Funding to improve services to children and families in North Northamptonshire at a cost of £20,373,780 was given the go ahead at the council’s Executive Meeting on Thursday 14 November.
The funding, through the Council’s capital programme, will mean more council provided children’s homes and care leaver accommodation and will also increase housing opportunities for care leavers in their own tenancies, enabling them to move out of more costly provision.
£5,242,361 million will be allocated to spending on Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT) office accommodation. This will include leasing offices in Sheep Street, Wellingborough, for a local NCT hub, fitting out the William Knibb Centre in Kettering to relocate staff there from other sites and redeveloping the Northamptonshire Youth Offending Service offices in London Road, Kettering.
The council say that the remaining £15,131,419 million will go towards a programme of children’s homes, supported accommodation and general units.
They continue to say that; the exact programme and individual sites will be subject to the approval of robust business cases, but high-level modelling has been undertaken with NCT and the following programme is being recommended:
- Children’s homes – buy and refurbish four new children’s homes across North Northamptonshire.
- Supported accommodation – buy and refurbish 5 x 5 bed supported accommodation properties for 16+ and 18+ care leavers across North Northamptonshire.
- General housing units for care leavers – buy and refurbish 16 general housing units to provide tenancies for 16+ and 18+ care leavers across North Northamptonshire.
The scheme could create an estimated £2.25m in savings each year. The council say the next steps will be to acquire/build properties, procure and deliver the works in the programmes for office accommodation and care and support settings.
Northamptonshire Children’s Trust will submit individual business cases for each care and support project.
Scott Edwards, North Northamptonshire Council’s Executive Member for Children, said:
“Excellent children’s social care has never been more vital. We cannot, and will not, accept poor quality or unsafe accommodation for children in our care, who are often among the most vulnerable in our country.”
“By providing more young people with safe, secure places to live, through this phase of capital investment, we will lay the foundations for giving them the tools they need to move confidently into adult life.”
Jason Smithers, Leader of North Northamptonshire Council, said:
“Our vision is for a place where everyone has the best opportunities and quality of life. We are committed to caring for our young people, providing them with a high-quality education and opportunities to help them flourish. All young people deserve to live somewhere they feel happy and safe, which is why we are developing a system that places the interests of young people at its heart.”
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