The concerns follow the disclosure that there has not been the expected pick-up in social services placements since the start of the new financial year last month.
Children Now reported two months ago that there had been an average of 30 vacant beds a night out of a total of around 150 during February (Children Now, 2-8 March). There were hopes that this was simply because local authorities were curtailing their spending as they neared the end of the financial year, but figures for the last month show that the situation has not improved, and could even have deteriorated.
On 12 April the number of vacant beds peaked at 44, although it has since fallen and sat at 32 on 3 May.
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