Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve the Rotherham Care Leavers Local Offer and increase in financial support for Care Leavers, effective from October 2024.

2.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Children and Young Peoples Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Services and the Section 151 officer to approve annual uplifts to the financial offer, associated with inflation.

Consideration was given to the report which presented the updated Rotherham Care Leavers Local Offer to Cabinet. The local authority were required to consult on and produce a Local Offer for its Care Leavers, under Section 2 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017. The Local Offer provided information about services and support available to Care Leavers from the local authority, including information about both their statutory entitlements as well as any discretionary support that a local authority chose to provide.

It was requested that an increase in the financial offer to Rotherham Care Leavers be approved for 2024, due to the increase in the cost of living and to ensure that The Rotherham Offer was appropriate and in line with comparable neighbouring authorities. This would ensure that Rotherham Care Leavers were offered robust support and services, which would support them to achieve successful independence.

The table at paragraph 2.6 of the report set out the previous financial offer and the proposed changes. The cost per year of amending the offer would be £27,000. This included an increase in clothing allowance, the addition funds for cultural and religious items, and the addition of funds for prom and graduation.

The Local Offer would sit alongside the Leaving Care Strategy and would be presented back to Cabinet when the Strategy was reviewed.

Cabinet Members were very proud of the Offer. It helped the Council achieve the seven corporate parenting principles which all local authorities had to have regard to when discharging their functions in relation to children in care and Care Leavers. These principles were set out in paragraph 1.3 of the report.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve the Rotherham Care Leavers Local Offer and increase in financial support for Care Leavers, effective from October 2024.

2.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Children and Young Peoples Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Services and the Section 151 officer to approve annual uplifts to the financial offer, associated with inflation.