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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED to note the progress update.
RESOLVED to note the update.
RESOLVED to note the update.
Apologies were received from Cllr Taylor and Deborah Driffield (Director of Children’s Services).
There were none.
The minutes of the 1st July meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to note the progress update.
Rebecca Brockway (Policy and Development Manager) gave an update on progress made in Corporate Parenting in Quarter 2, beginning with an update on how queries raised at previous CPAC meetings had been addressed and/or actioned. She then gave an update on the actions outlined in the Corporate Parenting Annual Plan 24-25, noting that of the 40 actions in the annual plan, 22% were complete, 63% were in progress and 15% had been initiated. When discussing the RAG status of each action, she noted that 92% of the actions were rated green (on track to meet their target) and 8% were rated amber (experiencing some delays). Context was provided for the three actions currently rated amber. Monthly communications were going out in line with the communications plan, including an introduction to corporate parenting and staff engagement opportunities. A provisional date had been set for the partnership event of the 3rd December, but details were still being finalised. A training course on corporate parenting for all staff was under development, which would ensure that all staff across the organisation are aware of corporate parenting responsibilities and trauma-informed practice, including senior management and members of CPAC. A full member visit programme had been produced, and she encouraged expressions of interest as some opportunities were currently unfilled. She also highlighted the completion of a mapping exercise to highlight opportunities available for children looked after (CLA) on the Youth Service website, with a separate website being developed by Housing & Communities for care leavers. In line with the priorities of the Corporate Parenting Strategy, a wide range of opportunities and experiences had been provided to children looked after during the quarter, including a Bright Sparks tour to the BBC studios and more than a hundred tickets to Cardiff Castle concerts. CLA Mums and Dads groups had been set up and received positive feedback, while the Personal Advisor service was now supporting 473 young people. The Foster Care service had launched new initiatives to promote fostering opportunities, and the youth service was engaging with Year 11 leavers as part of their summer transition support. Members queried how many young people were involved in Bright Sparks and what proportion of the overall consultation they accounted for. Officers explained that there was a core membership of 12, and that it was one part of a broad set of consultation activities. A new participation strategy would be launched later this month, including training events for social work practitioners and partner agencies, and Bright Sparks would be key to this. Officers acknowledged the difficulty of gathering comprehensive feedback and advocated targeted work to provide unique engagement opportunities that young people found exciting. The Policy and Development Manager added that Swindon Council were leading on a national research and development project on the possibility of Care Experienced being considered a protected characteristic, and Cardiff Council had been asked to take part in a working group assisting with scoping and fact-finding. Members looked forward to hearing the outcome of this, and advocated an aligned approach with the Welsh government and other Welsh local authorities, as well as ensuring that any approach was informed by the voices of young people in care. The Policy and Development Manager also added that the Welsh government were consulting on proposed changes to the part 6 code of practice for the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, which focused on looked after and accommodated children. The changes sought to strengthen the voice of the child within care and support planning and placements, as well as adding a new corporate parenting chapter to explain the role of local authorities as corporate parents, and proposed to add a new term of ‘community parenting’ when engaging with non-statutory partners. Their proposed response included requesting clear resources and tools to support with implementation of the new guidance, such as engagement with businesses and non-statutory partners, setting up corporate parenting panels to allow CLA to feed into local authority plans and sharing best practice across local authorities. They also proposed that more guidance be provided on the responsibilities of host authorities for CLA placed out of area, and consulting CLA on the proposal for the new term ‘community parenting’. Members were supportive of the proposed response and highlighted the importance of continuity of care for out of area children, in particular those going between England and Wales. Members were also notified that the service would be signing the Welsh government’s Corporate Parenting Wales Pledge, as part of their commitment to the Corporate Parenting Charter. This was a formalised document outlining the help and support the council offered to care experienced children and young people, and was based on the priorities and objectives of the Annual Plan. Members noted that they were all things they had already agreed to, and that the litmus test would be how effectively the priorities became embedded in council decision-making. Members also suggested that all councillors could be asked to sign the pledge, which officers welcomed. The Committee RESOLVED to note the progress update.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to note the update.
