Council agrees to bring children's services back in-house
It was agreed by councillors on Tuesday 28 January 2025 that children's services in Reading will be brought back in-house, to be delivered directly by Reading Borough Council. Work will begin immediately to complete a successful transition by Autumn 2025. This includes the transfer of around 550 members of Brighter Future for Children's staff back to the council.
Why there's a need for change
An independent company, Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC), have delivered children's services in Reading since December 2018, including children's social care and education. BFfC's seven year contract comes to an end in March 2026, and the council needed to review their options for moving forwards. To achieve this, the council worked with an independent body, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).
CIPFA's recommendation
CIPFA recommended that the council should bring children's services back in-house if it:
- provides the council with better, direct control of children's services
- removes a layer of governance, helping decisions to be made faster and avoiding repeated reports
- removes the pressure on council services of maintaining service level agreements
- helps different council services work better together
How we came to a decision
All representing councillors agreed with CIPFA's recommendations at the council meeting on Tuesday 28 January 2025. The council also recognised that children's services would benefit from further improvements. To action this, the council have set up an independent improvement board to help it better support Reading's children and families.
The process of bringing children's services back in-house is estimated to cost £600,000. Ongoing savings of £200,000–£300,000 in children’s services are expected to cover the initial costs within two to three years.
The next steps
In addition to the transfer of staff members, the decision highlighted more actions including:
- the transfer of around 100 contracts and 12 leases from BFfC to the council
- closing the independent fostering agency and moving to a local authority fostering service
- changes to relevant Ofsted registrations
If the transition is successfully completed by Autumn 2025, BFfC's existing contract will be terminated early.
Responses to the decision
Councillor Liz Terry, Leader of Reading Borough Council
“In the context of the enormous challenges faced by local authorities nationwide in delivering children’s services, and BFfC’s initial seven-year contract drawing to an end, now is the right time for the service to transfer back to the council. This not only provides the council with better direct control, but additionally removes a layer of governance and helps to further integrate children’s services with other council services. All of these advantages were spelt out in CIPFA’s independent review.
“On behalf of Reading, I’d like to express my sincere thanks to everybody at BFfC for the significant progress it has made towards delivering a ‘good’ Ofsted rating, which was a key ambition of the contract. At the same time, we acknowledge we still have a way to go in order to achieve that.
“And while [the] decision brings a chapter to an end, the reality is it is business as usual, both at BFfC over the coming months and at the council thereafter, to ensure we continue to drive improvement to meet the needs of vulnerable children, young people and families in Reading. While this is a significant change for the staff involved, I know that is something which is always at the forefront of their mind.”
Di Smith, Chair of BFfC, and on behalf of the BFfC Board
“The board of Brighter Futures for Children supports the decision to return full responsibility for the delivery of children’s services to the council. We recognise that alternative delivery models in children’s services have become less popular in recent years and are now very rarely the preferred option in response to statutory intervention.
“Given the national picture of increased costs and pressures in children’s services, it is logical that councils, including Reading [Borough] Council, would want to have full control of delivery and expenditure at this present moment in time.”
[The] decision to bring children’s services back in-house follows a previous decision of policy committee on 18 December 2024 to recommend the option to full council.
Supporting documents
Last updated on 29/01/2025
Council agrees to bring children's services back in-house