Available placements
On 31 March 2024, there were 3,491 children’s homes of all types registered for 14,486 places. This represents a 7% increase in potential capacity since 31 March 2023, when there were 13,528 registered places in total, compared with a 5% increase last year.
Placements far from home
The average child in care in England is placed more than 18 miles from home but children who experience multiple care placements are more likely to be placed more than 20 miles from home. Children who have had just one placement are placed on average 15.8 miles away from home, while children who have had three or more placements are placed on average 22.4 miles away from home.
Fee levels
The number of children’s social care placements costing £10,000 or more per week has risen in five years. There were 120 such placements in 2018/19, rising to 1,510 in 2022/23, while the proportion of councils with at least one of these placements has increased from 23% to 91% over the same period. The highest cost placement was £63,000 a week. For most councils the highest cost fell between £9,600 and £32,500 a week.
Supported accommodation
On 31 March this year, there were 258 active supported accommodation providers. The majority of these were privately owned with voluntary and local authority providers making up 7% and 3% respectively. The North West had the largest proportion of providers at 21%. According to Ofsted data, 8,980 children were living in supported accommodation on 31 March 2023 – the equivalent of 41% of all 16- and 17-year-olds in care.
Geographical spread
A quarter of all mainstream homes are situated in the North West, the figures show, with just 6% in London and 7% in the South East. The South East Region offers the lowest number of places with just 731 available compared with 2,823 in the North West and 1,940 in the West Midlands.
Home learning
In March 2023, 61% of homes had an open staff vacancy with an estimated 12% vacancy rate for care staff. Managers commonly reported that when staff left their home, they left the sector (39%). This was most commonly due to personal reasons (38%) or for a career change (37%). Managers of children’s homes reported a number of difficulties recruiting care and managerial staff, with the majority of managers reporting that it was difficult to find care staff (69%) and managerial or supervisory staff (61%) with the appropriate level of skills and experience.
Read more in CYP Now's Children’s Residential Care special report
