’s homes subject to Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 (K2) on 31 March Source: SP9 respondents. England number is extrapolated from 123 local authority responses based on the proportion of the England population. Children’s home provision is very unevenly distributed across the country, with clusters in areas of higher deprivation and lower house prices. DCSs flagged that the trend has been driven by private care providers targeting cheap property and local labour. In March 2024, the North West had the most children’s homes (866) and places within them (2,823). Indeed, 25% of all mainstream children’s homes were in the North West of England (Ofsted, 2024c). By contrast, London had the fewest homes (220), and the South West region the fewest places (731) (Ofsted, 2024c). This uneven distribution results in too many children being placed a long way from their home area and relational networks. In some instances, out-of- area placements have been considered necessary to safeguard children from involvement with extra-familial harm and exploitation in their home area, or to meet specialist needs though there are evidence-informed critiques of this approach (Wroe et al., 2023). 11 In the Spring Budget 2024, an additional £165m was allocated to building and maintaining open and secure children’s homes as part of a public sector productivity drive. The money consisted of £45m in match funding for local authorities to build homes providing an additional 200 placements, and £120m for maintaining the children’s secure home network and rebuilding two of these homes. 4,803 5,582 6,029 6,277 6,928 7,432 8,739 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 2011–12 2013–14 2015–16 2017–18 2019–20 2021–22 2023–24 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6 Phase 7 Phase 8 