Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children are in unregistered residential accommodation.

Any setting that is providing care and accommodation must register with Ofsted as a children’s home. If a setting is providing care and accommodation but is operating without Ofsted registration, they are operating illegally as an ‘unregistered’ children’s home. We do not collect national data on how many children in England are in unregistered settings offering care and accommodation.

Ofsted investigates notifications about potential unregistered children’s homes and in 2019/20 they undertook 250 investigations[1]. Of these, around a quarter should have been registered with Ofsted. Local authorities have a duty to ensure sufficient appropriate provision for the children they look after and that every looked-after child is placed in an appropriate care setting that meets their needs.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-annual-report-201920-education-childrens-services-and-skills/the-annual-report-of-her-majestys-chief-inspector-of-education-childrens-services-and-skills-201920.