Josh MacAlister criticises unregulated accommodation plans
Clare Jerrom
Monday, March 20, 2023
Former chair of the independent children's social care review has slammed the Department for Education's proposed changes to unregulated accommodation standards.
Taking to Twitter, Josh MacAlister said "some standards are better than no standards, but current DfE changes are not good enough".
MacAlister added: "I support every child in care receiving care and want to see new universal care standards."
The Department for Education (DfE) launched a consultation on Regulating supported accommodation for looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17 which closed in January.
The consultation sought views on introducing quality standards, registration and inspection requirements for providers of supported accommodation, which is also referred to as independent, semi-independent or unregulated provision as it is not currently registered and inspected by Ofsted.
While placing children under 16 in supported accommodation was banned from September 2021 and was largely welcomed, the charity Article 39 claimed that the move "irrationally discriminated against 16 and 17 year-olds", given they were still allowed to be placed in such accommodation.
In response to the consultation, Article 39 said the proposals comprised four quality standards which omit any requirement to provide day-to-day care to children.
The Ofsted registration scheme allowed providers to register bedsits and shared accommodation with adults as suitable homes for looked after children aged 16 and 17. Furthermore, caravans, barges and boats could be deemed a form of supported accommodation in “some limited and exceptional circumstances”.
Article 39 also highlighted that while a sample of supported accommodation would be subjected to a three-yearly cycle of “provider-level” inspection. In comparison, children’s homes are required by law to be visited by inspectors at least twice in every 12-15 months if judged less than good, and once a year if judged good or outstanding.
"These proposals do not address the gravity and scale of harm already suffered by children, and the known risks of non-care settings," added the charity, which blasted the proposals as "institutional neglect".
In their consultation response, the Association of Directors of Children's Services added that it did "not yet believe the proposed approach for mobile or temporary settings is right".
MacAlister has now directed his Twitter followers to the independent review of children's social care report published in May last year which states that the government's decision in 2021 to regulate independent and semi-independent homes was a step in the right direction, but the changes "do not go far enough for children".
"All children in care should live in a home where they receive care," the report added.
"Whilst we need to end the current system of shadowy, substandard accommodation that is not open to scrutiny, new care standards need to be flexible enough to enable the best of this type of accommodation, to provide regulated care in a way that offers a choice to teenagers who may do well in these homes," the review continued.
MacAlister urged the government to proceed with the introduction of regulation for independent and semi-independent accommodation as a short-term measure, before holding these homes to a new set of Care Standards. The new Care Standards should require all semi-independent accommodation to offer a good standard of care and to be able to keep children safe whilst also being flexible enough to meet a broad range of needs, the independent review concluded.
