PLANS for Hertfordshire to take over the running of adoption services for Luton are now a step closer, after being backed by leading councillors.

Luton Borough Council first asked Hertfordshire County Council to host its adoption service last year.

Since then officers from both authorities have been looking at how the arrangement might work.

Yesterday (Monday 24 September) the move was backed “in principle” by Hertfordshire’s executive members at a meeting of the Cabinet.

And now a detailed business case will now be drawn up, which could get the go-ahead early next year (2019).

Executive member for children, young people and families Cllr Teresa Heritage told cabinet this was the start of a journey that would be good for children living in both areas.

According to the cabinet report, combining Luton and Hertfordshire will create a more diverse pool of adopters, which will speed up the adoption process.

Economies of scale and pooling resource will make the service more cost-effective.

“It is anticipated that the combined service will provide the opportunity to work more efficiently  and that there will be opportunities for savings for both local authorities, deliverable in the medium term,” says the report.

According to the report, the two adoption services will begin to co-operate more closely from October.

Subject to approval – the transfer could be complete by the end of March 2019.

The two authorities – along with Essex, Suffolk and Southend-on-Sea – are already part of Adopt East, a regional partnership of adoption agencies jointly working towards best practice across the region.

Members of Luton Borough Council’s Executive endorsed the proposal to transfer adoption services to Hertfordshire in June. Currently Luton Adoption Service is graded as “requires improvement”.