Children's Social Care Placements not Registered with OFSTED

Please provide the following details for the period October 2024 to October 2025.


1. Number of unregulated placements - How many children's social care placements were made in accommodation or provisions that are not registered with OFSTED during this period

2. Total expenditure - What was the total cost incurred by the council for these unregulated placements during the same period?

3. Number of providers - How many different providers were used to procure these unregulated placements?

4. Frameworks and due diligence processes - Please provide the names of any frameworks and/or describe the due diligence processes used to assess or procure these providers.
 

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. 4 placements were made during this timescale; of the 4 placements, 2 were registered with CQC rather than Ofsted and 1 placement later became registered with Ofsted on 02/09/2025.

2. £1,356,470.93

3. 3 providers

4. All Independent Placements for Lincolnshire County Council’s Children’s Services are commissioned through the Open Select List, see lcc-children-s-services-provider-guide-to-the-open-select-list-2025-

Where an unregulated placement is made the following additional mitigations are put in place, alongside the compliance checks set out in the link above:

•            References sought prior to placement (part of self-assessment too)

•            Internal risk assessments alongside provider risk assessments

•            Weekly meetings & visits

•            Sight & review of policies around safeguarding, recruitment, BCP

•            Requests for key contacts for safeguarding