REPORT- Commonweal report sheds light on illegal, unregistered Children’s Homes

Written By Rachael Bishop

Commonweal Housing has published a report, written by researchers at Public First, investigating the growing use of unregistered children’s homes in the UK, and the drivers for their increased use.

They commissioned the research after hearing concerns about decommissioned supported housing facilities being put to use as unregistered (and therefore illegal) residential children’s care homes.

The use of illegal Children’s Homes has grown enormously, and is poorly understood:

  • Cases of unregistered children’s homes (UCH) rose by more than 370% between 2020/21 and 2024/25.

  • Some individual placements are costing up to £40,000 per week.

  • Senior practitioners describe unregistered placements moving from something they might see “once every six months” to something that crosses their desk “at least once a week”. These cases tend to involve extremely vulnerable children with complex needs.

Read more here

Rachael Bishop
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