Blackpool children in care

M

Matesrates

Well-known member
All over the news that Blackpool has the most children in care; 1 in 52, against a national average of 1 in 140, against 1 in 252 in Buckinghamshire and 1 in 278 in Hertfordshire.

Bad publicity again, but what is happening with social services here? Are they taking children when it’s not necessary, or do we have many more bad parents?
 
is it down to the transient population and Blackpool being seen as a last resort of those moving here? Desperate for work and desperate for benefits, no cash, Drugs rife, kids go into care. We seem to have become the dumping ground for the UK's ills. Lets be real, go back 2 streets from the prom and it is not a nice place. That really pains me to say it as well.
 
From a working in school point of view, social services are on their knees - poor pay, not enough staff, and the average time new recruits stay in the job is 12 months at best due to the stress of what they have to work with.
Add to that what Markbfc has pointed out, and it makes for grim reading.

My school isn’t in a deprived area, but we have children starting school who are still in nappies, parents that don’t feed children properly, they don’t want to read with them and don’t really take them anywhere. We have children that need extra support, mainly due the the fact their home environment does nothing to support them and school has to pick up the slack. There seems to be a growing attitude that the state does most of the rearing of children, allowing parents more time to spend on their phones I assume.
 
Junior_BentsPlatformShoes said:
From a working in school point of view, social services are on their knees - poor pay, not enough staff, and the average time new recruits stay in the job is 12 months at best due to the stress of what they have to work with.
Add to that what Markbfc has pointed out, and it makes for grim reading.

My school isn’t in a deprived area, but we have children starting school who are still in nappies, parents that don’t feed children properly, they don’t want to read with them and don’t really take them anywhere. We have children that need extra support, mainly due the the fact their home environment does nothing to support them and school has to pick up the slack. There seems to be a growing attitude that the state does most of the rearing of children, allowing parents more time to spend on their phones I assume.
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Does this mean our social services are underpaid and understaffed, but in Buckinghamshire they’re paid better and have more staff? If that’s correct, then who is to blame, government or local authority?
 
Junior_BentsPlatformShoes said:
From a working in school point of view, social services are on their knees - poor pay, not enough staff, and the average time new recruits stay in the job is 12 months at best due to the stress of what they have to work with.
Add to that what Markbfc has pointed out, and it makes for grim reading.

My school isn’t in a deprived area, but we have children starting school who are still in nappies, parents that don’t feed children properly, they don’t want to read with them and don’t really take them anywhere. We have children that need extra support, mainly due the the fact their home environment does nothing to support them and school has to pick up the slack. There seems to be a growing attitude that the state does most of the rearing of children, allowing parents more time to spend on their phones I assume.
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Absolutely agree Junior 👍
 
Matesrates said:
Does this mean our social services are underpaid and understaffed, but in Buckinghamshire they’re paid better and have more staff? If that’s correct, then who is to blame, government or local authority?
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From my perspective, you even get a different level of service whether you are East Lancs, North etc. What Lytham said is correct, along with a North/South divide that's been happening for decades, under investment by governments in areas that desperately need it.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
I think it's more of a case of being busy but manageable.
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Yep there's a difference between being busy, and being overwhelmed, with staff then leaving due to stress.

Don't get me started on having SEN children that should be in specialist settings but are in mainstream schools, with schools receiving a fraction of the real costs to employ support staff 1:1, knackering the school budget and pulling resources away from children in whole classes. Grrr.
 
What’s the answer, even higher taxes won’t fix everything that needs to be fixed, we need billions.

Defence due to the worsening world situation.

Police

Immigration

The NHs in crises.

Social care.

Schools

Potholes

Local services

Prisons

Climate Change

RAAC in schools and other buildings

Poor housing stock

I’m sure there’s many more as well.

Where do we get the money from?
 
There is a business case that generates a lot of money for children's homes. There has been a lot of children brought into Blackpool from elsewhere even down South, ..cheap big homes, big income. Blackpool Council, I understand, have started to insist on planning control and the problem has moved to some extent to Fylde which doesn't control this.
 
Markobfc said:
is it down to the transient population and Blackpool being seen as a last resort of those moving here? Desperate for work and desperate for benefits, no cash, Drugs rife, kids go into care. We seem to have become the dumping ground for the UK's ills. Lets be real, go back 2 streets from the prom and it is not a nice place. That really pains me to say it as well.
Click to expand...
hence the work starting on the Revoe renewal programme. Look, Blackpool is a big place and like all large centres of population in the North, it's been badly let down. Don't forget, it started with Cameron and Osborne massively cutting grants to local authorities in order to pay for the banking crisis. After all, why make the bankers pay for it when you can steal money from the poor, the needy and the vulnerable.
 
Junior_BentsPlatformShoes said:
From a working in school point of view, social services are on their knees - poor pay, not enough staff, and the average time new recruits stay in the job is 12 months at best due to the stress of what they have to work with.
Add to that what Markbfc has pointed out, and it makes for grim reading.

