work closely with partners across the sector to enhance our understanding of children’s residential care services and to help deliver our Programme for Government commitments to transform children’s services. Our Children Looked After census captures information on children in local authority care, including those in residential settings. Care Inspectorate Wales recently published a new data tool which summarises the annual returns from all registered providers, including residential children’s homes. This tool provides data on occupancy and staffing. Workforce data is also provided by Social Care Wales.

Data on staffing ratios and costs for placements within children’s residential care is held by providers. These figures will be determined by the size and type of the home and the specific needs of individuals being cared for. Provisions within the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 require that services should be resourced with suitably qualified, trained, skilled, competent and experienced staff to meet childrens needs and outcomes.

Data from the Childrens’ Commissioning Consortium Cymru [2] indicates the average cost [3] to an independent provider of a child placed in a registered regulated care home setting will be about £3,811 per child per week. An equivalent placement within a local authority setting will be about £5,265 per child per week on average.

[1] Social services revenue outturn expenditure by client group (£ thousand) (gov.wales)

[2] Based on a standard (not specialised) approach in a 4-bed care home setting, without education or a clinical therapeutic model.

[3] ‘Cost’ here is defined as the financial amount reported for service delivery by the provider, irrelevant of provider type. This definition included a range of sector wide recognised variable and fixed costs.