The Committee was provided with a presentation on Improving Housing Pathways Out Of Care by Rebecca Callaghan and Jonathan Worlock (Housing & Communities). The officers explained that the Young Person’s Gateway (YPG), a supported accommodation and housing pathway programme for young people, particularly those transitioning from care, now had 214 accommodation units, a 39% increase since 2020. New council-managed provision had been opened at Ty Gorwel in 2024 providing 14 additional spaces for those with complex needs, though a lack of community space impacted on opportunities to engage. The next expansion of provision at Ty Countisbury offered 16 spaces suitable for high risk and complex individuals, with large self-contained units and good communal space. Officers also highlighted that the space on site for exclusion placements would reduce the possibility of eviction. The model for support at Ty Countisbury was currently under discussion with Childrens Services, and they were expecting 14 more spaces for Housing First in the next year. Officers reported that the Young Person’s Multi-Disciplinary Team had been reviewed earlier in the year due to concerns about inconsistent reporting, unclear cohort targeting, barriers to access and stakeholder disengagement. A robust action plan was being implemented to respond to this, with regular supervision and case reviews including case durations and exit pathways to avoid prolonged engagement when support needs had been met, as well as recruitment into vacant posts including a Mental Health Social Worker and Transitions Social Worker, both of whom had started this month. Consent and engagement remained a key barrier, especially for young people with negative past experiences. To tackle this, the team was undertaking targeted engagement across supported accommodation to engage with young people directly, and proactively supporting young people living in adult accommodation. Members queried the latter point and heard that this referred to 18-24 year olds rather than under 18s. Officers highlighted the increasing complexity of cases entering the gateway and the need for safety plans based on shared definitions and understandings, and with robust reporting and information sharing protocols. They were developing shared training on topics like exploitation and safeguarding and collating support resources available to young people. Escalation protocols were being developed which could be implemented by providers of supported accommodation as an incident was occurring, as well as weapons guidance. Key actions included ensuring supported accommodation was available for care-experienced young people transitioning from care, and they had a 100% prevention rate in preventing care leavers becoming homeless. Meanwhile the Training Tenancy Scheme, introduced in 2015 as the main pathway out of supported accommodation with training sessions and resettlement support for the first 12 months, had seen a 99% tenancy sustainment rate amongst 637 users in total. The final key action was to ensure as many care leavers as possible had a Housing Plan in place by the time they were aged 15 and a half, and although this was below target at 52%, it had increased significantly from 20% in January. Members welcomed the progress towards targets and the expansion of supported accommodation for complex cases, considering the shortage of one-bed accommodation in the city. They asked how the service ensured consistency of care and understanding when data was shared with partners across agencies, and heard that case co-ordinators ensured this by managing each case and advising partners where necessary. Members also noted that the framing of strategies regarding weapons and violence was key, and advocated recognising the circumstances of individual cases with trauma-informed practice in mind to achieve the best possible results. Members were provided with further detail on Foster and Kinship Care by Danielle Crompton (Regional Development Manager, Fostering Services), who outlined the progress made within the service across the year so far. In particular, she highlighted partnerships across council departments to increase advertising, and the delivery of various projects and discounts for children looked after and fostering families. Their communication strategy had been reviewed to improve clarity, and there was now a specific fostering section in the Ask Cardiff survey. Discussions had taken place about having foster carer representation at CPAC steering groups, and about contacting families who had hosted Ukrainian children as part of previous arrangements. The officer highlighted a number of other areas that would help recruitment, retention and placement stability, in particular practical support like a clear housing offer and discounts on car parking and leisure passes. Promotion and awareness were key, across the city, in Hubs and online, and partnerships and community could be strengthened through events and councillor support. On the wellbeing side of things, carers were supported through extended counselling sessions. She also suggested that new council staff could complete a fostering e-learning module, and referred back to the Corporate Parenting Pledge discussed earlier, which could require each department to commit to one tangible action over the next twelve months. Moving onto the current situation, she explained that there were 147 children in-house at the moment, an increase from around 130 in recent months. There were 7 newly approved foster carers as well 8 more applicants under assessment, and Cardiff and the Vale was the only region to see a net increase in carers in the last year. 75 enquiries had been received in all, of which 14 led to a home visit. They were seeking to diversify their foster carers through a comprehensive recruitment and marketing plan, which targeted new marketing areas and offered recruitment incentives such as a £5,000 welcome payment and £1,000 through a ‘refer a friend’ scheme. They had launched a partner scheme with local businesses to support recruitment and retention, where partners assisted