PRIVATE fostering companies have been handed nearly £30 million by council chiefs to find homes for vulnerable Worcestershire children - despite it costing taxpayers almost TWICE as much as going in-house.

Your Worcester News can reveal how due to a desperate shortage of in-house foster carers, Worcestershire County Council is turning to private companies for help.

A council-recruited foster carer typically gets paid around £430 per week, per child - but turning to private agencies is costing the public purse an average of £800, with the excess cash propping up each firm's overheads and profits.

This newspaper can reveal how last month the council had 420 children living with foster carers, of which around 60 per cent, 251 of them, were placed via outside agencies.

The £800 per week, per child cost has led to the cash-strapped council forking out massive bills, with £8.9 million handed to outside fostering agencies in 2013/4, £9.8 million in 2014/15 and a forecast of £10.1 million for the 2015/16 financial year.

That means the cost over the three-year period will end up at around £30 million.

County Hall's opposition Labour group is now calling for an immediate investigation into the findings, saying it "cannot be justified".

The council has responded by insisting big strides are being made to beef up its in-house fostering service, with 29 new carers recruited between April and December last year, taking the current tally to 169 - 40 per cent of the current foster placements in Worcestershire.

Private agencies ask for standard weekly council payments of around £800 per child so some can go towards paying the carer, typically more than half, and the rest is retained by the firm.

The authority has not named any of the firms it deals with but says it has a list of 42, ranked by 'quality and cost'.

The £800 charge is a fairly standardised rate levied by fostering agencies across the country.

Opposition Labour group leader Councillor Peter McDonald has called the findings "staggering", saying bosses have allowed them to "cream off profits from the taxpayer".

"This cannot be justified at a time of austerity and services being cut to the bone," he said.

"The council needs to concentrate on extending in-house provision, saving millions of pounds which could be used to support other vital services."

In recent months a big marketing campaign has been waged to recruit more foster carers to County Hall's in-house service including a website, floor mats and car stickers in the face of intense competition from private agencies to sign up carers.

Bosses have responded to the criticism by saying they are "always" looking for more in-house foster carers.

Councillor John Campion, cabinet member for children and families, said: "All children deserve to live in a safe, secure and loving environment.

"The work carried out by our dedicated foster carers in Worcestershire ensures children in placements receive all the support they need to have the best possible chance in life.

"The council is always looking for more people to consider becoming a foster carer.

"We offer an excellent support package including training, a named social worker, extensive training programme and opportunities to meet with other carers.

"Our carers tell us about the reward they get from seeing the children and young people they care for becoming confident and happy adults, and this is something you could be part of."

The council has faced years of rising numbers of looked-after children, which has risen from 530 back in 2009 to more than 700 today, and says it wants to focus more on fostering, adoption and kinship carers to bring the numbers of youngsters in residential homes down.

It says that the fostering spend with outside agencies will therefore be expected to rise – but at the same time its own in-house service is making big strides, and the cost of residential homes will drop.

Between November 2014 and October 2017 it is targeting 100 additional in-house foster care placements, saying that should shift the reliance 60/40 per cent in favour of in-house provision.

Some 29 have been found already and by the end of February expects to have approved a further 12.

Some reliance on the agencies is also considered inevitable, largely because of the expertise they offer in finding suitable matches for vulnerable children.

The council is running ‘Skills to Foster’ courses for possible recruits and insists the in-house offer has been improved considerably in recent months to allow it to compete better with the agencies.

*See the council’s website all about fostering HERE.