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Caerphilly Council has said it is struggling to recruit foster carers with “more children in residential care than ever”.

This was revealed on Tuesday, October 11, at a social services scrutiny committee meeting, where a five-month budget review was presented.

The report also found that adult day care provision and adult home care provision are both experiencing underspends due to staff recruitment issues.

Lack of foster carers in Caerphilly County Borough 

At the committee meeting, Plaid Cymru councillor Judith Pritchard pointed out a £4 million overspend on out-of-county care – which means children are having to move out of the county borough.

Head of children’s services at the council, Gareth Jenkins, said this was due to challenges recruiting foster carers and a lack of appropriate accommodation for the children.

Mr Jenkins said: “Our financial awards for Caerphilly foster carers is very competitive, carers are very happy. The issue is there just aren’t carers out there.”

He added: “There are more children in residential care than ever, therefore the cost is higher.”

Labour councillor Teresa Heron, who was previously a foster carer for 20 years, said: “If we made it more of a profession we may get more carers coming.

“There are people out there aware of the job but it’s just not appealing.”

She added: “During my time of fostering it was the best thing I have done in my life. It was an amazing experience, of course we had difficult times, but we loved it.”

Mr Jenkins said the council works in partnership with Foster Wales, which is currently targeting the “empty nesters” – people whose youngest children have gone to university or moved out.

Projected overspend of social services budget

In total the council has projected an overspend of £800,400 – this has reduced since the beginning of September, when a £1.4 million overspend was predicted.

The council has stated that the reduction in overspending is due to over-estimations in the previous review and staff vacancies.

The five-month budget review projects an overspend of £3,633 on children’s services, and a projected underspend of £2,578 on adult services in the 2022/23 financial year.

The report states: “The underspends for both in-house and independent sector home care reflect the staff recruitment difficulties faced across the sector that have culminated in 410 hours of unmet need at the end of September.

“The forecasts included in this report reflect current service provision so if staff recruitment can be improved this underspend could be significantly reduced.”

Underspends on transport costs and office expenses have also contributed to a reduction in the projected overspend.

The social services general reserve balance currently stands at around £2.28 million, therefore the overspend could be funded by this.

But, the report states that using the department’s reserves to fund the overspend “poses a significant risk for future years”, because of the impact the cost of living crisis is going to have on “vulnerable families” and care providers.

In a previous social services scrutiny committee meeting held on September 6, councillors agreed to lobby the Welsh Government for additional funds.

It was agreed that a letter be written on behalf of the committee by Cllr Elaine Forehead, cabinet member for social services, and Cllr Donna Cushing, chair of the committee, would be sent.