Council to spend £7m improving children's services
BBCA council's ruling executive has agreed to spend £7m on a programme it says will improve its children's services.
The My World, My Tomorrow plan, approved by Somerset Council, is part of a much wider programme to make savings of £135m by March 2030.
The changes are being made to improve the financial stability of the authority, which declared a financial emergency in 2023 and needs to streamline services after being created from a merger of five councils.
Liberal Democrat council leader Bill Revans said: "This is an investment in prevention, bringing together several improvement plans to help us reduce costs, but more importantly, also providing better futures for our children and families."
The plan is to support children's care earlier, reduce avoidable escalation into care and the reliance on more expensive residential care placements.
It aims to divert children away from residential to family-based care, improve support for families and increase the number of foster carers in Somerset.
Revans described the plan as "critical to the council's future".
He said: "We've seen demand and costs escalating in this area of children's services so we have to do something different, something better."
The decision comes after the government issued a Best Value Notice to Somerset Council urging it to take action.
In June, an Ofsted report also said children's dervices at the local authority "required improvement".
The provider running the council's children's homes has also recently said it will be terminating its contract after struggling to find the quality staff needed to manage them.
Somerset Council said the business case for the £7m investment in My World My Tomorrow has an expected return of £28.4m by 2031/32.
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