Councils in court over placements

Two English councils are being taken to court by the Commission for
Social Care Inspection for using unregistered emergency children’s
placements, chief inspector David Behan confirmed this week.

Behan said that an inspection in March revealed that a provider was
running an unregistered children’s service and that two councils,
who cannot be named at this stage, were placing children with it,
despite knowing that it was unregistered.

“We are taking the provider to court for running an unregistered
service and the councils for aiding and abetting this offence,”
Behan said. “We have also taken action to stop this situation from
recurring with a chief inspector’s letter being sent to all
directors of social services reminding them of their duty to check
that services are appropriately registered before placements are
made.”

Behan said that children should not be placed with people who were
not registered “because of the potential risks”.

“Children require the same protection in emergencies as when their
placements are planned. If a council regularly has difficulties
securing local emergency placements, then plans should be made to
develop local emergency provision,” he said.