CHILDCARE teams in Blaenau Gwent are under “enormous pressure” to cope with the growing number of children coming into the local authority’s care.

A council report reveals the looked after children (LAC) population had risen from 134 in 2013, to 222 on January 1, 2018 – an increase of 66 per cent.

According to the report, due to go before the council’s social services scrutiny committee on Thursday, there were 236 children in council care as of February this year – a 76  per cent increase on the 2013 figures.

This follows a “stable” period between 2008 and 2015, where LAC numbers in Blaenau Gwent averaged between 135 and 145 a month.

But since April 2016, staff have had to deal with increased workloads, with the number of stress-at-work-related absences also rising.

And it has put considerable financial pressure on children’s services, with spending expected to exceed its £2.3 million budget by £942,117.

“The child care teams have for some considerable time been working under enormous pressure,” the report says.

“This is borne out by sustained increase of looked after children, the number of children on the child protection register and the number of referrals received by the department.”

Spikes have been reported in the number of children placed with kinship carers (relatives or friends, but not parents), which has risen from 11 to 45 in five years.

During the same period the number of children placed at home with parents under a care order has risen from nine to 36, with children in residential care rising from five to 14.

Money spent on children’s residential placements is also projected to go £466,059 into the red, compared to an overspend of just £1,678 at the end of last year.

Funds had been increased by £1.6 million for 2017/18 but the rise in placements, and the “complexity” of care needs, have been blamed for the overspend.

But Blaenau Gwent council are hoping to ease the burden on its workforce by employing three more social workers until April 2019. A pilot scheme which will see four specialist foster carers recruited to work with children with more complex needs is also being considered by the council.

The actions form part of the authority’s Safe Reduction in Looked after Children Strategy, which will run until 2020.

Since forming in January, a Supporting Change Team (SCT) has worked with 34 children across 20 families.

Staff support targeted families during an intensive periods in which individual goals are set for individual members.

A report estimated that two successful interventions completed this year could save the council £68,305 in the long term.