Torfaen has highest number of children in care in Wales
The council has made additional funds, from its reserves, available to cover the shortfall but has also since last autumn had a recovery plan to reduce costs in children's care. It finished the financial year with a £3m children's services overspend while the budget for this year is more than £24m and it could have to use £500,000 from the support fund.
Councillor Richard Clark the cabinet member responsible described the spending as 'unsustainable' but said changes made as a result of tackling rising costs are also intended to better support children. He said: 'More importantly to me it is giving better chances to those individuals'.
He said the numbers in the authority's care have reduced since January and had fallen to 316 but increased by an additional child on Monday while Jason O'Brien, the strategic director for children and family services said the figure on Tuesday, when his report was discussed by the cabinet, was 315.
'Since January our children looked after population has reduced at an accelerated rate and we continue to narrow the gap with the Welsh national average,' said Mr O'Brien.
Steps to reduce costs have included establishing an early intervention hub to better support families in need of support and the council has also opened its own small children's home, in partnership with a housing association, with another to open shortly to reduce the cost of residential placements and use of those outside of Torfaen.
By the end of June the council had also placed more children with its own in-house foster carers and reduced the number placed with those from more expensive independent fostering agencies.
A revamp of staffing structures within children's services is also due to take effect from August 4 and that will base staff around demands on the service rather than location.
Torfaen's Labour leader Cllr Anthony Hunt praised the work of the 'necessary confidential but vital' service and said it was 'good to focus on the people and not just the figures'.
The Panteg councillor said: 'In the current political climate people say councils should be run more like a business but we're not a business we're a public service and provider of last resort and supporting vulnerable people. The finance works hand in hand with better outcomes for individuals.'
He added he was pleased youngsters in the council's care can 'live locally around their other support networks.'
Torfaen has the highest rate of children looked after per 100,000 of the population under 18 years in Wales, though the figure has reduced since 2021 when it peaked at 232 per 100,000, an actual figure of 479 children in care.
The figure reported to the Welsh Government, in May, was 316 which was 169 children per 100,000 in care while the council has targeted reducing the number of children looked after to 296 for the 2026/27 financial year and it is confident its figures suggest that will be achieved.
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