Bristol City Council admits breaking rules over children in care
A spokesperson says the authority is being "transparent" about the situation
Last updated 22nd Jul 2024
Ofsted is said to be considering a “full criminal investigation” after Bristol City Council admitted illegally putting children in care into unregistered homes.
Eight vulnerable youngsters looked after by the local authority are currently living in placements that are not regulated by Ofsted, which is against the law.
The children’s services watchdog has written to the authority ordering it to either ensure the homes are registered or remove the children.
A report to the council’s audit committee on Monday, July 22, said: “There are currently eight children living in unregistered placements and due to the current number of children in care with high needs and placement sufficiency we are unlikely to be able to reduce this to nil children in the short term so the legal risk and risk to children remains.”
An internal audit report said: “Unregistered provision is when a child who is being provided with some form of ‘care’ is living somewhere that is not registered with Ofsted.
“This is illegal; Ofsted have served the council with letters confirming the illegal action and instructing that the home is registered, or the child be removed, and a full criminal investigation will be considered.”
The council says it has kept Ofsted informed and been transparent about the “difficult decisions” it has to make about placing its 767 looked-after children in care and that the lack of availability of regulated placements has been an issue for years.
A “deep dive” report to the committee said: “Within the current national context there may be no other option but to place a child in unregistered provision.”
The internal audit report said: “Internal Audit acknowledge the difficulties the council faces in finding registered provision particularly in emergency circumstances and also note staff’s clear commitment to placing children in the most appropriate accommodation available.”
Among 14 “key weaknesses” the auditors found no evidence of a visit to a property before the child’s placement for four of the five youngsters the team investigated and that visits by social workers had not been recorded.
The report said records did not retain the full process for keeping the children in unregistered provision, including for how long.
It said: “Two of the five children sampled by Internal Audit had been living in an unregistered provision since March 2022 and June 2022.
“No evidence was provided to show that officers are following a formal documented procedure for quality assurance visits.
“Visits were carried out by different officers and may therefore be inconsistent.
“Weekly network/risk management meetings were not held until the first child in care review for one child.
“The Ofsted update document was inaccurate; the start date for two children’s placement start date was incorrect, the address and date provided for a child did not correlate
“One of the unregistered provisions received a letter from Ofsted confirming that the home did not meet the requirements to register the home under the children’s home regulation following their Ofsted inspection.
“The council had not commenced a search for a registered placement following the application being rejected.
“There were no limitations in place for the cost of unregistered provisions; the total cost will be unknown due to the uncertainty in length of placement.
“Evidence could not be found of a risk assessment undertaken for one of five children sampled.”
An officer’s report to the meeting said: “Plans are in place to increase our number of homes for children in local children homes from 14 children to 36 children.
“These homes are planned to provide places for our children with the most complex needs. who are often the children cared for in unregistered placements.”
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “We have kept Ofsted informed and been transparent with them about the difficult decisions we sometimes must make about the placement of our children in care.
“Challenges with the availability of regulated placements has been an issue for a number of years.
“The care of our children is a top priority for the council and we will continue to co-operate and provide Ofsted with any information they request in this matter.
“We accept the findings of the internal audit report and are on track to deliver all of the management recommendations, including our commitment to review and improve our quality assurance practices.”
Ofsted said it did not comment on individual local authorities.
But it said: “In 2021, local authorities were banned from placing children under the age of 16 years in unregulated provision.
“However, this is not a criminal offence.
“Ofsted can only prosecute someone for the offence of providing children’s social care without registration – meaning the providers themselves, not the local authority who placed the child.
“To clarify, unregistered provision refers to children’s social care services that must register with Ofsted, by law, but have not done so.
“Unregulated provision is a service that does not require to be registered with anyone.
“In 2021, supported accommodation was not regulated and was known as unregulated provision.
“Ofsted started to regulate supported accommodation from April 2023, meaning providers are now required to register with Ofsted.
“Since Ofsted started regulating supported accommodation provision, there is little if any unregulated social care provision for children in England.”
A report to audit committee said Ofsted found that nationally 91 per cent of local authorities had difficulty in finding suitable homes for children with complex needs.
It said: “Bristol has seen a progressively increasing rate of children in care over the past 18 months. As of May 2024, there are 769 children in care.”