A ‘STAGGERING’ rise in the number of children coming into care in Blaenau Gwent has begun to slow down, a meeting has heard.

A self-assessment by Blaenau Gwent council earlier this year described the “current rate of increase in looked after children numbers as unsustainable from a workforce and budgetary position.”

The assessment, included in a Care Inspectorate Wales report, was made after the number of looked after children increased from 194 in January 2017 to 236 in February of this year.

Tanya Evans, head of children’s services scrutiny at the council, told a social services scrutiny committee on Tuesday that the increase has slowed down.

“If you look at way the numbers of looked after children have risen it’s been quite staggering,” she said.

“Since February they seem to have plateaued though.

“If we had carried on with that upward trajectory it would have been almost impossible to cope with the demand.”

Since February there have only been very small increases and decreases in the numbers, with the latest total in July 2018 standing at 237.

A three-year Safe Reduction in Looked After Children Strategy has been launched and is believed to be having an effect.

In a council report, Ms Evans writes: “It is too early to say for certain but it seems the implementation of the safe looked after children reduction strategy is staring to work.”

Cllr Derrick Bevan (Labour, Cwm) said the recent figures were ‘encouraging’ but expressed concerns numbers could rise again.

He said: “Traditionally we have a rise at Christmas and I think with the introduction of universal credit we will have a bigger rise this year.”

In response, Ms Evans said the council is “as prepared as we can be” for any increase.

The council also currently has a “significantly high” number of children with complex needs in residential placements, with the total standing at 18, the meeting heard.

Ms Evans said the cost of these placements is around £3.5million per year.

Three of these placements are located in Blaenau Gwent, with the remaining 15 outside the local authority.

The council is drawing up plans to develop a new therapeutic fostering service which could help reduce the number of residential placements.

Ms Evans told the meeting the challenges of rising numbers of looked after children at the same time as reducing council budgets were being felt across Wales.

“This is not a unique issue in Blaenau Gwent at all,” she added.

“It is an issue that is relevant to all 22 local authorities in Wales.”