Children’s Homes Association calls for “national plan” to ensure illegal homes for children designed out of system by 2030

The association warned that illegal placements are “neither a placement model, a specialist solution, nor an acceptable emergency workaround”, adding: “They are what happens when the care system runs out of options for some of the country's most vulnerable children.”

Last month, an investigation called for a requirement on Directors of Children's Services to provide written justifications to Ofsted when authorising unregistered placements, after finding that the number of cases of children being placed in unregulated settings had increased by more than 370% in five years.

Unregistered children’s homes are settings providing care and accommodation to children without required Ofsted registration.

Making an announcement today (22 May), the Children’s Home Association said: “Local authorities often make desperate decisions at the brink of crisis because the right lawful placement does not exist or is not available. Ofsted can and should make illegal placements unacceptable. But the Department for Education, local authorities and registered providers must work together to make them unnecessary.

“That is why CHA will publish its sector-led blueprint in June. The blueprint sets out a lawful, health-led stabilisation and recovery pathway for high-need, high-risk children - built around regional capacity, specialist therapeutic homes, outreach, step-down support and shared standards - to ensure children in acute crisis are not left waiting for the system to improvise. The blueprint’s purpose is simple: replace placement panic with a planned, lawful, clinically supported pathway.”

The Association called for a national 2030 plan to include:

• Mandatory real-time notification to Ofsted whenever a child is placed in an illegal setting;
• A specialist sufficiency plan for children with complex needs;
• Faster registration for high-quality providers;
• Improved commissioning, and a formal partnership between DfE, Ofsted, local authorities, Regional Care Cooperatives, registered providers and housing partners.

Dr Mark Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of The Children’s Homes Association, said: “Illegal children’s homes are not a placement model. They are what happens when the lawful care system runs out of options.

“Ofsted is right to take a tougher stance. A child in care should never be invisible to regulation.

“But we will not solve this by blaming councils or by pretending that enforcement alone will build the homes children need. Local authorities are often forced to make impossible decisions because the right registered placement simply is not available.

“CHA’s message is simple: make illegal placements unacceptable and work with us to make them unnecessary.”

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted Director of Social Care, said: “We have been raising concerns about unregistered children’s homes for years now. We know that local authorities continue to face challenges in finding regulated placements to meet children’s needs, but it is heartbreaking that so many children - usually those with the most complex needs - are being placed in illegal settings where they’re at risk of harm.

“At Ofsted, we are working hard to investigate unregistered providers and compel them to either register or close. But no single organisation can solve this problem alone. It needs national, regional and local authority action to keep more children safely with their families, better support for foster and kinship carers, and the right number of regulated children’s homes in the right locations to support those children who need a residential environment.”

The Department for Education has been approached for comment.