Councils in Wales placed looked-after children in unregistered care settings more than 200 times in the last two-and-a-half years, figures show.

Local authorities place some children in residential care. Most of the time homes are registered with regulator Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW). Sometimes councils have to put together improvised arrangements, usually for young people with more complex needs, due to a shortage of suitable provision. Homes in these instances are unregistered.

Unregistered settings don’t mean children there aren’t appropriately looked after, but CIW say they lack safeguards that come with being registered and also constitute an offence. Children living there may have limited school opportunities and also have to move to another setting, causing further disruption.

A freedom of information request by the Children’s Homes Association (CHA) revealed there were 218 placements in unregistered settings by Wales 22 councils between 1 January, 2022, and 12 June, 2024.

Welsh Government plans to eliminate profit from the care of looked-after children. The independent sector fear proposed legislation could lead to a major disruption of provision because of private operators pulling out of Wales. Welsh Government does not believe private profits should be made from children’s care, and said it was giving councils millions of pounds to increase in-house residential and foster care capacity.