Some children in care in Cambridgeshire still being placed in unregulated homes

Some children in care in Cambridgeshire are still being placed in unregulated children’s homes despite a government ban, it has been revealed.

The county council said there is nowhere else for them to go.

All providers of accommodation for children in care or care leavers up to the age of 18 are required to be regulated by Ofsted.

These homes are inspected by the regulatory body, which can take action if standards are not being met.

But for the last seven months there have been between four and six Cambridgeshire children living in unregulated placement.

Martin Purbrick, executive director for children, education and families, told councillors at a children and young people committee meeting on 8 October that these children are “displaying extremely challenging behaviour”.

Due to the complexity of their care needs, four or five carers look after them at any given moment.

Mr Purbrick said there was a national shortage of welfare secure beds, with on average 50 to 60 children waiting for each place on any given day.

“In order to make sure we look after children safely we must find an arrangement for them, whether there is a regulated placement or not,” he said.

“We can’t let them sleep on the streets, or in placements where we just do not know where they are, or with people we don’t know who they are.

“We need to create placements along with partners that can provide a good level of care, but those arrangements are extremely expensive.”

The council searches on a daily and weekly basis for regulated placements for those young people, he said, and highlighted the council’s plans to open new children’s homes within Cambridgeshire in empty houses it owns to offer places for such children with complex care needs.

He said: “We are constantly looking for regulated settings for those young people and part of our residential strategy is to address some of that need.

“Hopefully over the next 12 months we will have some resources that we can use for those children, bringing them back into our accommodation, in our county, in regulated settings overseen by Ofsted.”

Cllr Samantha Hoy (Con, Wisbech East) raised concerns about whether there was enough oversight of the unregulated placements.

Mr Purbrick said there was an “awful lot”.

“We have the oversight of the courts in those placements, we have a Deprivation of Liberty (DOL) order where we specify what the arrangements are for those children and the court oversees that arrangement,” said Mr Purbrick. “The DOLs in place means that we are able to plug the gap, while we find a registered placement.

“The expectation from Ofsted, and we work closely with those partners, is where someone is looking after a child in a setting that is unregulated, and we have got examples of this right now, they apply for registration whilst looking after the child.

“It would still be considered unregulated until they have achieved that. We have got a number of examples where that is happening at the moment.

“The DOLs in place are a necessity. We really do not want to use any unregulated placements. We want the certainty and safety of a regulated setting for all of our Cambridgeshire children.”

Mr Purbrick added that children in unregulated settings are visited on a more regular basis by the authority.

The council notifies Ofsted when it places a child in an unregulated home and provides updates. It has moved children from an unregulated setting if a child is not getting the right care.

In July, councillors were told creating two new residential homes could reduce £16,500 per child per week cost of looking after children in care in Cambridgeshire. It is aiming to fast-track registration of these homes.