Some children in care in Cambridgeshire are still being placed in unregulated children’s homes, despite a government ban.

All providers of accommodation for children in care or care leavers up to the age of 18, are required to be regulated by Ofsted.

Children’s homes registered with Ofsted are inspected by the regulatory body, which can take action if required standards are not being met.

However, Cambridgeshire County Council said it is still having to place some children in unregulated homes as there is nowhere else for them to go.

Martin Purbrick, executive director for children, education and families, told councillors at a children and young people committee meeting this week (October 8), that for the last seven months there has been between four and six children living in unregulated placements.

He said these children are “displaying extremely challenging behaviour” and due to the complexity of their care need between four and five carers looking after them at any given moment.

Mr Purbrick said the problem was being caused due to a national shortage of welfare secure beds, with on average 50 to 60 children waiting for each place on any given day.

He said: “In order to make sure we look after children safely we must find an arrangement for them, whether there is a regulated placement or not.

“We can’t let them sleep on the streets, or in placements where we just do not know where they are, or with people we don’t know who they are.

“We need to create placements along with partners that can provide a good level of care, but those arrangements are extremely expensive.”

Mr Purbrick added that the authority searches on a daily and weekly basis for regulated placements for those young people.

He highlighted the county council’s plans to open new children’s homes within Cambridgeshire to offer places for children with complex care needs.

He said: “We are constantly looking for regulated settings for those young people and part of our residential strategy is to address some of that need.

“Hopefully over the next 12 months we will have some resources that we can use for those children, bringing them back into our accommodation, in our county, in regulated settings overseen by Ofsted.”

Councillor Samantha Hoy raised concerns about whether there was enough oversight of the unregulated placements where some children are living.

Mr Purbrick stressed that despite the children being in unregulated homes that “there is an awful lot of oversight”.

He said: “We have the oversight of the courts in those placements, we have a Deprivation of Liberty (DOL) order where we specify what the arrangements are for those children and the court oversees that arrangement.

“The DOLs in place means that we are able to plug the gap if you like while we find a registered placement.

“The expectation from Ofsted, and we work closely with those partners, is where someone is looking after a child in a setting that is unregulated, and we have got examples of this right now, they apply for registration whilst looking after the child.

“It would still be considered unregulated until they have achieved that, we have got a number of examples where that is happening at the moment.

“The DOLs in place are a necessity, we really do not want to use any unregulated placements, we want the certainty and safety of a regulated setting for all of our Cambridgeshire children.”

Mr Purbrick added that children in unregulated settings are visited on a more regular basis by the authority.

He also explained that the county council notifies Ofsted when it places a child in an unregulated home and provides updates to the regulator.

Mr Purbrick said the county council will and has moved children from an unregulated setting if the child is not getting the correct care.

Councillor Anna Bradnam also highlighted the county council’s decision to use empty houses it owns to open new children’s homes within the county.

She said it was not an easy process but said the authority was doing what it could.

Cllr Bradnam added that she was reassured by the explanation given by Mr Purbrick about the monitoring of these placements to make sure they are working.