Plea to save care home champion NCERCC

Furious children’s homes professionals are rallying to stop the imminent closure of the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care (NCERCC).

Last week, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) announced it was withdrawing NCERCC’s funding, leaving it facing closure next month. Instead, private provider Tribal is to run a new project called Support and Challenge for Children’s Homes, because the DCSF believes “more needs to be done to reform the sector”.

But John Kemmis, chief executive of Voice, questioned why Tribal has been awarded the contract: “I am appalled by this news. What experience and expertise have Tribal got in relation to residential child care?”

“(Manager) Jonathan Stanley and NCERCC work really hard for a small group of the most vulnerable young people.”

NCERCC has existed to spread best practice to boost outcomes for children and young people in residential care by publishing research and offering support to care home providers.

Kemmis called on the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), which houses NCERCC, to maintain the centre with or without government funding.

“I would hope NCB has discussions with the sector and government about sustaining NCERCC. For it to finish just because of a grant ending is not the way to manage an important service, ” he said.

Kemmis added that he was unaware of the news until he received a press statement, despite being a member of NCERCC’s stakeholder group, saying: “It’s all been done behind closed doors.”

Kevin Gallagher, chief executive of residential care provider Bryn Melyn, said he was shocked at the DCSF’s decision to stop funding to “such a successful organisation”.

“It’s difficult to imagine the sector without NCERCC,” he said. “It’s a brilliant repository for good practice but it’s also been the network connecting people together.”

He added that senior professionals are approaching NCB to provide interim funding for NCERCC, to give the sector time to raise funds to keep it going. “We want to protect it,” he said.

Sheryl Burton, director of social inclusion at NCB, said: “Obviously we are as devastated as everyone else in the sector.

“We are actively looking at how we might sustain our long-standing work in relation to residential care, so we’re not in the position to say anymore at the moment.”

A spokeswoman for the DCSF said: “NCERCC’s future is an internal matter for them. DCSF has no plans to provide additional funding to NCERCC.”