Ofsted warning over unregistered placements for children deprived of liberty

In new guidance on the placement of children under such orders – which are now issued through the national DoL court – the inspectorate states: “If you are an unregistered provider providing a placement for a child with a DoL you must register with Ofsted or the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) immediately – it is an offence to operate without registration.”

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It adds that private providers must inform the local authority who has placed the child about the steps taken to register and keep the council informed on the progress of the application.

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s director for social care, said: “It’s unacceptable that some of our most vulnerable children with very complex needs are living in places with the least oversight; where we do not know if they are safe, or if the people caring for them are suitable or skilled enough to meet their needs.

“We know that many children deprived of their liberty are placed in illegal unregistered settings. It is important that providers register and local authorities play their part to ensure vulnerable children are only placed in registered settings.”  

Ofsted has also updated guidance on how it prioritises applications to register children’s homes when local authorities need urgent placements to highlight that providers with children who are subject to a DoL order or unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, can have their application expedited.

However, it adds that registration requirements and regulations must be met before a provider is deemed suitable.

The warning comes weeks before new legislation requiring semi-independent settings, which provide accommodation but not care for 16- and 17-year-olds, to register with the inspectorate comes into force in October.

The DoL court was launched by Sir Andrew MacFarlane, president of the Family Division of the Royal Courts of Justice, in July last year.

During its first 12 months, a total of 1,249 children have been subject to DoL applications including a small number of applications for sibling groups.

On average, there have been 117 applications per month, with the highest number of applications – 136 – issued in August last year.