The current picture
- In the North, the rate of children in care per 10,000 of the child population is 93 (compared to 62 in the rest of England).
- Following the North East, the North West has the second-highest rate of children in care in England.
- Between 2020 and 2023, there has been a 27% increase in the number of children’s residential care homes.
- The North now accounts for over 40% of children’s homes in England.
- Within the Liverpool City Region, 89% of homes are operated by the private sector, and the voluntary sector only accounts for 2% of provision.
It’s against this context that, back in 2019, the Liverpool City Region Children’s Commissioner’s Group approached Capacity for our help. With a mandate for wider market reform from the Directors of Children’s Services across the city region, the group wanted our support to design a new approach that could meet significant local challenges in the residential care market, based on our track record in service design.
What we did
To deliver this approach, we secured a development grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, which covered elements of the feasibility planning and took forward other aspects of the project (stakeholder engagement and analysis, programme management, service planning and design) as pro bono work – because solving this issue is at the heart of why we exist.
Juno was co-designed with local authorities, care-experienced young people and delivery partners to ensure that the model was responsive to local challenges, and most importantly, able to meet the needs of young people.
We worked closely with councils from across the region, building an understanding of the pressures and opportunities from their point of view – working together to get the whole picture, getting under the skin of how children’s residential care worked.
We then worked with care-experienced young people from across the Liverpool City Region. Their ideas, insights and experience informed the design of Juno, to make sure that the needs and goals of young people were reflected in the model.
Feedback loops with key stakeholders allowed us to refine our thinking, validate assumptions and adapt the design based on real-world insights. All of this fed into the development of Juno’s ambitious long-term business model, outlining our plans to transform the children’s residential home landscape in the city region.
The journey so far
Building strong partnerships
The work that Juno delivers is backed by a network of brilliant social investors and charitable funders who share our aims, values and ambitions. Juno is made possible by a funding model that includes local authority funding, regional authority funding and private and social investment from a range of partners. Relationships are at the heart of this model. Getting hard, new complex things off the ground requires a high degree of trust and honesty.
In July 2024, Juno was recognised as one of the top 100 social enterprises in the UK. At the NatWest SE100 Awards, Juno, alongside its investors – Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Postcode Innovation Trust and Wirral Council – took home the ‘Social Investment Pioneer Award’ title.
“It’s really great to see social investment fixing a broken sector – in this case, children and social care. Not many examples of this kind exist and this is almost a proof of concept. It’s particularly powerful seeing the role of the local authority in providing affordable, repayable investment, as well as acting as a multiplier and leveraging other funding.” – SE100 Judges
Creating welcoming homes
Since 2023, the Juno team have been hard at work refurbishing and opening welcoming, high-quality homes where children can feel safe and supported. To date, we’ve opened 2 Juno homes, with homes 3 and 4 on the way. The feedback we’ve heard about these homes has been great, with people commenting on the quality of the environment and the nurturing atmosphere created by the team.
In December 2024, one of these homes was visited by Janet Daby – Minister for Children and Families – to meet the team and talk about how Juno is doing things differently.
“I was very interested to hear about the journey Juno has been on over the past five years as we want to see more of this type of provision and encourage similar joined up working across the country.” – Janet Daby, Minster for Children and Families
Building brilliant teams
It’s no secret that social care recruitment is tough. A national context of high vacancy rates and high turnover makes it difficult to recruit and retain talented social care practitioners.
Despite this, the Juno team have invested a lot into building brilliant teams, remaining committed to culture and the development of staff and building an environment where they can thrive. This has supported the team to retain some brilliant staff who embody Juno’s values and ethos.
Working with experts by experience
Listening to care-experienced young people is at the heart of the Juno model. In 2024 we decided to refine and formalise how we do this by recruiting a team of ‘Experts by Experience’. Our Experts by Experience are paid staff with real responsibilities. Focused on recruitment, service design and staff training, they ensure we keep the views and insights of care-experienced people at the heart of what we do and how we do it.
In June, two of our experts by experience – Sherrie and Chloe – represented Juno at New Local’s Stronger Things conference in London. In their talk, spotlighting the value of community power, Sherrie and Chloe shared how Juno is working with care-experienced young people to transform the way children’s residential care is delivered.
To make sure that lived experience is embedded in everything Juno does, we’ve recently appointed Sherrie to the role of apprentice non-executive director. This ensures that board-level decisions at Juno are informed by a care-experienced perspective.
So, what’s next?
Securing additional funding
Juno wouldn’t be possible without the support of our social investors. To help us continue to deliver great work in 2025, we’ve secured further investment from KPMG Foundation, Segelman Trust, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Fredericks Foundation and Blue Blanc Rouge Foundation.
Opening homes 3 and 4
We’ll not only be opening our 3rd home, Juno New Brighton, but we’ll also be opening home 4. We’re working with Plus Dane and Halton Council to develop plans for Juno Runcorn. This means we’ll be able to provide safe, loving and welcoming homes to even more young people, expanding our geography across the LCR.
Building strong partnerships
We’ll be working with partners including Regenda Homes, Plus Dane and Catch 22 to have a bigger impact for care-experienced young people in the Liverpool City Region. We’ll be exploring how we can develop an offer to support care leavers in the region.
