Hounslow Council’s Cabinet has approved the progression of a new six-bed residential home for children with complex needs in Bedfont and agreed an increase to the project budget, taking the total to £3.978 million. The decision is intended to keep looked-after children closer to local support networks and to reduce reliance on external placements. The decision is approved but remains subject to the council’s published call-in period.
Decision and procedural window
The published Cabinet document set a call-in deadline of 16 September, with an implementation date of 17 September if the decision is not called in. The Cabinet pack presented to members asked them to approve the six-bed complex-needs children’s home and an £808,000 increase from the unallocated General Fund capital programme, bringing the overall project budget to £3.978 million. The home is not built or open.
The Cabinet approval advances the project into the next stage of delivery while preserving the council’s formal opportunity to review or challenge the decision through the established call-in process during the stated window.
Costs and funding details
The Cabinet papers identify the requested £808,000 increase as comprising additional build and site-security costs of £586,000 and capitalised project-management costs of £222,000. The documents state that a separate change request will be submitted to the Department for Education seeking approximately £293,000 of additional grant funding to support the project.
With the increase applied, the project budget is set at £3.978 million. The Cabinet papers provided the financial breakdown and the council’s proposed source of the additional capital funding from the unallocated General Fund capital programme, as recorded in the published pack.
Projected opening and financial forecast
The council’s documents project the new six-bed home to open in February 2028. The Cabinet papers also set out a financial model that forecasts an annual net benefit of £504,000 at 80 percent occupancy. The documents make clear that this figure is a forecast and not realised savings.
The forecast is presented as part of the project appraisal in the Cabinet pack. It is separate from the capital cost increases and the change request for Department for Education grant support; it is a projected operational outcome subject to occupancy and service delivery conditions.
Purpose and expected local impact
The published papers state the intention for the home to allow looked-after children with complex needs to remain closer to family, community and existing local support services. The documents frame the project as a measure to reduce the council’s reliance on external placements for children with complex needs by providing a local residential option for up to six children.
As set out in the Cabinet pack, those aims form the central rationale for the project and accompany the financial and timeline information presented to members. The project remains in a pre-construction stage while the council proceeds through governance and any subsequent procurement or delivery steps following approval and the close of the call-in period.
The Cabinet papers provide the details of costs, funding requests and the projected opening date. The council’s forecast for the annual net benefit at 80 percent occupancy is part of its internal modelling and is presented in the published documents as a projection rather than a guaranteed outcome.
