Vulnerable children placed in caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, with children’s commissioner saying practice must stop
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 shocking new 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 a new report.
The 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.
Private companies have been accused of charging local governments “exorbitant” fees to look after children in unsuitable settings when a bed in an Ofsted-inspected children’s home or fostering placement cannot be found. According to the report, it was “not unusual” for for-profit providers, which operate more than 80% of child residential homes in England, to charge £20,000-£40,000 a week for each child.
