Ofsted figures highlight regional disparity in children’s home placements
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Ofsted’s national director for social care has raised concerns about an increase in children’s homes numbers “in the wrong places”, as latest figures show 25% of settings are concentrated in one region.
The inspectorate’s latest report on children’s social care in England highlights huge regional disparities around the availability of mainstream children’s homes, which excludes secure children’s homes and residential special schools registered as children’s homes.
A quarter of all mainstream homes are situated in the North West, the figures show, with just 6% in London and 7% in the South East.
The South East Region offers the lowest number of places with just 731 available compared with 2,823 in the North West and 1,940 in the West Midlands.
Speaking at the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) annual conference in Manchester last week, Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s national director of social care told delegates that the figures reflected a “lack of control” by the inspectorate of the geographical spread of homes.
She said: “The homes are still in the wrong places.
“We can’t stop the homes where there’s saturation nor is anyone stimulating growth where they are needed.”
Sector leaders have frequently highlighted concerns over children being moved far from home to new placements.
Last year, children in care and care leavers charity Become launched its Gone Too Far Campaign calling on the government and local authorities to address the shortage of local placements, and make a national commitment to stop moving children miles from their homes.
The report also highlights a 44% increase in the number of mainstream homes across England over the last four years compared with a drop in the number of foster care placements which fell by 7% between 2019 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Ofsted notes that over the past five years, there has been a 70% increase in private-sector homes, a 10% increase in voluntary-run homes and a 7% increase in homes run by local authorities.
Figures collected in March show that private-sector homes accounted for 89% of children’s home registrations, voluntary homes for 5% and homes run by local authorities for 6%.
Since legislation changed in April last year, requiring supported accommodation providers for 16 - and 17-year-olds to register with Ofsted, 258 were fully registered on 31 March.
