Hundreds of children's care places are over £10k a week

Hundreds of children's care home placements are costing councils over £10,000 a week, new figures obtained by The Independent show.

- HOLLY BANCROFT

English councils are spending these staggering amounts for at least 266 children data from 29 of the largest local authorities shows. Many of these children are being housed for over a year at these rates, meaning some councils are forking out at least half a million pounds per child.

Nine councils were paying £20,000 or more per week for their most expensive residential placement, with some even paying these amounts to council-run homes, data obtained through freedom of information requests revealed. Council leaders said the figures demonstrated that children’s social care was “broken”, citing “market failure” as driving the “excessive costs”.

Since 2019, there has been a 7 per cent increase in the number of children and young people being placed into care. But this has resulted in a 45 per cent increase in those being cared for in children’s homes as there is a shortage of foster carers to take people in.

County councils have seen above-inflation increases in the cost of housing children in residential homes. Since 2019, the average cost of residential placements has risen by 55 per cent; from £3,935 per child per week to £6,108, the county councils network (CCN) said.

In its 2022 report on the children’s social care market, the Competition and Markets Authority found that, among the largest 15 providers, profit margins averaged 22.6 per cent in residential care. They said these private companies were “making materially higher profits, and charging materially higher prices, than we would expect if this market were functioning effectively”.

However, some smaller providers told The Independent that they sometimes had to charge very high prices due to the highly complex needs of children, such as caring for young people who cannot safely be around other children.

The CCN warned last month that councils’ spending on children in care will double to £12bn in six years if nothing changes.