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Published: Wednesday, 07th December 2022

Foster carers in Oldham are set to benefit from an increase in their allowances and support - as part of a huge £14.7m investment in children's social care services being announced by Oldham Council.

 

Woman with child and text stating foster carers do an amazing job. That's why we're increasing their allowances and benefits.

 

When she became Leader of the council in May this year, Councillor Amanda Chadderton announced that children and young people were the top priority for her leadership.

And now she is acting on that promise, with a new raft of support and investment set to be approved at Cabinet on Monday, 12 December.

Councillor Chadderton said: "Every child in Oldham deserves to be given the very best start in life and the opportunity to fulfil their potential. That's why today we're announcing extra support for those children and young people that need it the most; with almost £15m to be invested into our children's social care services.

"This money will enable us to increase allowances and support services for foster carers; recruit 50 extra social workers to reduce our dependence on much more expensive agency staff; and bring in more social care support workers - enabling our social workers to spend more time with families.

"We'll also be creating a residential care home right here in Oldham for children with disabilities, to reduce the need for out-of-borough care, as well as creating more semi-independent homes for young people leaving care - preparing them to live well independently.

"All of this is fantastic news for our children and young people, as well as for our amazing foster carers and our hard-working social care staff. I'm really pleased that we're able to put in place real changes that will make a difference to the lives of families right here in Oldham."

If agreed by Cabinet next week, foster carers will see both their allowances and their skills payments increased by 10% - equating to around £2,000 in extra payments each year. At the same time, five new specialist foster carers would be recruited, to train and support those caring for the most vulnerable children to make sure they can remain in foster care.

By supporting and investing in our foster carers we hope to significantly reduce the need to use privately-run residential homes or out-of-borough homes.

We'll also tackle the national crisis in social worker recruitment and retention head-on; by investing in our workforce. This means better pay and conditions for social workers, more training opportunities and more support for them in their jobs; encouraging the best in the business to work right here in Oldham.

This "invest to save" approach means we can reduce our reliance on expensive agency staff and recruit 50 additional permanent social workers; representing better value for money as well as creating a more stable workforce who can better get to know Oldham and our families. We'll increase the starting salaries of new social workers, as well as introducing a new loyalty payment of £2k for those social workers who work in Oldham for at least the next two years.

At the same time, social workers will be able to spend more time with the children and families who need their support the most, as 17 more social care support workers will be recruited to take on the administrative side of the service. They'll also be given more opportunities to learn, develop and thrive here, through our Social Work Academy scheme established in October this year.

At present, around a third of social workers here in Oldham are employed through agencies, and paid between £35 and £50 an hour depending on the role and experience. On top of this, agency fees cost between 10 and 30%. By reducing the number of agency staff we employ; we can ensure that investment goes straight into delivering services, rather than going to external agencies.

We also plan to deliver more support for families, at an earlier stage, to help them manage the tough times they face without needing help from social care; and provide the best long-term and permanent homes for those children needing to be looked after by the council​ - enabling them to stay close to home wherever we can,

The full proposals will go to Cabinet committee on Monday, 12 December, for approval. The meeting is live streamed and can be viewed online here.

 

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