by promoting fostering, providing venues for events and activities for carers and children. The Pioneer Programme offered mentoring and peer support to foster carers to reduce isolation and enhance resilience, and new Kinship Pioneers had been recruited to provide tailored support for kinship carers. The annual retention loyalty payment had been increased to £1,000, and they had conducted a foster carer survey which fed directly into service planning. The Big Welcome digital platform enabled children to view profiles of potential foster carers, and children’s guides were being developed with clear, accessible information about the process, their rights and the support available. Members welcomed the innovative work being done in a challenging context, and asked about the rate of assessment given the complexity of enquiries. Officers explained that every drop-out in between enquiry and assessment was tracked as part of their regular reporting, in order to best understand why it had happened. Increased diversity of fostering enquiries meant it would be beneficial to have more education about what fostering was and what it entailed. Members suggested that the fostering service could contribute to councillors’ weekly updates so they could promote it within their communities and highlight success stories on social media. Officers noted that they shared posts with partners on a quarterly basis and could build councillors into that too. Members noted the focus on broadening the scope of recruitment, and asked about the barriers faced by those who made an initial enquiry into becoming a foster carer but were unable to fully commit. The officer explained that space was a key issue, and that in the past empty nesters were a relatively big group to target, but families were less likely to have empty bedrooms now as young people were living at home for longer. Financial barriers were important too but she hoped that the welcome payment incentive would help. The Committee RESOLVED to note the update.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to note the update.
The Committee was provided with presentations on the Into Work Advice and Personal Adviser services by Khalid Osman and Sharlane Bird (Housing & Communities). Officers explained that the Into Work Advice service sought to provide residents with a complete employment and skills package, supporting those out of work or who wanted to upskill. In 2024/25 it had seen more than 62,000 visits, with 1,382 people supported into employment. They highlighted the Bright Futures mentoring scheme, and Bright Start traineeship scheme for care experienced people aged 16-24. Bright Start matched young people with paid placements within sectors they were interested in, with 105 placements available in total. Independent living skills were a key focus, and the Multiply programme offered dedicated courses on things like money management and cooking on a budget. They worked in partnership with other support services to deliver skills as part of their wraparound provision, for example with the Virtual School Hub to identify young people who could benefit from employability support. The summer pilot for children looked after in Year 11 would be expanded, and they hoped to increase the number of employers engaging with Bright Start. Officers explained that the Personal Adviser service provided practical support, advice and guidance to young people leaving care to help them transition into adulthood and live independently. The PAs worked closely with young people to develop and review Pathway Plans, ensuring their needs and wishes were captured, coordinated services and engaged with independent advocacy services. They also provided support to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), taking into account their unique needs. The support offered included advice on housing and homelessness, money management, education and training, health and wellbeing and referral routes. They worked with young people from the age of 16 to build a relationship and develop a Pathway Plan, helping them to become an independent adult, with further support after 21 for those in full time education. However, they had recently extended the service to include those up to the age of 25 in accordance with extended entitlement. 465 young people were being supported as of August 2025, of whom 68 were aged 16-17 and 335 aged 18-20. 30 young people receiving support were in university, while 62 young people over 21 were either in education or receiving support via extended entitlement. 69 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were being supported by the service, and their pathway planning sought to take into account specific circumstances like Leave To Remain status and appeals. Officers also highlighted the targeted support the service provided to young people in prison, identifying care experienced individuals who were interested in support, helping them to prepare for release and successfully reintegrate into the community by accessing the appropriate services and resources. New peer support groups for mums and dads were in place following consultation with young people, and would be linked in with existing peer mentoring groups. Care Leaver Month would involve a series of events recognising the achievements of care-experienced young people, and there were dedicated officers in Housing and Money Advice focusing on care leavers. Members queried whether the Bright Start allowance of £75 a week covered transport costs, which officers clarified were covered separately by the Into Work service. Members asked what happened when an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child no longer had recourse to public funds, and heard that they worked closely with the Home Office on these cases as they took over the responsibility of providing accommodation. It did not mean an abrupt move, as there was a process in place with the individual and solicitors to manage their transition. The Committee RESOLVED to note the update.
There were none.
3pm on 26th January 2026.
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