Minister admits ‘unacceptable’ rise in children subject to Deprivation of Liberty orders

An education minister has admitted there has been an “unacceptable increase” in the number of children subject to Deprivation of Liberty orders.

These court orders allow a child to be deprived of their liberty for welfare, punishment or mental health reasons, with such children usually requiring a high level of care and supervision.

At least 1,000 of the most vulnerable children are now subject to Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) orders, with the number of applications for their use more than doubling between 2021 and 2023.

The children’s commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza, recently said that about half of children subject to an order were placed in unregistered or illegal provision.

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, now an education minister, told the House of Lords: “Three has been an unacceptable increase in the number of children subject to Deprivation of Liberty orders.

“And that is because there is not the often very specialised provision – regulated specialised provision – appropriate for them. And that’s why they need to have the order in order to place them in what is, essentially, unregulated provision.”

She emphasised that the Government intends to fix this by increasing the number of suitable care placements, with £90 million of additional investment to expand capacity and provision.

Lady Smith added that part of this work will be to find new forms of secure accommodation that can provide these children with the safe and high quality care they need.

Her comments came after Labour peer Lord Wood of Anfield called for “urgent action” to deal with the care of children subject to DoL orders, arguing: “The conditions under which some of these children are placed are really appalling.”

Shortcomings in the DoL system were exposed in a new government-sponsored analysis in which affected children spoke to the children’s commissioner’s team.

It found that a rising number of vulnerable youngsters with such orders were living in unsuitable accommodation, including AirBnbs, caravans and bedsits guarded by security guards.

These orders can involve the use of restraints, sedation and locks on doors, among other restrictions.

The issue was raised as peers in Westminster debated the Government’s planned wide-ranging reforms to children’s social care.

Peers across the House raised concerns about profiteering in the children’s care market, unregistered care providers, children being housed far away from home (45% placed out of area and 22% more than 20 miles from their home authority) and the issue of early intervention and preventative support for families.

Conservative peer Lord Balfe, who experienced care himself, argued that private companies should have no involvement in children’s social care at all.

He said: “I grew up in a children’s home, so I have a bit of knowledge about it. The system is broken, but not by the last government, it’s gradually been broken over 50 years…

“You cannot devolve compassion and you’ve got to get the private sector out of this business. There’s no other way forward.”

The former MEP told peers that those involved with children’s social care used to be “devoted to children, not devoted to profits”.

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Tyler of Enfield, meanwhile, suggested that care experience should be a protected characteristic.

She said: “Care-experienced children and young people have a much harder start in life and experience much worse outcomes.

“Liberal Democrats have called for care experience to be made a protected characteristic under the Equality Act to strengthen the rights of people who have been or are in care.”

She added: “With almost half of children in care now living out of area, and children still being placed in unregistered accommodation – even caravans and tents, I’m told, sometimes – coupled with the egregious levels of profiteering by some children’s residential home providers, I think clearly demonstrates a system in crisis, if not broken.

“I’m glad the Government are taking steps to address this, particularly requiring placement providers to share their finances transparently with government.”

Responding, Lady Smith said: “We are seeing profiteering in this market; the Competition and Markets Authority found profit levels of nearly 23% for the 15 largest children’s home providers.

“There is good provision in the private sector, there will still need to be provision in the private sector as we develop, but it is not appropriate competition for there to be a 23% profit level.

“The first solution to that is to increase the supply of placements, and this is where the £90 million is important – placements where we can use local authorities, where we can use the voluntary and charitable sector, where we can use ethical investors in order to do that.

“But we are not going to stand by if that message and that action does not provide the placements that are necessary and we continue to see the profiteering that is breaking the banks of local authorities when it comes to providing the care that people need and we will take action on that profiteering if necessary.”

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