Since 2010 the number of children taken into care has risen by 15 per cent and in 2017/18 the national overspend by councils on children's social care was £872m.
But a National Audit Office (NAO) review of children's social care spending found that ministers do not know why demand has grown.
They also lack an understanding of why there is such a wide variation in local spending, which ranges from £566 to £5,166 per child a year.
The Department for Education has commissioned research to explain the growth in demand and local variation in December 2017 but this will not be ready until this summer, says the report.
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