One in Eight Children in Care Placed in Unregulated Settings

One in eight children in care has now spent time in unregulated supported accommodation including hostels, caravans and tents, new figures from the children’s commissioner for England reveal. In 2018/19, 12,800 spent some time accommodated in unregulated settings – 69 per cent more than in 2012/13, Anne Longfield’s Unregulated: Children in care living in semi-independent accommodation report shows. “Pressures on council budgets, an increase in the number of teens entering care and a lack of suitable placements for them are creating a perfect storm which means that local authorities are overly reliant on poor quality unregulated accommodation. This is closely related to a lack of capacity in children’s homes,” Longfield says. Read more.