Warning of rise in Hartlepool children going into care in the coming months after increase during pandemic

Hartlepool Borough Council officers noted they currently have around 335 children and young people in their care, up from around 300 prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

Finance chiefs also warned they are expecting budget pressures of £1.35million in its looked after children provision in 2021/22.

Costs for 2020/21 are estimated at around £1.1million, with £700,000 funded from Covid-19 Government grant funding and £400,000 from the council’s general budget fund.

Sally Robinson, council director of children’s and joint commissioning services, told the finance and policy committee when lockdown was imposed they were advised children should not be leaving care.

She also noted it is expected the number of children in care will increase later this year when young people go back to school.

She said: “Sadly we do anticipate there will be a further rise in demand for children’s services.

“We’re working currently to look at options to increase our in house capacity to be ready for the autumn when we know again we’ll need more placements potentially.

“There is a longer term challenge here rather than just arising from placement capacity and then everything will return to normal, I genuinely don’t think it will.”

She also noted the Covid-19 lockdown has impacted on the courts system which meant children could not have care arrangements decided through that process, contributing to the net rise in children in care.

She said: “For the previous 12 months or so before Covid started we had between around 295 to 305 children in our care.

“We’ve around 335 at the moment, from our previous maximum that’s an increase of around 20 children and young people.”

Cllr Jim Lindridge noted the costs which could come from the increase, but stressed the health of those impacted was the most crucial factor.

He said: “More importantly it’s the health and wellbeing of the young people and the carers as well.

“I think this is going to increase because of the Covid lockdown, there’s lots of issues that’s unknown in the last three months, where there might have been domestic violence or mental health issues with children and that impacts on the carers.”

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Hartlepool Mail website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here. Thank you.