A joint effort between Gwynedd and Anglesey councils could reduce the number of children in care having to be looked after outside of county boundaries and save money for the authority.

A report presented to Gwynedd Council’s Cabinet states that at the end of December 2019 there were 284 children being looked after by the authority – a 13 per cent increase on figures for December 2018.

The number of looked-after children in Gwynedd has increased every year since 2013/14 and, according to decision makers, it “looks unlikely that the trend will change”.

This, however, echoes a familiar pattern seen in local authorities across Wales with the Welsh Local Government Association reporting a 36 per cent rise in the number of children taken into care in the last nine years.

But with the service largely demand led, authorities are sometimes left with no choice but to send some children out of the county to meet their specialist needs – which can often cost around £250,000 a year per child when accommodation, health care and education is taken into account.

The increasing costs of such placements, however, are largely responsible for Gwynedd’s projected £3.2m children’s service overspend – with officers setting up a task force to look at how this can be reduced in future years.

But addressing the last Cabinet meeting, the portfolio holder for children and supporting families said efforts were underway to target earlier intervention “before it reaches crisis point”, in a bid to reduce the need for as many children to be cared for out of county.

There were 18 young people from Gwynedd in out-of-county placements between April and June 2019, compared to 13.6 in 2017/18, and 14.3 in 2018/19, with each specialist placement described as meaning a “a high financial cost” for the authority.

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