The Department for Education report has been released to children’s rights charity Article 39, after the organisation won an information rights tribunal last month during which it was ruled that government did not have the right to keep the details of the report private.
The report, a short summary of which was included in the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s annual report for 2019/20, published in May 2021, contains details of 89 cases were looked after children died or suffered serious harm between June 2018 to June 2020.
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The author was asked to review serious incident notifications received by the panel from local authorities concerning looked after children.
It finds that 20 of the 89 notifications related to deaths of children in care, and 69 to serious harm suffered while the child was in care.
Of these, there were 48 children who had died or suffered serious harm as a result of the abuse or neglect known about when they first entered care.
Among findings revealed in the report, 11 girls were the victims of alleged rape/sexual assault while in care, seven children took their own lives while in care and six boys were the victims of stabbing/assault while in care.
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The author of the report shared four key conclusions with government based on the findings:
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There is not enough suitable, regulated homes available for children in care.
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Children’s mental health needs are not being addressed in care.
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Children are suffering serious crimes and exploitation in care.
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Children are abusing other children.
Carolyne Willow, director of Article 39, said: “It is sickening that the Department for Education fought for nearly two years to keep this report out of the public domain, and refused to let our charity have sight of it when we were in court trying to secure equal protection for older children in care. It is inexplicable that the national statutory body for child protection, which is meant to be independent of government, also chose to sit on this information.
“The report is dated August 2020, which was when the then Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, was making critical decisions about protecting children in care. The minister should have been given all available information on children’s experiences, and the known risks from leaving children in places where they are unsupervised and without any day-to-day care.
“His decision to change the law to ensure that children in care always receive care and proper supervision where they live, but only to the age of 15, has cast a long shadow on the children’s care system. It is now government policy that Ofsted can, in exceptional circumstances, register caravans, boats and even tents as official homes for children in care aged 16 and 17. Bedsits, properties shared with adult strangers and hostels are now deemed to be suitable homes for this age group, and still there is no requirement to provide them with care in these settings.
“Government must urgently revisit its decision-making around the care and protection of older children, this time fully acknowledging and understanding the scale and enormity of harms suffered by teenagers before and after they enter care.”
The report was seen by then-Education Secretary Gavin Williamson around the time government was in discussions around banning the use of unregulated supported accommodation for children aged 15 and under, despite calls from the sector for a complete ban.
A DfE spokesperson said: “The death of any child is tragic and every child deserves to grow up in a safe and loving home. Our care strategy will strengthen multi-agency support to ensure experts intervene swiftly to protect children at risk of harm, and this year we are ending the use of unregulated provision for 16- and 17-year-olds.
“Our reforms to supported accommodation are backed by £142 million, and include introducing mandatory national standards, along with a robust Ofsted registration and inspection regime that will raise the bar for this type of provision.
“We are also focused on providing more early support for families, reducing the need for crisis response at a later stage.”
