New homes for looked after young people after £2m investment

New homes for looked after children and young

people were given the green light after North Somerset Council’s Cabinet approved a £2million investment.

Two children and young people’s homes will be developed to provide medium to long term care for up to six children, which will be run by the council. 

These homes will bring many benefits including helping keep local families closer together, reduce the number of children in care, increase availability of high-quality residential homes in North Somerset and deliver savings for the council – estimated to be over £250K per home annually

North Somerset Council currently faces a significant shortfall in local residential settings for looked after children. This can lead to costly out-of-area placements that disrupt a young person’s life affecting stability, education and family relationships. 

To address this, the Council has approved an investment of up to £2million from its Capital Programme budget over the next two years which will deliver up to two in-house therapeutic residential children’s homes and an Edge of Care Home based on the well evidenced "No Wrong Door" model, first developed in North Yorkshire.

These homes will respond to growing levels of need, increasing costs, insufficient local placements, and statutory duties under the Children Act and aim to reduce reliance on costly external placements.

Cllr Catherine Gibbons, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Families and Lifelong Learning at North Somerset Council said: “This is great news for our looked after North Somerset children and young people. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of children in our care since 2022 and these homes will help provide a stable and supportive environment close to their family, school and friends whilst also bringing significant financial savings to the council. Young people will benefit through better social and educational outcomes whilst also helping reduce our reliance on more expensive out of area external agency placements.”

North Somerset Council aims to buy and deliver the homes over the next 12 to 18 months (subject to funding and market conditions). 

For more information on North Somerset Council’s sufficiency strategy 2025-28, a required document that sets out the council’s plans to meet its statutory sufficiency duty in providing local care provision, visit: North Somerset Sufficiency Strategy for Children in Care and Care Experienced young people 2025-2028 (DRAFT V2.1)