NOT FOR PUBLICATION

North Yorkshire Council

Executive

14^th July 2026

Briefing paper to support Sufficiency Strategy

Report of the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service

1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1 To ask the Executive to approve the Children’s Care Sufficiency Strategy 2026–2029 for North Yorkshire Council as the strategic framework for meeting the Council’s statutory sufficiency duty under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989 and its wider corporate parenting responsibility to ensure that children in the Council’s care have access to sufficient, safe, stable and appropriate homes. The Executive is asked to approve the strategic approach set out in the strategy, note the current demand position and identified sufficiency gaps, and support the phased three-year programme of action to strengthen local provision, improve placement stability, and ensure more children can live in safe, stable and appropriate homes close to the people and places that matter to them wherever this is right and safe. The Executive is also asked to agree the earmarking of £20 million from within Council reserves, to be accessed at a future date following the presentation of robust business cases for individual proposals, with each business case to be considered and agreed by the Executive before any funding is released. The Executive is also asked to note the receipt of new national guidance on 2 July 2026 relating to children’s social care sufficiency Understanding children’s social care sufficiency in England - GOV.UK and urgent registration of children’s homes Registering children’s homes: prioritising applications - GOV.UK Changing our approach to unregistered children's homes - GOV.UKand to agree that any minor consequential amendments required following review are delegated to the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service, in consultation with the Executive Member for Children and Families.

2.0 SUMMARY

2.1 North Yorkshire Council is committed to ensuring that every child in care, and every young person leaving care, has a safe, stable and loving home, with the right support to maintain relationships, education and community connections where this is safe and in their best interests. At February 2026, there were 613 children in care in North Yorkshire, representing a 9% increase in one year and a 37% increase since January 2019. The strategy concludes that the principal sufficiency challenge is not simply overall volume, but securing the right homes, in the right places, with the right support. Key areas requiring development are advanced and specialist fostering, small local residential homes, medium and longer-term residential homes, medium-term residential homes for disabled children, registered supported accommodation, specialist short breaks, and planned crisis and emergency capacity. The strategy proposes eight strategic priorities and a phased implementation plan across 2026/27 to 2028/29, supported by governance, quarterly review and annual refresh arrangements.

2.2 To enable delivery of these priorities, there is a request to earmark £20 million within Council reserves. This is not funding that will be spent now; rather, it would be made available at a future date only where robust business cases are brought forward for individual proposals and approved by the Executive. This approach provides a clear financial framework to support delivery of the strategy while ensuring that any drawdown of funding is subject to appropriate scrutiny, evidence and formal decision-making.

3.0 BACKGROUND

3.1 The Council has a statutory duty under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989 to secure, so far as reasonably practicable, sufficient accommodation for looked after children within the local authority area where this is consistent with their welfare and their needs. This duty is a corporate responsibility of the Council, supported through its role as corporate parent, and requires collective ownership across services to ensure that children in care can access sufficient, safe, stable and appropriate homes. In North Yorkshire, this duty must be understood in the context of a large rural geography, where a placement within county boundaries does not necessarily mean a child remains close to home, school, family network or wider support system. The strategy therefore adopts a locality-based approach to sufficiency, recognising that travel time, school continuity, family time and access to services are key aspects of children’s lived experience.

3.2 North Yorkshire starts from a position of strength, including a strong in-house fostering offer, comparatively low reliance on independent fostering agencies, and established local provision such as No Wrong Door. However, demand has grown significantly, and children are presenting with increasingly complex needs, including trauma, neurodiversity, disability, emotional wellbeing needs, adolescent risk, exploitation, and needs linked to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. This creates the need for a more resilient, diverse and better planned local care system.

