The Sufficiency Duty contained in section 22G of the Children Act 1989 requires local authorities, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure that there is sufficient accommodation to meet the needs of those children they have a corporate parenting responsibility within their local authority area.

Although the sufficiency duty applies in respect of all looked after children it recognises the importance of earlier, preventative action to support children and families so that fewer children become looked after by targeting services to those who are on the edge of care. This strategy outlines how Devon will fulfil these duties. 

The legal duties of the local authority 

Under section 17(1) of the 1989 Act the local authority must provide a range and level of services to children in need and their families which are appropriate to their needs 

Under section 20 of that Act the local authority must provide accommodation for children in need who appear to require it.

Under section 21 the local authority must provide accommodation to children who are removed or kept away for home under part V of the Act, or who are subject to a criminal court order. 

Under section 22c(7)(a) the local authority must determine the most appropriate placement for a child giving preference to someone who is already connected to the child and a local authority foster parent. 

Section 22c sets out additional factors which the local authority must take into consideration in order: 

• Allowing a child to live near to home
• Not disrupting a child’s education or training 
• Enabling the child and a looked after sibling to live together
• Meeting the needs of a disabled child 
• Providing accommodation within the local authority area unless reasonably practicable

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 extends the duties to local authorities (including district and borough councils) to have regard to a set of corporate parenting principles when exercising their functions in relation to looked after children and care leavers up to the age of 25. 

Our sufficiency-related challenges

Devon, like many local authorities suffers from the following sufficiency related challenges:  

Devon currently commissions a high proportion of services from independent providers and 35% of our placements are out of county.  

In theory, there are sufficient providers registered to provide services in Devon to enable all Devon children in care to be able to live in the area. However, this is not happening for a number of reasons: 

• other local authorities are purchasing provision located in Devon 
• some providers choose not to work with Devon County Council citing organisational issues in relation to contracting, payments and communication with social care colleagues as barriers to engagement
• there are gaps in the range of provision on offer in all market sectors particularly in relation to children and young people who may present with:
  • self-injurious behaviours, suicidal ideation and other mental health presentations  
  • neurodiversity and/or exhibit behavioural challenges
  • self-identified gender that is different to that assigned at birth 

The South West Sufficiency Group consists of the 14 local authorities in the south west region. The group is looking at how we can create more synergy across the region in terms of: 

• aligning the information we share with providers when looking for a placement  
• developing a set of common terms and conditions that could be used across the region
• securing agreement with providers for a prioritisation process for placements (1. The host local authority, 2. Neighbouring local authorities, 3. South west region local authorities, 4. Any other local authority) 
• investigating commissioning options and whether a south west framework would be an option (a number of local authorities are not supportive of this and are moving away from frameworks and flexible purchasing systems and are looking at approaches that are more relevant and responsive to local need)