My school isn’t in a deprived area, but we have children starting school who are still in nappies, parents that don’t feed children properly, they don’t want to read with them and don’t really take them anywhere. We have children that need extra support, mainly due the the fact their home environment does nothing to support them and school has to pick up the slack. There seems to be a growing attitude that the state does most of the rearing of children, allowing parents more time to spend on their phones I assume.
Click to expand...
Which is where Sure Start helped enormously.
 
Matesrates said:
What’s the answer, even higher taxes won’t fix everything that needs to be fixed, we need billions.

Defence due to the worsening world situation.

Police

Immigration

The NHs in crises.

Social care.

Schools

Potholes

Local services

Prisons

Climate Change

RAAC in schools and other buildings

Poor housing stock

I’m sure there’s many more as well.

Where do we get the money from?
Click to expand...
The magic money tree!

The middle/lower classes get hammered in taxes whilst other groups milk the system for all its worth. That includes the big corporations who extract more than they put in too.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
hence the work starting on the Revoe renewal programme. Look, Blackpool is a big place and like all large centres of population in the North, it's been badly let down. Don't forget, it started with Cameron and Osborne massively cutting grants to local authorities in order to pay for the banking crisis. After all, why make the bankers pay for it when you can steal money from the poor, the needy and the vulnerable.
Click to expand...
It started way before then. i hold every single member of Parliament as culpable as the next. They all have their noses in the trough and have lined their pockets before putting the people they represent first. WTF does the Tony Blair Foundation actually do other than keep he and his ilk in the lap of luxury jetting around the globe having an opinion on everything whilst contributing the square root of jack shit.
 
Markobfc said:
It started way before then. i hold every single member of Parliament as culpable as the next. They all have their noses in the trough and have lined their pockets before putting the people they represent first. WTF does the Tony Blair Foundation actually do other than keep he and his ilk in the lap of luxury jetting around the globe having an opinion on everything whilst contributing the square root of jack shit.
Click to expand...
But what is the 'it' to which you refer? If you mean the growth of the North/South divide then yes, Thatcherism saw to that. Fortunately, the Labour Governments of 1997-2010 made huge inroads into deprivation, poor health and education. That progress has been undermined by 14 years of Tory Government and their "couldn't care less in the community" approach to social policy. As for what Tony Blair or doesn't do in his life after Parliament, I couldn't give a hoot. I am concerned about what should be done now to correct this dismal trail of Tory failure and I believe it will need at least two terms of a Labour Government to start putting things right.
 
Delfino said:
There is a business case that generates a lot of money for children's homes. There has been a lot of children brought into Blackpool from elsewhere even down South, ..cheap big homes, big income. Blackpool Council, I understand, have started to insist on planning control and the problem has moved to some extent to Fylde which doesn't control this.
Click to expand...
This probably explains a lot of it.

It's not a new fact that Blackpool had this issue.

Add other towns people to an existing deprived area and that's what happens.

Steps have and are being taken to sort these issues but the social issues can take a while to phase out or reduce.

Blackpool is at the beginning really of the regeneration journey, certain things will happen quickly and others over time.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
But what is the 'it' to which you refer? If you mean the growth of the North/South divide then yes, Thatcherism saw to that. Fortunately, the Labour Governments of 1997-2010 made huge inroads into deprivation, poor health and education. That progress has been undermined by 14 years of Tory Government and their "couldn't care less in the community" approach to social policy. As for what Tony Blair or doesn't do in his life after Parliament, I couldn't give a hoot. I am concerned about what should be done now to correct this dismal trail of Tory failure and I believe it will need at least two terms of a Labour Government to start putting things right.
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That is where we differ in opinion. I look at what the blair policies brought to this country and how it now affects us. I am not going to beat on about minorities, that is just one part of the puzzle. No party is going to fix the problems nor will they benefit Blackpool in the long run. I look at Manchester during the Blair Government and all the money went there to make it a Northern Powerhouse whilst other towns suffered and lost funding to the ginger turd hazel Blears they are no better than the Tories and all can rot for me.
 
JJpool said:
This probably explains a lot of it.

It's not a new fact that Blackpool had this issue.

Add other towns people to an existing deprived area and that's what happens.

Steps have and are being taken to sort these issues but the social issues can take a while to phase out or reduce.

Blackpool is at the beginning really of the regeneration journey, certain things will happen quickly and others over time.
Click to expand...
Agree.

A better measure here is how many Blackpool children are in care versus how many children are in care in Blackpool.
 
Junior_BentsPlatformShoes said:
From a working in school point of view, social services are on their knees - poor pay, not enough staff, and the average time new recruits stay in the job is 12 months at best due to the stress of what they have to work with.
Add to that what Markbfc has pointed out, and it makes for grim reading.

