Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Department for Education’s announcement on children in care living in unregulated accommodation, said:
“Banning the use of unregulated accommodation for under 16s and new national standards for unregulated accommodation that require registration with Ofsted are long overdue. I have heard horror stories about very vulnerable children being left to stay in completely inappropriate and sometimes very risky places, often miles away from the place they know as home.
“The Government should now go further to make sure every child growing up in care lives in high quality accommodation that suits their needs. This will require financial support for councils so they can grow their own good local provision for children in their local areas.
“Alongside these urgent changes, I want to see a thorough and independent review of the children’s care system as quickly as possible.”