Ban on unregulated accommodation ‘increasing pressure’ on local authorities

Increasing numbers of councils have resorted to seeking Deprivation of Liberty orders from courts in a bid to get around the ban while placements in settings registered by Ofsted are found, the education select committee has heard.

Highlighting the outcomes of a BBC investigation published last week, chair of the committee Robert Halfon said it showed “councils are struggling to meet the demands of the new system” after the ban was introduced in September.

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Asked “if the new rules have been effective in reducing the number of children in unregistered provision”, Charlotte Ramsden, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said such accommodation was still being used for under-16s in “a case of desperation”. 

“There is a serious lack of appropriate provision to meet the needs of these really complex young people and a lot of these situations are being developed in crisis when there is literally nowhere else for a young person to go,” she said.

“What’s happened with the ban is that it’s acting as a pressure cooker really so in the absence of suitable alternatives, the solutions to avoid the use of unregulated have not been provided so it is a pretty challenging situation.”

She confirmed reports by the BBC that the use of Deprivation of Liberty orders are “becoming increasingly common”.

She explained that despite the court order not specifically giving authorisation for the use of an unregulated placement it does allow the use of such settings noted in a multi-agency 

“The court isn’t giving authorisation for an unregulated placement but it is recognising that plan “that, in theory, will meet that child’s needs”.

“It is causing a significant concern and again, it is about the absence of alternatives including increased pressure to find secure welfare placements and tier four placements for mental health,” Ramsden said.

Andrew Isaac, chair of the Children’s Services Development Group, said the organisation “does not agree with any unregulated children’s accommodation”.

He called on Ofsted and the Department for Education to create a joined-up system to share data on registered placements in a bid to improve sufficiency.

“Sufficiency planning is really important and has not been in line with the number of children coming into care,” he said.

Barnardo’s interim co-chief executive Michelle Lee-Izu highlighted that the sector is still waiting on quality standards to be produced for unregulated accommodation for over-16s. 

The standards were the subject of a public consultation which ended in July, however, DfE’s website currently states that the department is “analysing feedback”.

A DfE spokesperson told CYP Now the government would respond to the consultation "in due course".

“We really need the quality standards to enable the semi-independent sector to be regulated in that way. They need to be able to be clear what the standards are,” Lee-Izu said.

According to latest DfE data, the number of children in care is at a record high.

Of 80,850 children in care on 31 March 2021, 6,050 were placed in unregulated accommodation.

The figure is seven per cent lower than the number of young people in unregulated settings on the same date the previous year but up from 5,180 in 2018.

A government spokesperson said: “We agree that every young person in care deserves to live in accommodation that meets their needs and keeps them safe – councils are responsible for providing suitable, safe accommodation for vulnerable children in their care.

“The chancellor has announced investment worth nearly £300, to help them meet this duty, by increasing the number of places in open and secure children’s homes, and we have consulted on national minimum standards for any unregulated provision accommodating 16- or 17-year-olds. It builds on work that has already started to maintain capacity and expand provision in existing secure children’s homes, alongside new capital funding to help councils create new homes.”