13 Reform UK councillors have called in a decision made by their own group in a row that has seen a leading cabinet member describe one of his colleagues as misguided. The dispute focuses on the decision made by Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Nicholas Lakin, to stop funding Return Home Interviews (RHI) for children placed in care in Staffordshire by other local authorities.
When children go missing from care, it is standard procedure to offer an RHI when they return from a missing episode as a safeguarding measure to explore why they went missing and to try to stop it happening again. It is not a statutory requirement for local councils to carry out RHI for young people who are not in their care; however, Staffordshire County Council has funded them since 2024.
In 2025 81,770 children were being looked after in care across the UK. Over the same period there were 86,900 ‘missing incidents’ involving children in care, the majority of which lasted two days or less.
Although such incidents are mostly short in duration, they place children who are often experiencing multiple vulnerabilities at risk of exploitation and potential harm.
Missing children interviews decision called in
Reform UK won control of Staffordshire County Council in May 2025, winning 49 out of the 62 seats available, beating the Conservatives, who went into the election holding 53 seats.
A report presented to the council’s Corporate Overview and Strategy Committee highlighted the “high pressures” faced by social work teams in the county and the need for them to improve the level of service they provide. Diverting funding away from interviewing young people not in their care was suggested as a way of doing so.
The decision was called in by 13 Reform councillors, three of whom, Anthony Screen, Andrew Mynors and Alex Hunt, are members of the cabinet.
Speaking to The Sentinel in December, Cllr Screen, who holds the cabinet portfolio for community safety, said he was concerned that if RHI Interviews were not carried out, social services would not be “fully aware of the risks” faced by young people who go missing from care, and so would not be able to effectively address them.
Also speaking to The Sentinel, cabinet colleague Andrew Mynors said the issue needed to be “debated and all angles looked at in more detail” before any decision could be made.
The Corporate Overview and Strategy Committee debated the call-in at a meeting held on 12 January, with the options of backing the original decision, referring it back to the cabinet or referring it to the full council on the table.
Misguided – did the call-in councillors get the facts right?
Cllr Craig Humphreyson, leading the call-in, said that if allowed to stand, the decision to not carry out RHI for young people not in the care of the county council would create “significant safeguarding, operational and governance risks.”
He added that it would ” reduce the visibility” of the risks faced by vulnerable young people and undermine the ability of the council to meet statutory safeguarding requirements.
Responding to the call-in, Cllr Lakin said that while he understood the concerns they raised, the position taken by members opposing the decision was a “misguided” one. He explained that “RHIs for those children will still happen, but they’ll be funded by their local authority.”
He denied accusations of “penny pinching” by the council, saying that the authorities who had placed the young people in the county had a responsibility to “step up to the plate” and “do what they are required to do”.
He went on to say that Staffordshire Police would continue to carry out ‘safe and well’ checks on children missing from care and that the reallocation of funding would “free up” social workers to carry out their statutory duties.
The committee voted against referring the matter back either to the cabinet or the full council and backed the original decision.
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