4.0 SUBSTANTIVE ISSUE

4.1 Current demand and pressure
North Yorkshire has historically maintained a lower rate of children looked after than the national average, supported by strong early help, edge of care and family network approaches. Over the past two years, however, the number and rate of children in care have increased at a faster pace than seen nationally and across many comparable authorities. The number of children in care has risen from 464 in 2022/23 to 616 in 2025/26, with the rate increasing from 38 to 53 per 10,000 children. This growth reflects both the impact of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and an increase in North Yorkshire children entering care, linked to rising complexity, family distress, mental health needs, safeguarding concerns and wider socioeconomic pressures. Although North Yorkshire’s rate remains below the national average, the previous gap has narrowed, and the Council’s position is now closer to that of statistical neighbours.

The strategy therefore takes a balanced approach: it seeks to build greater local sufficiency for children who do need to come into the care of the Council, while also continuing work to safely reduce the number of children who need to enter care where this is right for them. This will be supported through the implementation of national and local reforms and the consistent application of practice models that strengthen early help, family help, edge of care, family networks and permanence planning.

4.2 Placement profile and current strengths
Around 74% of children in care live in foster placements, which is a positive position and reflects the strength of North Yorkshire’s family-based care offer, with most foster care provided through the Council’s in-house fostering service. The Council would want this proportion to be higher where this is right for children, as foster care remains the preferred placement option for most children who cannot live safely with their birth families. However, the need for foster placements is now close to outstripping available capacity, with occupancy currently sitting at around 98%. This creates significant pressure on matching, placement choice and the ability to respond flexibly to children with more complex needs.

Approximately 11% of children in care live in residential provision, supported in part by the Council’s established No Wrong Door model, and around 8% are placed with parents as part of planned and assessed arrangements. Around 78% of children in care live within North Yorkshire, which reflects a positive commitment to local care. Long-term stability is approximately 74%, although placement instability has risen to around 14%, indicating the need to strengthen matching, wraparound support and specialist provision.

4.3 Sufficiency gaps
The strategy identifies a number of important sufficiency gaps. Despite the number of children in the Council’s care, North Yorkshire currently has only 12 available residential beds, which significantly limits local placement choice and reinforces the need to develop more small, local and specialist residential provision. The main gaps are:

· insufficient availability of advanced and specialist foster carers with the skills, confidence and support to care for children with more complex needs.

· limited small, local and specialist residential homes.

· insufficient medium and longer-term residential homes for children who require sustained residential stability, relationship-based care and a settled environment over time.

· limited medium-term residential homes for disabled children whose needs cannot be met safely and sustainably through short breaks or family-based care alone.

· limited registered supported accommodation.

· insufficient specialist short breaks provision; and

· limited planned crisis and emergency capacity.

These gaps impact on matching, placement stability, compliance, family resilience and the risk of children entering higher-cost, distant, unsuitable or unregistered provision.

The strategy also gives specific emphasis to defining and growing an advanced fostering pathway, including clear expectations, enhanced training, peer support, specialist consultation and appropriate financial recognition. In residential care, it recognises No Wrong Door as a significant strength while making clear that quality must remain consistently strong across both hubs, with any inspection or quality assurance issues addressed through clear improvement plans, strengthened oversight and evidence of impact.

4.4 Strategic response
The strategy proposes eight priorities: grow and diversify in-house fostering; improve placement matching, stability and support; develop more small, local and specialist residential homes; increase registered supported accommodation and independence pathways; expand short breaks and disability provision; build planned crisis and emergency capacity; strengthen data, forecasting and locality planning; and shape a stronger local and regional provider market. The strategic response is not solely about increasing placement capacity. It also recognises the importance of managing demand by strengthening early help, family help, edge of care, family networks, permanence planning and practice models so that, where it is safe and in children’s best interests, fewer children need to come into the care of the Council.

Delivery is phased across three years: stabilise and design in 2026/27, develop and implement in 2027/28, and embed and evaluate in 2028/29.

Subject to detailed modelling and predictive analysis during phase one, delivery is expected to involve a balanced mix of commissioned and in-house developed provision, enabling the Council to strengthen local sufficiency in a planned and evidence-led way.

