A COUNCIL is facing an increasing number of child protection cases but a decreasing number of suitable residential placements.

Flintshire Council’s social and health care overview and scrutiny committee will meet on Thursday to discuss children’s out of county placements - which are cases in which the council turns to outside providers for services such as education or residential.

A report to the committee states over the past five years the authority has seen an increasing number and complexity of child protection referrals, with an overall increase of the number of children on the child protection register.

There has also been an increasing demand for accommodating looked after children and increasing complexity and cost of placements for ‘out of county’ provision.

According to the report Flintshire Council currently commissions out of county residential care services for 23 children via 14 independent providers in Wales and England, the average weekly cost to the council for each being £3,565.

The report states: “There is a large cohort of young people in residential provision that will need to remain in that setting resulting in a known budget pressure.

“There is a dearth of available placements leading to a significant increase in the weekly cost for new placements.

“Whilst all efforts are made to find alternatives to residential provision the cases that are presenting are increasingly complex, carry high risks, with no viable alternative.”

The report goes on to explain that the first stage of a project commissioned to review the approach to out of county provision has been completed.

To develop high quality locally based residential care, the project has led to a range of options and approaches being explored including investigating the feasibility of establishing new, local authority-run children’s home provision in North Wales.

On a regional level, the report explains there are 1,000 children looked after by councils in North Wales and the number is increasing.

The document adds: “The development of a co-ordinated approach to the residential care market for children in North Wales will form one of the priorities for the North Wales Strategic Commissioning Board for 2018. Flintshire will have a critical role in shaping and delivering this regional work.

“The local work delivered through this project will complement the regional work and will ensure pace of delivery in responding to current placement and budgetary pressures.”

Councillors will be asked to scrutinise the approach that is being undertaken by Flintshire Council to secure the most cost effective delivery of positive outcomes for children.