Lewisham Council's Mayor and Cabinet has approved a new strategy aimed at ensuring a sufficient supply of safe, stable, and local placements for children in its care.
The Lewisham Sufficiency Strategy 2026-2029, agreed at the Mayor and Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 4 November 2026, outlines the council's approach to meeting the needs of 452 children currently in its care. The strategy aims to tackle inequalities, particularly the disproportionate representation of Black children in care and the high number of disabled children placed outside the borough.
Councillor Rotimi Skyers, Cabinet Member for Children, SEND, Youth Empowerment and Culture, presented the strategy, highlighting the need to address the current system's inequalities. A councillor noted that nearly 47% of children in care are Black, and they are disproportionately placed in less stable forms of provision. A councillor noted that over 70% of disabled children in care are placed outside Lewisham.
The strategy proposes to tackle these issues by developing more local and specialist provision, strengthening culturally responsive care, and keeping children connected to their families and communities. It also aims to reduce the council's dependence on expensive external market residential care, which, while representing only 12% of placements, accounts for 59% of placement expenditure.
Key actions within the strategy include strengthening kinship care, growing the council's own foster carer community, and improving the offer for foster carers. A significant commitment is the development of a Lewisham-run children's home, initially for children with the most complex needs, with the ambition to rebuild high-quality provision within the borough.
The strategy also has a clear ambition to move towards zero children in unregulated placements. The council's responsibility for sufficiency extends beyond a child's 18th birthday, with a focus on supported accommodation and tenancy sustainment for young people transitioning to adulthood.
The strategy was agreed by the Mayor and Cabinet, with the aim of ensuring that all children in Lewisham's care have access to safe, stable, and local placements.