survey had either started developing their own children’s homes or had increased existing provision, and there are initiatives underway across the country to meet the sufficiency and resourcing challenges linked to residential provision for children in care. This requires joined up thinking and planning across health and social care plus significant capital and revenue funding. DCSs working towards opening their own children’s homes were investing through local authority capital programmes on an invest-to-save basis and forecasting revenue costs lower than market costs. Some intended to develop enough provision to sell places to other local authorities to help cover initial costs. One local authority worked with the local mental health trust to develop inpatient mental health support, a short-break residential home and an outreach service to try to keep some children out of hospital and support moves back home. Nevertheless, even with these additions, demand was still exceeding available provision. New local secure and semi-secure provision was seen to be meeting some needs and generating significant cost savings. An example given by an interviewee was of a reduction in costs from £1.2 million to £4,500 per year for one child, with significantly improved outcomes of stability, engagement in education and step down to foster care. Challenges to developing provision cited by research participants included delays as a result of the processes for Ofsted registration. The whole registration process with Ofsted is an absolute nightmare… it’s been taking 18 months to two years from purchasing properties to getting open… And the whole regulatory framework is just horrendous, and that creates a real risk. It’s not child focused. (DCS, County, North East Region) A number of DCSs 