4.5 Evidence base
The strategy is explicitly evidence-led and includes demand trend analysis, locality analysis, placement profile information and identified delivery milestones.

4.6 Locality and rurality
The strategy highlights that demand is not evenly distributed, with greatest demand seen in the Scarborough and Harrogate areas, and notes that Scarborough experiences almost double the demand of the next closest former district area. This supports the case for locality-based planning and the development of provision in the places where it will have greatest impact.

5.0 Enablers for delivery

Implementation will depend on cross-cutting enablers including a stable and skilled workforce, strong partnership working across children’s social care, health, education, SEND, housing, adult services, the voluntary sector and providers, and improved data, forecasting, commissioning and market shaping.

5.1 Delivery of the Sufficiency Strategy will require access to additional capital investment to progress key projects and developments. This investment will support the development of provision that can respond to the increased number of children coming into the care of the Council, as well as supporting, where appropriate and in children’s best interests, opportunities to bring children back from out-of-area provision. The intention is to improve outcomes and support a more sustainable local care system, with the overall aim of reducing spend on homes for children over time by reducing reliance on high-cost placements where this can be achieved safely and appropriately.

The scale, type and location of future provision will be confirmed through the demand modelling and predictive analysis undertaken during phase one. This work will include detailed analysis of capital costs, profiled revenue implications and anticipated financial benefits from the planned change in the mix of placements. Individual business cases will then be brought forward as proposals are developed, setting out the detailed scope, benefits, risks and funding requirements associated with each element of delivery.

Consideration will also be given to any specialist provision that should be offered within these homes, informed by the modelling work, sufficiency analysis and assessment of children’s needs.

5.2 To enable timely implementation and avoid delays in responding to sufficiency pressures, there is a need to identify and earmark funding within Council reserves to support delivery of the strategy. This is not funding that will be spent immediately. Any funding would only be made available at a future date where robust business cases are brought forward for individual proposals and approved by the Executive, ensuring that decisions are based on clear evidence, affordability, deliverability and anticipated impact.

5.3 The financial requirement associated with the strategy is expected to develop over time as delivery progresses and priorities are refined. As such, the level and profile of investment required in each year of the strategy will be more clearly defined through the annual refresh of the delivery plan, informed by updated demand modelling, sufficiency gap analysis and detailed project development.

5.4 The strategy proposes governance through a sufficiency governance board within Children and Young People’s Services, with membership from across the wider council, escalation through senior leadership and corporate parenting arrangements, quarterly review of progress and performance, and annual refresh of the delivery plan. This governance model is intended to keep the strategy live, evidence-led and responsive to changing needs and market conditions

6.0 CONTRIBUTION TO COUNCIL PRIORITIES

6.1 The strategy contributes to the Council’s corporate parenting responsibilities and wider priorities for vulnerable children and young people by strengthening the local care offer, improving placement stability, supporting children to remain close to home where safe and appropriate, and improving pathways to adulthood. Ensuring sufficient homes for children in care is a whole-Council responsibility, requiring coordinated leadership, resource planning and delivery across services, not solely within Children and Young People’s Services. The strategy also aligns with wider local priorities relating to early help, family help, permanence, SEND, inclusion, health partnerships and care leaver support. It is designed to improve outcomes, belonging, stability and long-term life chances for children in care and care leavers.

7.0 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 Consideration has been given to alternative approaches in responding to sufficiency pressures. However, it is not possible to adopt a position that does not include a planned approach to sufficiency, as the Council has a statutory duty under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989 to secure sufficient accommodation for children in care. A strategy is therefore required to ensure this duty is met in a structured, effective and sustainable way.

7.2 One alternative approach would be to maintain the current position and respond to placement need on a reactive basis, relying on spot purchasing and external provision.

