Children in Care Statistics
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
1. How many children do you have in care in your Local Authority?
2. How many foster carers do you currently have approved in-house?
3. In the financial year of March 31st 2023-1st April 2024 how many foster carers did you approve and how many resigned in that period?
4. What are your top three sufficiency needs in terms of placement availability for children and young people?
5. What are the fostering allowances in your service for mainstream foster carers?
6. What is the % split between children placed in house and children placed in IFA?
7. How many children do you have in residential care?
8. Do you have any specialist foster carer projects such as step across from residential care? Yes or No
9. If you do have a project of this kind, please answer the following:
a) Is this an in-house project or outsourced to an IFA?
b) How many children within this project had a plan of foster care but ended up in residential care due to lack of foster carer availability?
c) How many of the children in this project had a care plan of residential but are now ready to move into foster care?
d) When did this project start and what is the duration of the project?
e) How many children in total within this project are you aiming to move back into foster care?
f) Thus far, how many children have you successfully placed into foster care via this project?
g) Of these children moved, have the children moved in the agreed timeframe? and if not what have been the barriers?
h) Are the children placed solo or alongside other children in care?
i) What are the carers paid inhouse or IFA paid per placement per child stepping from residential into foster care?
j) Is there an aftercare package attached to this project and if so, what does this consist of in terms of support?
Yours faithfully,
James
Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA
Contact: Information Team
[email address]
Dear James
Request FOI/10784
Further to your request received on 02/10/2024, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Specifically, you have requested the following information:
1. How many children do you have in care in your Local Authority?
482
2. How many foster carers do you currently have approved in-house?
217 in 145 households
3. In the financial year of March 31st 2023-1st April 2024 how many foster
carers did you approve and how many resigned in that period?
13 approved
32 resigned
4. What are your top three sufficiency needs in terms of placement
availability for children and young people?
Large sibling groups
Emergency placements
Parent and child
5. What are the fostering allowances in your service for mainstream foster
carers?
┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Weekly Rates 2022 - 2023 │
│ │
│Standard Fees for Foster Carers │
│ │
├────────┬───────────────┬──────────┬───────┤
│Age Band│Maintenance Fee│Skills Fee│Total │
├────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼───────┤
│0-4 │£180.60 │£210.00 │£390.60│
├────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼───────┤
│5-10 │£200.55 │£210.00 │£410.55│
├────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼───────┤
│11-15 │£234.15 │£210.00 │£444.15│
├────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼───────┤
│16-17 │£268.80 │£210.00 │£478.80│
└────────┴───────────────┴──────────┴───────┘
6. What is the % split between children placed in house and children
placed in IFA?
55% in house 45% IFA
7. How many children do you have in residential care?
40
8. Do you have any specialist foster carer projects such as step across
from residential care? Yes or No
No
9. If you do have a project of this kind, please answer the following:
Not Applicable
a) Is this an in-house project or outsourced to an IFA?
b) How many children within this project had a plan of foster care but
ended up in residential care due to lack of foster carer availability?
c) How many of the children in this project had a care plan of residential
but are now ready to move into foster care?
d) When did this project start and what is the duration of the project?
e) How many children in total within this project are you aiming to move
back into foster care?
f) Thus far, how many children have you successfully placed into foster
care via this project?
g) Of these children moved, have the children moved in the agreed
timeframe? and if not what have been the barriers?
h) Are the children placed solo or alongside other children in care?
i) What are the carers paid inhouse or IFA paid per placement per child
stepping from residential into foster care?
j) Is there an aftercare package attached to this project and if so, what
does this consist of in terms of support?
The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)
To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:
[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)
If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:
Email: [2][email address]
Writing: Information Team
London Borough of Croydon
Bernard Weatherill House
Floor 7 - Zone B
8 Mint Walk
Croydon, CR0 1EA
Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Information Team
Croydon Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House,
Mint Walk,
Croydon,
CR0 1EA
[3][email address]
[4][email address]
References
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1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
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