A government shake up to adoption in England has sparked fears Bexley’s impressive service risks being made worse.

National policy requires Bexley Council to move to a regional adoption agency model, linking up with Medway and Kent County Council.

This in theory is to speed up matching whilst reducing costs involved with placing vulnerable kids with new families, but scrutiny councillors raised concerns this week about future implications.

Bexley’s adoption staff are well thought of by elected members, and combining their work with others sparked fears that the borough’s good service will be made worse.

Councillor Sybil Camsey said: “We have an excellent adoption team in Bexley, it has been recognised by Ofsted.

“I know we have no choice over regionalisation, but does it mean we will no longer have our own adoption panel and team? The papers say it says it will cost no more than the current cost of services ‘in year one’. That makes me nervous, it suggests costs could rise in the future.”

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Labour councillor Wendy Perfect said she was concerned that the services would not deliver the same results.

She added: “We have this outstanding service yet we are changing the model. There are risks that the outstanding model won’t be as good.”

Stephan Kitchman, interim deputy director of children’s social care, told councillors there was no option with the move as all councils are required to be regionalised by next year.

He said a business case with more details is in the works for September, adding: “Our proposal is to be in an arrangement with Medway and Kent who are already strong partners we have worked with. We are already working closely with them.

“In relation to the budget – there is some experience from across the country and there is a variety of mechanisms in place. For year one the RAA will not cost us more than we are spending already – for year two and onwards we would something similar to other RAA’s in place where the cost usage depends on cases.

“If there is a huge increase then there could be a financial impact. If there was underusage there may be a lesser spend.”

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Cabinet member Philip Read told the local democracy reporting service afterwards: “Whilst I support the principle, Bexley’s adoption service is one of the highest performing in London and nationally. We have no choice but we have made it quite clear that the new model will not disrupt our services.

“Nationally, regionalisation will be an improvement, but our concern in Bexley is to make sure that our high performance and standards are maintained. That’s our focus, there’s no point in doing something that will help everyone else but not your own service.

“Let’s be realistic- even if every other authority continued the same service as now the costs would change.

“But, it’s important we don’t allow the new system to become bureaucratic because then it becomes expensive. We don’t want a bloated and slow system.”