The Director of Finance has approved the amendments to the loan arrangement that commenced on 7th February 2022.

The loan arrangement has been in place for over three years and “We Are Juno CIC” (the Company) approached the Council to consider a number of amendments of which the following have been duly reviewed, and the Director of Finance has agreed to.

1. Amend the terms of the loan repayment period to commence from February 2025 to February 2027; and
2. Amend the terms of the length of the loan from 12 (2034) to 15 years (2037).

The Company is expanding its operations further within the Liverpool City Region. The services and cost benefit the Council receives from this company are beneficial to the financial position it faces.

The Director of Children’s Services has confirmed she is happy with the experience/quality of the Company’s provision and the prices charged for it.

Using the services provided by the company creates an approximate effective saving of £1k to £2k per child per week when measured against equivalent equity financed offers.

The young people being placed with the Company exhibit needs of a more complex nature.

Additional advantages of supporting the Company in this way are

1 that children are looked after within or near to the borough;
2 opportunities of preserving or maintaining familial connections are enhanced; and
3 time and costs expended by supervising staff in travelling to interact with children looked after are minimised, reducing costs and increasing staff efficiency.

Financial projections indicate that extending the terms as agreed will produce additional income of circa £345k for the council over the extended period of the loan arrangement. There is a small risk that interest rate fluctuations will negatively impact on these gains, but this risk is effectively mitigated by the provisions of the loan agreement permitting the council to seek a market equivalent interest rate if circumstances change.

The maximum value of the loan arrangement is £1m and has already been drawn down.

Doing nothing and continuing with the existing loan arrangements.

It was determined that the benefits offered by the Company, the service savings to the Council and the continued expansion of the Company would be prejudiced if no changes to the loan arrangement were sanctioned.