This approach has been considered and discounted, as it would not adequately address rising demand, increasing complexity of need, geographic challenges or existing market pressures. It would also be likely to result in increased use of high-cost, distant or unplanned placements, with associated impacts on placement stability and outcomes for children and young people.

7.3 The preferred approach set out within the strategy represents a deliberate and balanced model. It builds on North Yorkshire’s existing strengths in in-house fostering and local provision, whilst also strengthening specialist provision, supported accommodation, short breaks, crisis capacity and market shaping. This whole-system approach has been selected as it provides the most effective means of improving sufficiency, reducing reliance on reactive arrangements and ensuring that children are placed in the right homes, in the right places, with the right support.

8.0 IMPACT ON OTHER SERVICES/ORGANISATIONS

8.1 Delivery of the strategy will require coordinated working across children’s social care, commissioning, finance, property, planning, education, adult services, health, housing and community partners. It is also important to highlight that there will be a renewed focus and importance applied to provider engagement, regional commissioning arrangements and responsiveness to Regional Care Cooperative developments. This means that implementation will have implications beyond Children and Young People’s Services and will require shared ownership across council services and partner agencies. The Council’s corporate responsibility to ensure sufficient homes for children means that enabling services, corporate leadership and partner organisations all have a role in supporting the development, approval and delivery of the right local provision.

9.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

9.1 The strategy is underpinned by a clear commitment to maintaining value for money, reducing reliance on high-cost emergency and distant placements, and using evidence-led commissioning and investment decisions to shape a more resilient and sustainable local care offer. It recognises that insufficient local capacity, particularly in relation to crisis and specialist provision, can result in escalation into higher-cost and less effective placements.

The requested earmarked investment is intended to support the overall aim of reducing spend on homes for children over time by strengthening local sufficiency, improving placement choice and reducing reliance on the most expensive packages of care.

This financial context is significant. Between 2023/24 and the projected position for 2026/27, overall spend on homes for children has increased by approximately £30 million.

A large proportion of this increase is attributable to children whose packages of care cost at least £500,000 per annum. The number of these packages has grown significantly over this period, from three in 2023/24 to a currently projected 32 in 2026/27. The associated costs have increased from around £2 million in 2023/24 to approximately £23 million in 2026/27, based on current projections.

9.2 Whilst no detailed or quantified costings are set out within the strategy at this stage, delivery will require access to additional capital investment to progress key projects and developments. This investment will support the development of provision that can respond to the increased number of children coming into the care of the Council, as well as supporting, where appropriate and in children’s best interests, opportunities to bring children back from out-of-area provision.

At this stage, the indicative provision mix may include seven solo homes for children, four duo homes for children, three group homes for children, two additional No Wrong Door provisions and two crash pads, delivered through a combination of commissioned and in-house developed provision. The specific details relating to the exact number, type, location, delivery model and any specialist focus of places required will be determined through the demand and modelling work undertaken during phase one and brought forward through individual business cases.

9.3 In order to support timely implementation and ensure that sufficiency pressures can be responded to proactively, it is proposed that £20 million is earmarked within Council reserves to support delivery of the strategy over its lifetime. This is not funding that will be spent immediately; rather, it would be available for future drawdown only where robust business cases are developed for individual proposals and approved by the Executive. This would provide a clear financial framework to enable the development of local provision, support market shaping activity and reduce reliance on reactive, distant and higher-cost placements, while ensuring appropriate scrutiny before any funding is released. Each business case will need to set out how the proposal contributes to the overall aim of reducing spend on homes for children over time, including the expected impact on high-cost packages of care where this can be achieved safely and appropriately.

9.4 The precise level and profile of investment required in each year of the strategy will be more clearly defined through the annual refresh of the delivery plan, informed by updated demand forecasting, sufficiency gap analysis and the development of detailed project business cases. This approach ensures that financial planning remains responsive, evidence-led and aligned to changing need and emerging opportunities. If following each annual review of the delivery plan it is identified that the earmarked funds are not required, then we would request it to be released back into the reserves.

