New figures reveal rising numbers of children in unregulated care in East Sussex

The number of children placed into unregulated care by East Sussex County Council has more than tripled in the last four years, a freedom of information request has revealed. According to its own figures, the council’s use of unregulated care places for children and young people over the age of 16 – also known as semi-independent or supported accommodation – has risen year-on-year since 2016/17. While such places include a support element (unlike independent living), they are not regulated by Ofsted like residential children’s homes. The figures show the council placed a total of 63 children into unregulated care places in 2018/19; rising from 38 placements in 2017/18, 24 in 2016/17 and just 13 in 2015/16. Some of these children were placed outside of the county. According to the council, the rise in the use of these unregulated care places comes as it moves away from using other types of accommodation. An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: "In recent years there has been an increasing move towards placing young people in semi-independent accommodation, which is today seen as more appropriate and more beneficial than options such as B&B accommodation. "In this kind of accommodation, young people aged 16 and over – who may have been in care, homeless or at risk of homelessness – enjoy a degree of independence while still benefiting from the support of on-site staff. "We have rigorous procedures and checks in place to ensure young people are only placed with trusted local providers and that there is careful monitoring of the accommodation and the support they’re receiving." The increase in the council’s use of unregulated care places also comes alongside a sharp rise in the number of “missing episodes” involving those placed in their care. According to the council’s figures, the number of recorded missing person incidents involving children in unregulated care rose from three in 2015/16 to 72 in 2018/19. There were 50 in 2017/18 and just one in 2016/17. Many of these missing person incidents  – 35 in 2017/18 and 31 in 2018/19 – involved individuals considered to be “at risk” of child sexual exploitation, the council’s data shows. The council, however, says this increase reported is largely down to a change in the way such incidents are recorded. A county council spokesman said: "The increase in reported cases of young people missing is largely due to a change in police reporting categories. "When a young person has perhaps stayed out beyond their agreed time but we know where they are and are in contact with them, they would previously have been classed as ‘absent’ but now have to be recorded as ‘missing’. "By definition, any young person who has been in care, homeless or at risk of homelessness is at greater risk of child sexual exploitation, but we have robust, multi-agency responses in place to protect them. "There is no suggestion any of the young people referred to in these figures was exposed to sexual exploitation." The council’s use of unregulated care places was recently discussed by county councillors during a meeting of the people scrutiny committee. During the meeting, held on September 19, Bexhill North councillor Michael Ensor (Con) raised the topic in light of news reports that councils elsewhere in the UK had launched investigations into complex abuse allegations involving this form of accommodation. In response, Stuart Gallimore, the council’s director of children’s services, told councillors he believed the news reports had “muddied together” several different types of unregulated care places, which come under the banner of supported or semi-independent accommodation. Mr Gallimore said: "The thing that is particularly getting called out at the moment in the press is something called unregulated placements. "These are placements that aren’t children’s home. They are usually bespoke packages put together for one or two children, in properties that have been rented and put together just for that young person, because authorities have struggled to provide a care package because of that young person’s risks or difficulties they present. "What is sometimes being presented is that those packages are of poor quality and of standards that aren’t providing the level of care needed and those young people are disappearing, running off [and] continuing to put themselves at risk. "Done badly, it increases the risk to young people. Done correctly, in terms of having a good quality of wraparound support, it may be the difference between homelessness and having a bed for the night." Mr Gallimore added that councils only normally used such placements as a short term, last resort measure, “because there is literally no one and nowhere locally or anywhere else in the country, which is prepared to offer a place for that young person.” He also said East Sussex County Council’s use of such placements was “rare” and had been done with “a high standard of care”. (By Huw Oxburgh - Local Democracy Reporter)