Liverpool to accommodate new children’s care homes following huge grant

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCR) have supplied new children’s residential project, We Are Juno CIC, with £800k to open new children’s care homes in the city.

Funding to open new care homes comes as part of a wider £2.2m to disrupt profiteering in the private care market through a more ethical model for children’s care.  

Juno, a company dedicated to opening high-quality residential care homes for children, are set to open ten not-for-profit homes across Liverpool. 

The first home will open in the Wirral in early 2023, with more set to be constructed in Sefton and Halton.   

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: ‘For some young people in our community, situations beyond their control can mean they find themselves living outside their family home for extended periods of time.  

‘When that happens, I want to make sure we can provide them with the reassurance of knowing they won’t need to leave their local area.’

As Juno is set to open their first home next year, the company is currently in the middle of recruiting people to join their team.

The company is estimated to be creating more than 100 jobs within the next five years.

So far, Juno has been funded through £625k of charitable investments from the National Lottery Community Fund, KPMG Foundation and the Segelman Trust, as well as a £1m loan from Wirral Council and over £400k from local social investments.

Now, the additional £800,000 from LCR will help Juno to make residential care a great place for children to grow up; with the combined authority calling their plans ‘transformational’.

According to Juno, the number of children in care has increased over 81,000 in the last decade, which spurred the organisation to pursue their plans.

Capacity Director of Children’s and Strategic Lead for Juno, Sophie Clarke said: ‘We are thrilled to have received the backing from the Combined Authority and we are grateful to all of our partners who are joining us on this journey.

‘There are very few not-for-profit homes in the Liverpool City Region, and very few across the country. 

‘It’s a sector dominated by profit-making organisations, so we’ve created Juno as a way to really disrupt that profiteering in the Northwest and help create quality and not-for-profit alternatives for children.’

Photo by Laurie Byrne