Hundreds of children’s care places are costing councils more than £10,000 a week per child
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Exclusive: Nine councils were paying £20,000 or more per week for a single children’s placement in residential care. Hundreds of children’s care home placements are costing councils over £10,000 a week, new figures obtained by The Independent show.
![[Dame Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner for England, warned young people are being placed into unregulated children’s homes, such as a caravan and an Airbnb]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/15/PA-78231119.jpg)
English councils are spending these staggering amounts for at least 266 children, data from 29 of the largest councils shows. Many of these children are being housed for over a year at these rates - meaning councils are forking out at least half a million pounds per child.
![[Ofted has oversight of registered children’s homes, but many unregistered illegal homes are springing up due to demand from councils]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/15/PA-77325984-%281%29.jpg)
Council leaders said the figures demonstrated that children’s social care was “broken”, citing “market failure” as driving the “excessive costs”. 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.
Since 2019, there has been a seven 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 lack 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 for children in care has risen 55 per cent; from £3,935 per child per week to £6,108, the county councils network (CCN) said.