My school isn’t in a deprived area, but we have children starting school who are still in nappies, parents that don’t feed children properly, they don’t want to read with them and don’t really take them anywhere. We have children that need extra support, mainly due the the fact their home environment does nothing to support them and school has to pick up the slack. There seems to be a growing attitude that the state does most of the rearing of children, allowing parents more time to spend on their phones I assume.
Click to expand...
Similar story to our Seasider daughters school in Wythenshawe & their council social services department.
It's a sorry state of affairs, as the affected kids have very little chance of achieving their aspirations.
Councils insist that they're increasing council tax, year on year, to deal with social care - then nothing improves!
Some parents, together with the politicians are badly letting children down.
I do wonder why illegal & legal migrants want to bring their children here (a question that's been addressed on other threads!.
 
Delfino said:
Agree.

A better measure here is how many Blackpool children are in care versus how many children are in care in Blackpool.
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Yeah, if the council have now started to crack down on the issue of importing issues, then it stands to reason that once the current one's in care grow up and less come in, the numbers will be reduced.

As well as tackling the issues and creating a better town and environment with the regeneration for those already.
 
Matesrates said:
What’s the answer, even higher taxes won’t fix everything that needs to be fixed, we need billions.
Click to expand...
Stop trying to destroy the economy by chasing a net-zero fantasy, that even if it were achieved, would have no effect whatsoever on climate change?

Reform the tax/benefits system so that work pays, and being a minimum wage single mother stops being a lifestyle choice?
 
JJpool said:
Yeah, if the council have now started to crack down on the issue of importing issues, then it stands to reason that once the current one's in care grow up and less come in, the numbers will be reduced.

As well as tackling the issues and creating a better town and environment with the regeneration for those already.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that National Planning Policy to open to interpretation when it comes to new children's homes. Blackpool seem to have decided to insist new homes go through planning. Fylde Council don't yet so seem to be attracting lots of new homes with children but have been debating what to do. So given the extra hoops in Blackpool, there is an expectation of displacement to Fylde. Not sure where Wyre sits in their policy.

See report here from Fylde's recent review.

Residential Property Childrens Homes Update – Fylde Council

new.fylde.gov.uk new.fylde.gov.uk
Some good data in here about children's locations.


National Policy may change so Blackpool becomes less onerous to new homes opening. Or Fylde (and others) could introduce similar restrictions making it a level playing field.

Either way there is good many to be made here and if one of your costs bases is the property, better to buy a large property in a cheap location and bring children in from elsewhere if there aren't enough locally.
 
Delfino said:
My understanding is that National Planning Policy to open to interpretation when it comes to new children's homes. Blackpool seem to have decided to insist new homes go through planning. Fylde Council don't yet so seem to be attracting lots of new homes with children but have been debating what to do. So given the extra hoops in Blackpool, there is an expectation of displacement to Fylde. Not sure where Wyre sits in their policy.

See report here from Fylde's recent review.

Residential Property Childrens Homes Update – Fylde Council

new.fylde.gov.uk new.fylde.gov.uk
Some good data in here about children's locations.


National Policy may change so Blackpool becomes less onerous to new homes opening. Or Fylde (and others) could introduce similar restrictions making it a level playing field.

Either way there is good many to be made here and if one of your costs bases is the property, better to buy a large property in a cheap location and bring children in from elsewhere if there aren't enough locally.
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Yeah, but Blackpool has enough issues without potential placements of kids, many with issues, from elsewhere, so it should be made more difficult.
 
Matesrates said:
Doesn’t support the view that the problem is bad parents migrating here.View attachment 19086
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The problem is multifaceted, the towns own deprivation, imported poverty over many decades and also placements of kids from elsewhere.

Reminds me of this example.

inews.co.uk

'I was moved 250 miles in care - people stared at me because I was black'

Jade Barnett was in care when she was moved to the predominantly white seaside town of Blackpool where she encountered people asking to touch her Afro hair
inews.co.uk inews.co.uk
 
Matesrates said:
What’s the answer, even higher taxes won’t fix everything that needs to be fixed, we need billions.

Defence due to the worsening world situation.

Police

Immigration

The NHs in crises.

Social care.

Schools

Potholes

Local services

Prisons

Climate Change

RAAC in schools and other buildings

Poor housing stock

I’m sure there’s many more as well.

Where do we get the money from?
Click to expand...
We've had 14 years of the money being spent badly, with vast amounts going into favoured contractors who aren't fit to do the job in the first place, meaning the money has to be found to put right what's been done badly.
 
Unfortunately this has been the case for many years and Blackpool is an out liar, well above second place Middlesbrough. Social Services have an incredibly difficult job and really seek to avoid taking kids into care. It shows that there are some real problems behind closed doors.
 
Matesrates said:
So if their social workers are sat twiddling their thumbs with little to do, send some of them here.
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No social workers anywhere in Broken Britain are sat twiddling their thumbs. believe me. And i5 cost fortune keeping kids in care particularly when it's residential, local authority being held to ransom by private companies. For Blackpool it's a combination of poverty, social inequality and the transient population. You only have to see how things have got worse over the past 14 years to explain why.
 
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