9.5 During the phase one demand and modelling work, detailed analysis will be undertaken to understand the revenue implications of the proposed programme, including staffing, operating and commissioning costs. The planned approach to sufficiency is intended to reduce, where possible, reliance on high-cost placements through a mix of improved market development, stronger commissioning and the development of appropriate in-house provision.

The intention of the capital investment is therefore to support improved sufficiency and to make savings over time, with any anticipated savings profiled and presented alongside the relevant business cases. For illustration of potential savings currently a single placement within our No Wrong Door provision cost approximately £375,000 per annum, comparatively a high-cost external placement costs more than £500,000 per annum. Through changing the mix of placements at scale could deliver significant savings and result in better outcomes for children; however, confirmation of savings and any recurrent revenue requirements will be finalised through the development of individual business cases.

10.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

10.1 The strategy is grounded in the Council’s statutory duty under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989 to secure, as far as reasonably practicable, sufficient accommodation for children in care within the local authority area where this is consistent with their welfare and meets their needs. This duty sits alongside the Council’s wider corporate parenting responsibilities and requires the Council, corporately, to take reasonable and planned steps to ensure that sufficient, safe and suitable homes are available for children in its care.

10.2 New national guidance was published on 2 July 2026 in relation to children’s social care sufficiency and Ofsted’s approach to prioritising applications to register children’s homes, including in urgent and exceptional circumstances. This guidance was received after the strategy had been prepared and has therefore not been fully reflected within the strategy document at this stage. The guidance will be reviewed as part of implementation and, where any minor consequential amendments are required to ensure alignment, it is proposed that these are delegated to the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service, in consultation with the Executive Member for Children and Families.

10.3 The strategy also identifies compliance risks in relation to supported accommodation and makes clear that caring for children in unregistered provision is not acceptable or normalised practice. Any such arrangement should only ever be considered in urgent and exceptional circumstances where no suitable registered provision is immediately available and must be subject to senior oversight, clear legal and safeguarding scrutiny, active risk management and an urgent plan to move the child into suitable registered provision and Ofsted are informed of the placement. Legal implications therefore relate to the Council’s statutory sufficiency duty, placement lawfulness, safeguarding, human rights considerations, corporate parenting responsibilities, and the requirement to ensure that commissioned and in-house provision is safe, suitable and compliant.

11.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS (MANDATORY)

11.1 An equality screening has been undertaken, and no full Equality Impact Assessment is required at this stage. The screening is available if required.

12.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS (MANDATORY)

12.1 A climate change screening has been undertaken, and no full Climate Impact Assessment is required at this stage. The screening is available if required.

13.0 PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

13.1 The strategy includes a clear performance and review framework. Key measures include the proportion of children living within North Yorkshire and their distance from home communities, placement stability, use and availability of in-house provision, growth in advanced and specialist fostering capacity, local residential provision, medium and longer-term residential homes, specialist residential options for disabled children, availability and quality of registered supported accommodation, access to short breaks and disability provision, and use of emergency arrangements.

Performance review will also include quality and outcome measures such as education continuity, emotional wellbeing, safeguarding, matching quality, transitions to adulthood, and feedback from children, families, carers, providers and practitioners.

14.0 POLICY IMPLICATIONS

14.1 The strategy aligns with national reform and local priorities, including early help, family help, permanence, SEND, inclusion, health partnerships, care leaver support and regional commissioning developments, including emerging Regional Care Cooperative arrangements.

Adoption of the strategy would provide a policy framework for future operational and commissioning decisions relating to foster care, residential care, supported accommodation, short breaks and market shaping.

The recently published national material on children’s social care sufficiency and the prioritisation of children’s home registration applications will be reviewed alongside the strategy. Any minor amendments required to ensure the strategy remains aligned with the latest guidance will be incorporated through the delegated arrangements set out in this report.

