Make an Enquiry
Contact Us

Legal action over out-of-area placements for children in care

More than 30,000 children in care were placed out of area last year, in placements miles from their schools, friends, family and support networks.

The Good Law project states that time and again local authorities are placing children in care in the cheapest accommodation, rather than the accommodation that best meets their needs.

“Good Law Project has launched ground-breaking legal action to prevent children being put at risk by being separated from their support networks. We’re challenging five local authorities – Essex, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Surrey and Derby City – for not complying with their duty,” said a statement from the project.

The project highlights how children are impacted by being placed far from home:

“As a result of my move, I have felt unwanted in various aspects of my life” – Claudia.

“I was worried about my A- Level exams, as getting into university was important to me. But I was placed very far away from my college.” – Sedil

Not only are children placed in a vulnerable situation, being away from their family, friends, schools and familiar surroundings often miles away from home and with little advance warning, they are also more vulnerable to criminal exploitation, trafficking and ‘county lines’ – where children are groomed to be involved with drug dealing - than those who remain in their home area.

According to a recent Ofsted report, distant placements contribute to the sexual exploitation of children because it makes it more difficult for agencies to work together to keep them safe.

The Good Law Project states that councils have a legal duty to ensure that children in care are accommodated within their local area if that is in their best interests, which, for the vast majority of children, it will be. They also have a duty to ensure there is enough provision in their area to allow that to happen. Out of area placements are intended to be a last resort. Yet, thousands of children are being sent miles away from everything and everyone they know.

Three quarters of children’s homes are now run by the private sector and these are disproportionately located in the North of England due to property being cheaper.  The project claims that the six largest private care providers made £219 million in profit, whilst local authorities struggled to balance their books and outcomes for children in care remain dire.

As well as challenging five local authorities for placing children at risk by putting them in out-of-area placements, the Good Law Project is also challenging the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, for failing to exercise his power to step in.

“We believe the Secretary of State’s failure to act, whilst children in care suffer, to be unlawful,” the statement concluded.

Good Law Project is a not-for-profit campaign organisation that uses the law to protect the interests of the public. The pre-action letter is available here.

The Statement of Facts and Grounds are available here

Working Together For Children

Make an enquiry

A multi-disciplinary organisation providing independent, high quality social work, psychological, psychiatric, therapeutic and family support services. Contact us with your requirements and speak to a member of our team who will help you today.
Make an Enquiry

Knowledge & Resources

Keep abreast of the latest news in the children's services sector.

A look back at 2022 with WillisPalmer's Head of Practice, Lucy Hopkins…

09/12/2022

2022 saw people trying to get back to some degree of normality following the Covid-19 lockdowns, restrictions and school closures that we had faced for the previous two years. However, the impact of Covid-19 continued and many services experienced, and continue to experience, backlogs and difficulties, including those services relating to children and families.

Social worker [...]
Read Full Story

John Lewis Christmas advert highlights important messages regarding foster care and looked after children

09/12/2022

Every year people are excited to see what the theme of the John Lewis & Partners Christmas advert will be. This year's advert reminded our Head of Practice, Lucy Hopkins, of all the times she arrived at the homes of foster carers with children or young people who were anxious, scared, worried and hungry, having just [...]

Read Full Story

The WillisPalmer Christmas Tree Decorating Competition 2022

09/12/2022
Who Wins..? You Decide!

We have two Christmas trees at the WillisPalmer office and this year the staff upstairs are going to compete with the staff downstairs to see who has the best decorated tree... and we want YOU to decide on the winner!

Tree 1 - Downstairs 

Tree [...]

Read Full Story

A Mackman Group collaboration - market research by Mackman Research | website design by Mackman

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram