Barnsley Council has revealed acute financial pressure in its children’s services after spending £8.5m on children in care during 2025/26 and recording an overspend of £10.3m in the directorate. The council says it is heavily dependent on expensive external residential and independent foster agency placements to support young people with complex needs.
Rising numbers and mounting costs
The authority planned for 372 looked-after children at the start of 2025/26 but by 31 March the figure had risen to 410. Within that cohort, 21 high-cost placements — defined as costing more than £8,000 per week — were in place, with an average weekly cost of £12,090. By comparison, a year earlier there were 13 such placements averaging £10,000 per week.
The council’s report highlights two separate pressure points within the directorate: the specific costs of children in care, identified at £8.5m, and other pressures in wider children’s social care amounting to £1.8m, together producing the overall overspend.
What the council is doing
- Efforts to reduce demand focus on early help to support children to remain safely with their families.
- Work continues to recruit more foster carers, particularly those able to care for older children and those with complex needs.
- The council is monitoring the reliance on external residential placements and independent fostering agencies.
The report underlines the recruitment challenge: the supply of suitably qualified and experienced carers for older children and those with complex needs is extremely limited, which in turn sustains demand for costly external placements.
“The council continues to be heavily reliant on high-cost external residential and independent foster agency placements.”
Policy context and pressures
Nationally, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill seeks to increase transparency from private providers about their finances and includes powers to impose a profit cap if exploitative arrangements persist. Barnsley’s local strategy mirrors this focus on restraint: the authority aims to avert admissions where safe to do so and to intervene early when intervention is appropriate, including supporting placements with extended family where possible.
For Barnsley residents, the fiscal strain in children’s services will be watched closely. Sustained overspends in a major directorate can lead to difficult choices about spending priorities elsewhere in council services or the need to seek additional funding or savings.
| Metric | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| Looked-after children (year end) | Planned closing position 372* | Actual total 410 |
| High-cost placements (>£8,000/week) | 13 (average £10,000/week) | 21 (average £12,090/week) |
| Spend on children in care | — | £8.5m |
| Children’s services overspend | — | £10.3m |
As the council seeks to recruit more foster carers and expand early help, progress on stemming the rise in expensive placements will be a central measure of whether the overspend can be reduced in the coming year. For now, Barnsley faces a stretched children’s services budget and the continuing challenge of supporting its most vulnerable youngsters.