15.0 RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

15.1 The strategy identifies risks associated with insufficient advanced and specialist foster carers, limited small local residential provision, insufficient medium and longer-term residential homes, limited specialist residential options for disabled children, constrained supported accommodation, insufficient short breaks and disability support, fragile crisis capacity and the continued use of reactive or distant provision. These risks include poorer matching, reduced placement stability, pressure on families and services, compliance issues, escalation into higher-cost placements and poorer outcomes for children and young people.

The strategy is also clear that any use of unregistered provision creates significant safeguarding, legal and human rights risks and must be treated as exceptional, urgent and subject to senior oversight. The mitigation proposed is a planned, phased sufficiency programme supported by governance, data, market shaping and annual refresh.

16.0 HUMAN RESOURCES IMPLICATIONS

16.1 The strategy makes clear that delivery depends on a stable, skilled and confident workforce and includes a milestone to develop a workforce strategy to ensure sufficient capacity to staff internally developed provision. Workforce implications therefore include recruitment, retention, training and development across fostering, residential care, supported accommodation and specialist provision. Delivery will also require sufficient capacity within enabling functions, particularly commissioning and contracting, to support programme development, market shaping, procurement, contract management and implementation.

17.0 ICT IMPLICATIONS

17.1 The strategy identifies the need to strengthen the sufficiency dashboard, enhance predictive analysis and improve the use of data to support planning and performance review. This creates clear ICT and data system requirements, particularly in relation to dashboard development, reporting capability and advanced analytics. These requirements have been defined at an initial level and are being progressed through the wider sufficiency programme to support effective implementation.

18.0 CONCLUSIONS

18.1 North Yorkshire has a strong foundation on which to build, including a strong in-house fostering offer, low reliance on independent fostering agencies and established local provision such as No Wrong Door. However, rising demand, increasing complexity of need, locality pressures and market challenges mean that a strengthened and more diverse sufficiency response is required.

The strategy provides a clear and deliverable framework for meeting the Council’s statutory duty and improving the stability, locality, quality and outcomes of care for children and young people over the next three years.

19.0 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

19.1 The recommendations are made to ensure that North Yorkshire Council has a clear and evidence-led strategic framework for meeting its sufficiency duty, responding to rising demand and complexity, reducing reliance on emergency or distant provision, strengthening local and specialist capacity, and improving the lived experience and outcomes of children in care and care leavers.

20.0

RECOMMENDATION(S)

i) That the Executive endorses the Homes for Children in Care Sufficiency Strategy 2026–2029 as the strategic framework for strengthening sufficiency for children in care and care leavers in North Yorkshire, recognising the Council’s statutory and corporate parenting responsibility to ensure sufficient, safe, stable and appropriate homes for children in its care.

ii) That the Executive supports the phased implementation approach set out in the strategy, including the priority areas of fostering, residential care, supported accommodation, short breaks, crisis capacity, data and market shaping.

iii) That the Executive supports the proposed governance, quarterly review and annual refresh arrangements to ensure ongoing oversight of delivery, impact and changing sufficiency needs.

iv) That the Executive supports the recommendation to earmark £20m within Council reserves to support delivery of the strategy, with any future drawdown subject to the development of robust business cases for individual proposals and approval by the Executive.

v) That the Executive notes that new national guidance on children’s social care sufficiency and the prioritisation of children’s home registration applications was received on 2 July 2026, after the strategy had been prepared, and agrees that any minor consequential amendments required following review are delegated to the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service, in consultation with the Executive Member for Children and Families.

APPENDICES:

Appendix A – Sufficiency Strategy 2026-2029

Appendix B – Equality impact assessment

Appendix C – Climate impact assessment

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:

None

El Mayhew

Corporate Director – CYPS

County Hall

Northallerton

18/06/26

Report Author – Jo Heaney AD Partnerships and Sufficiency

Presenter of Report – Jo Heaney AD Partnerships and Sufficiency

Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.