Council set to approve £6.4 million children's home and staying-close flats

If plans are approved, the county council is set to open a 5 bedroomed children’s home for children aged 12 -17 and provide three flats for care leavers aged 16 -21 to move on to, by converting its former office at 48 London Road in Gloucester.  

To make sure the building is fit for purpose, the council proposes to invest £182k from GCC capital funding, along with £891k of DfE capital funding to meet the £1.1 million for the refurbishment and building work at London Road. A further investment of £5.3 million is estimated over five years to care for and support the young people whose home it will be. This includes care and support staff on site 24 hours a day and specialist trauma informed therapeutic support. 

Providing more high quality, local homes for children and young people in care is at the heart of the council’s sufficiency strategy ‘Home@theHeart 2022-2026’ which aims to make sure that more children in care can remain in their communities, and attend the same schools, close to family and friends. 

Increasing the availability of high-quality accommodation in Gloucestershire which complies with regulatory requirements, will reduce the number of high cost out of county placements, provide better value for money, and help more vulnerable children and young people to receive the support they need. It is anticipated that this will save the council around £1 million. 

Staying close arrangements are part of a wider package of support which will help young people leaving care by giving them a stable home and relationships as they head into adulthood and find their independence. 

The council will liaise with the local community, working to ensure these young people become part of the wider community. Residents will be invited to find out more about the plans at drop-in information sessions and via a dedicated web page.  

Cllr Stephen Davies, cabinet member for children’s safeguarding and early years at Gloucestershire County Council said: “I am delighted that London Road will be one of the first of a suite of new children's homes and supported accommodation options that will enable children and young people who need our care to grow up and thrive as part of our community. 

 “We spend too much on high cost, out of county placements and having more registered accommodation available locally will help us to make funding go further.” 

The full cabinet report can be found here.