A CHILDREN’S home is set to re-open as part of a move to save Southend Council £1.2million and prevent youngsters in need being sent outside the borough.

Southend Council will discuss plans tomorrow to re-open the children’s home, in Caulfield Road, Shoebury, after it closed in 2023.

Laurie Burton, councillor for children, young people, and SEND, is confident the move will save more than £1million for the council despite costing £250,000 a year.

If approved, a contract for the care home will be awarded by the end of 2025 for the five-bed care home to re-open.

It comes after new figures published by the department of education revealed that 62 of the 307 children in care in Southend as of March were placed more than 20 miles from home.

Mr Burton said: “It’s really exciting to be bringing this property back into use to house young people.

“Too many young people in care are being housed outside of the city, which can mean they lose contact with friends, their school.

“This will mean more young people can be cared for closer to home, and this property will hopefully be just the start.”

The home, which has not been in service since July 2023, previously housed two children, one for 18 weeks and the other for eight months.

The contract for the provision of services at the property would be more than £250,000, but the report noted this would represent “better value” than individual spot placements.

It added placing children in residential services on a spot purchasing basis is not “cost effective” and puts the council at a disadvantage when negotiating with providers.

The report said bringing the five-bed property back into use will allow the council to award experienced providers the contract, and avoid unnecessary costs.

More than 83,000 children were in care across England as of March, with 18,040 (22 per cent) placed at least 20 miles away from their home.

There were 6,870 children in care in the East of England as of March – 2,220 (32 per cent) of which were placed 20 miles away from their normal area.