Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this.
In the Guardian today:
Ministers must get to grips with the “national scandal” of England’s shadow child social care system, the children’s commissioner has warned, as a report reveals the number of children in unregulated settings has increased by more than 370% in five years.
Some of the most vulnerable children in England are being temporarily placed in unregulated caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, which risk the “accumulation of increasing levels of harm for children who have already faced enough distress for several lifetimes”, according to the report.
Analysis of Ofsted data has shown that cases of unregistered homes in England increased from 144 in 2020-21 to 680 in 2024-25, which experts say is likely to be an underestimation of the true figure, according to the policy analysts at Public First, who conducted the research for the charity Commonweal Housing. The Care Standards Act 2000 legally requires all children’s homes to be registered with Ofsted.
There is no mention of the situation in Scotland and were it to be the case here, we can be sure that the MSM operating in Scotland and BBC Scotland, would be all over it.
However, here’s what matters. From Care Inspectorate Scotland:
All residential care for children operating in Scotland must be registered with the Care Inspectorate and we undertake a robust registration process prior to the opening of any new service.
This emphasises a “robust registration process” before any new service opens, with powers for enforcement, improvement notices, or court action (including emergency cancellation of registration) if risks arise. There is no evidence of unregistered provision, unlike in England.
This is only one of many inadequacies, across care, health, education and policing that we have highlighted here. This one reminds me of:
There is evidence from official inquiries, government reviews, and specific cases that inadequate staffing, qualifications, training, and oversight in children’s homes contributed in part to the vulnerability of children in care and the failures to protect them from grooming gangs (group-based child sexual exploitation, or CSE) in places like Rotherham, Rochdale, and elsewhere.
In Scotland, staff working in children’s homes (known as “care homes for children and young people” or “residential child care services”) who perform relevant care and support roles are required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). This is a mandatory professional registration system, unlike the situation in England where there is no equivalent compulsory registration for most children’s home care staff.
https://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/guidance/workforce-registration-with-sssc
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