Determining the Optimum Supply of Children’s Residential Care

The purpose of this review is to inform DCSF and Local Authority policy-making.

The scope of the project was to undertake primary and desk-based research to estimate the optimal level of provision of places in registered children's residential care homes in England, and to gain insight into the children's residential care market.

Additionally, through a series of interviews with partners, the department wished to understand the key factors underlying how the available supply and demand differ. Factors that were shown to affect supply and demand included the need for capacity to handle emergency placements and placement breakdowns, to provide choice and a range of provision to meet individual needs, and to place children within geographic proximity to their homes when possible.
 
The Deloitte model demonstrates that there is an excess supply of placements nationally; validates that local authorities are more likely to be able to meet needs and reduce costs if they consider placements over a wider area, and illustrates the trade-off between distance, needs and cost.