Children's Home Placements

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the period 1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025 (or the most recent 12-month period for which data is available):

1) Children's Home Placements: The total number of children placed by your authority in independent (private or voluntary sector) Ofsted-registered children's homes during the period.

For each placement, please provide:

a) Ofsted registration category (e.g., EBD, LD, ASD, SEMH, solo placement, secure, crisis, DoLS)

b) Whether the placement was in-area or out-of-area

c) Weekly fee charged by the provider

d) Duration of placement (start and end dates, or ongoing)

2) Highest and Lowest Rates:

a) The highest weekly fee paid for a children's home placement during the period, and the type of provision it related to.

b) The lowest weekly fee paid for a children's home placement during the period, and the type of provision it relates to.

3) Average Rates: the average weekly fee for:

a) Standard EBD placements

b) Solo placements

c) DoLS or high-need therapeutic placements

4) Framework Information

a) Whether your authority uses a preferred provider framework for children's home placements, and if so, the name of the framework and lead organisation. 

I am not requesting any personal data that would identify individual children.

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.

1. The number of Lincolnshire children placed in independent sector Residential Care in the period indicated above was 58 in total. NB: in order to avoid the potential for identification of individual children, each placement is not referred to separately in responding to other questions in Q1

a. We do not record or identify placements according to any such categorisation.

b. Of the 58 placements, 26 were in Lincolnshire and 32 were outside of the boundaries of Lincolnshire.

c. The weekly fee can vary according to the level of support required at any given time linked to the needs of the individual child. The lowest weekly fee was £2,961, the highest was £23,362. The average weekly fee was £8,102 and the median was £7,000.

d. 25 of the 58 placements lasted the full period indicated above. A further 23 of the 58 were placed after the start of the period indicated above but were in the placement at the end of the period. Of the remaining 10 placements, the average length of stay was 147 days. The shortest stay was 14 days and the longest stay was 323 days.

2.a) Please see response 1c and 1a above.

b) Pls see response 1c and 1a above.

3a-c) Please see 1a above - placements are not recorded by such categorisation

4a) More information about Lincolnshire County Council's Children's Services Open Select List for Independent Sector placements, operated by Children's Commissioning, can be found at: https://professionals.lincolnshire.gov.uk/children%E2%80%99s-commissioning