Social Value Ideas for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Children's placements shortage

Children's services reported a shortage of foster carers and efficient regulated placements, with 433 children in care and a high rate of children in need of social work assessment. This is a major se…

“Uh, our front door we call the MACH, m a c h, multi-agency children's hub. It's based at Daisy Lane in Ormsby. Uh they've dealt with 14,000 contracts …”

Foster carer shortage

The children’s services report identified a shortage of foster carers and insufficient regulated placements as a major issue. The cabinet member said the council had 433 children in care and needed to…

“"There's a direct quote from marine inspectors in the report which notes that there's one area which requires improvement primarily because we're unab…”

Children's services overspend

The council reported a year-end overspend of £2.4 million, with members highlighting persistent pressure in children’s services and adults’ services. Children’s services were specifically cited as a m…

“"you will note that there has been a year end overspend of 2.4 million which obviously is large but is much smaller than the 5.3 million that was bein…”

Children's in-house placement savings

Members discussed transformation savings from developing in-house placements in children’s services, with £1.1 million already achieved and a further £1.8 million still to be realised. This indicates …

“"In councelor Mass's report we saw that the transformation um savings um that we achieved were 1.1 million um in terms of developing inhouse placement…”

Children's improvement schedule

Children’s services will move from frequent long reports to an annual detailed report with three shorter quarterly updates, matching quarterly data collection. This changes how scrutiny monitors perfo…

“This report used to come to council every 2 months. Uh I felt it was a bit repetitive, so in discussions with the DCS, that's the director of children…”

Children's services reporting cycle change

The cabinet member said the children and families report would move from bi-monthly reporting to an annual detailed report with shorter quarterly updates. This changes the governance and monitoring rh…

“"This this report used to come to council every two months. I felt it was a bit repetitive. So in discussions with the DCS that's the director of chil…”

South Bank bridge transfer

The council confirmed that transfer of South Bank Railway Station Bridge to Network Rail has not yet formally completed, with legal teams from the council, TVCA and Network Rail working on heads of te…

“Had you have wanted to get a train from South Bank to do exactly the same, you wouldn't have been able to because you would can't get across to that p…”

Highways funding shortfall

The portfolio holder repeatedly stated that highways maintenance funding from TVCA has not kept pace with the scale, geography and climate pressures on the network. He said the council has had to rely…

“I've consistently raised concerns that recurren and Cleveland does not receive the fair share of highways maintenance funding through the TVCA given t…”

Highways maintenance investment

The highways portfolio reported substantial ongoing spend on resurfacing, patching, rights of way, drainage and coastal protection, alongside investment in new fleet, depot improvements, specialist ro…

“When I took over this uh portfolio three years ago, I had three priorities in mind. Fixing more roads, building a stronger service, and securing a fai…”

Graphene surfacing trials

The council is trialling graphene-enhanced surfacing on quieter and busier roads with Universal Matter and Tarmac, and also preparing to trial carbon capture biogenic asphalt. If these materials exten…

“Record and Cleveland is now being recognized nationally for its involvement in graphine enhanced surfacing. Working with record-based company Universa…”

Foster carer support package

The council described the financial support offered to mainstream foster carers, including a £1,500 council tax contribution, a fee payment for being a foster carer, and a child allowance for looking …

“>> Yeah, I'm Sam McDonald and I live in Skelton area of Red Cleveland. And one of the um things that we offer in terms of being a red car in Cleveland…”

Foster carer support package

Redcar and Cleveland provides a foster carer support package that includes a £1,500 council tax contribution, fostering fee payments, and a child allowance for caring for children. The transcript does…

“Oh, hi everybody. My name is Kate Bulman and I'm the mainstream fostering team manager. We're here today at our annual summer event. Um, it's booming …”

Training and support provision

The discussion confirmed ongoing support services for foster carers, including coffee mornings, supervision from allocated social workers, phone support, and training. This suggests recurring spend on…

“Hi, my name's Emma Dacin. I'm the kinship fostering manager. Uh, in terms of additional support uh that we offer, we have various coffee mornings runn…”