A Regional View
Finding enough homes for children in care of the right type and in the right places is recognised as a major challenge across all parts of the United Kingdom. Placement insufficiency affects children’s wellbeing and safety and is financially unsustainable. This is one of the first strategies which provides a regional view and seeks to identify issues best addressed collectively.
The Strategy builds on the South West market position statement for Fostering, Children’s Residential Care, and Independent Special Schools, published in June 2022. It covers the whole of England’s largest region, and all types of provision for children in care except residential schools. The Strategy complements, but does not replace, the sufficiency strategies produced by each local authority by providing a regional view and suggesting priorities for local and regional or sub-regional action.
Developed by IPC
The Strategy has been developed by the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University for the South West Sufficiency Project, a partnership between all 15 councils with social care responsibilities in the region, supported by Department for Education (DfE) funding. The South West Sufficiency Project is hosted by South Gloucestershire Council, and overseen by a regional Project Board. South Gloucestershire acted as the lead client, building on its academic partnership with IPC to secure added value for the region.
The Strategy used nationally published data to enable robust regional comparisons, supplemented by bespoke data collection and engagement. Both the DfE and Ofsted assisted by providing previously unpublished detail from national returns.
