Government to tackle "unnecessary" out-of-area residential care placements

The Government is to amend the regulations on residential care to crack down on “unnecessary” out-of-area placements.

The proposed changes to the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 – unveiled in the Department for Education’s response to a consultation on improving safeguarding for looked-after children – mean:

  • Schedule 2 of the Regulations will be amended so that where there are child protection concerns (including concerns about a risk of sexual exploitation or risks of other forms of abuse), or where the child has gone missing or run away from previous placements, the Placement Plan must include the day to day arrangements put in place by the placement provider (the registered manager of a children’s home or foster carer) to keep the child safe;
  • Regulation 33(3) will be amended to clarify that the responsible authority must carry out a review of the child’s case, before specified time limits, where the child has been persistently absent from placement or where the responsible authority is notified by a parent, an area authority or by an appropriate person that there are concerns that the child is at risk of harm;
  • The regulations will be amended so that each Director of Children’s Services must ensure that robust processes are in place for challenge and scrutiny in respect of ‘distant out of authority’ placements. “This should help to ensure that decisions to place children in distant placements are only made when the placement is the most appropriate available and is consistent with the assessed needs of the child concerned." The DfE said it would not expect that in future the DCS should be required to personally appraise the plan for every child who might be placed at a distance. This will be clarified in future guidance;
  • Placing local authorities will be under a duty to consult with the local authority where the child will be placed, prior to placement. However, guidance will clarify that a duty to consult “simply requires authorities to share information to assist the placing authority with determining the appropriateness of any prospective distant placement”. Future guidance will make it clear that such information exchange need not be onerous and should not place a burden on the area authority to seek information that it does not hold already. The guidance will also clarify that consultation in this context does not imply that the area authority has a ‘veto’ over decision making by the authority responsible for the child’s care;
  • A distant placement will be defined as a placement that is outside of the placing authority and outside of any bordering authorities. Further guidance will be published on this issue. The DfE said it recognised the benefit of distant out of authority placements for some children with complex needs, “for whom it would not be reasonable to expect authorities to commission highly localised services”. It added that in future it wanted to encourage the development of inter-authority collaboration so there was regional oversight of the quality of intended placements for this group of highly vulnerable children. Future guidance will expand on this issue;
  • The DCS must approve a decision that the local authority will cease looking after a 16 or 17 year old, who has been accommodated under s. 20 of the Children Act. This is intended to ensure that the transition to independence for a vulnerable group of young people is effectively scrutinised at a senior level within every local authority. Amendments to the guidance will, however, make it clear that the duty requires the DCS to ensure that robust processes are in place to scrutinise and challenge leaving care decisions, rather than requiring the DCS to make every decision on a personal basis.

The DfE said the amendments would come into force at the end of January. It added that it planned to issue related guidance about the ‘out of authority’ placement process by April 2014.

The Government said it would also change regulations “so new homes only open in safe areas, run by competent providers and ensuring homes already open in less safe areas evidence that they can keep children safe, or face closure”.

Other measures include: requiring staff and managers in homes to be suitably qualified within a specific time frame; strengthening Ofsted’s inspection and intervention powers “so ‘good’ is the only acceptable standard, and unsafe homes close unless they can evidence swift improvement”; and putting “much greater” information on the quality and location of children’s homes into the public domain.

The Government is to issue guidance for providers of new homes and managers of existing homes to carry out assessments on the suitability of their home’s location.

It will also publish revised statutory guidance for councils on their responsibilities around children missing from care.

Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson said: “It’s totally unacceptable for local authorities to routinely place children miles away from their homes for no good reason. Far too often an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ culture prevails, and I’m determined to tackle it.”

A copy of the Government response to the consultation on changes to the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 can be viewed here. A copy of the Government response to the consultation on reforming children’s homes care can be viewed here.