With local authority budgets across England under pressure, some are looking for innovative ways to save money.

Behind the front door of an ordinary-looking house on a quiet residential street in Somerset, something quite radical is happening.

The property was purchased by Somerset Council and converted into a family-friendly home for foster children.

There are currently three young people living there who are looked after around the clock by a team of staff.

Manager Kelly Field says: “Dinner is like any other home. We all sit down together and talk about what happened during the day. There’s a bit of fun and a bit of laughter.”

“This is a family home and everything in it is what a normal family home should look like.”

Somerset Council has partnered with Homes2Inspire, part of the Shaw Trust charity, to open a total of ten of these homes in Somerset, with seven due to be ready by September.

This represents a departure from the industry-wide trend of recent decades which has seen a reduction in the number of local authority children’s homes and a greater reliance on private providers, which often means sending young people far from where they live.

“Our main goal is to create what I would call normal family homes,” says Ms Field.

“There is a strong stigma attached to children’s homes and their appearance and we must try to tackle this.”

There is another reason for this.

Children’s services across England are under pressure, with growing demand and rising costs adding to the financial burden on local authorities.

Somerset Council believes that opening up private homes is a more cost-effective solution in the long term.

The purchase and conversion required an investment of around £3 million from the local authority and a grant of £2.9 million from the Department for Education.

The council says it saved £2 million on ongoing childcare costs in the first year.

Bill Revans, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “We have had to find accommodation in other parts of the country – although I prefer to think of it as home – and pay huge sums for it. It would be better for everyone if we could offer a cheaper and better solution here in Somerset.”

Somerset Council declared a financial emergency last year and has since made extensive service cuts in the hope of avoiding insolvency.

In January there was a major campaign to save a local sports facility, the Yeovil Recreation Centre, when its future was threatened due to council finances.

Somerset Council reached an agreement with Yeovil Council, who would cover the running and maintenance costs, to the relief of many who care about the centre. but increases in local taxes were needed to protect these and other local institutions.

Somerset is also trying to save money by handing over services to councils, with smaller authorities stepping in to maintain services, from funding video surveillance to managing parks and open spaces.

But while Somerset Council has managed to balance its budget this year, the council’s chairman already sees a challenge for next year.

“We are doing everything we can to make this council as efficient and productive as possible,” says Mr Revans.

“But the fact is that many communities will run out of money because the demand for our services and the cost of providing those services far exceeds our revenues.”

The council has already undergone a major restructuring, with the five previous councils becoming a single overarching authority for the whole county.

They now want to cut the council’s wage bill by 25%, which will mean the loss of around 1,000 jobs. They also want to sell off assets that are no longer essential to the council’s operations, including land, offices and some listed buildings.

The Council’s decisions are not without controversy and have an impact on local communities.

In South Somerset, the Chard Community Hub is a voluntary organisation that offers support to local residents in everything from food parcels and mending clothes to helping them complete applications for the benefits they are eligible for.

Chief executive Roz Hall, who herself previously worked in local government, says they will fill gaps created by the reduction of public services.

“They can’t go anywhere else and find that help because the public sector has completely disappeared from its external image. So how are they supposed to get it?” she says.

“Who are you going to? There’s no one there.”

The pressure on local authorities across England is great.

In the area of ​​social care for adults and children, and in view of the exploding costs of housing provision, there have been numerous justified warnings about the future financial sustainability of this sector.

Somerset County Council has written a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging him to act urgently and give priority to local government.

Since taking office, ministers have sought to strike a more collaborative tone with local authorities, promising to devolve powers from Westminster and provide greater stability in funding.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “The government will lay the foundations for local government, working closely with the sector.”

“We will get local government back on its feet by getting the basic things right, by providing greater stability to councils through multi-year funding agreements, by ending competition for pots of money and by reforming the local audit system.”

But with the government already warning of pressure on public finances, there is no easy solution for a sector where services have been under pressure for some time and where the consequences are often felt primarily by local communities.