But the council had no choice, he insisted. He had a statutory duty to find this teenager a safe place to live after a judge placed him on a “deprivation of liberty order” (DOL). These orders allow a child to be locked up because they are considered a serious danger to themselves or others or their life is in danger from criminal gangs. Orders are increasingly used to keep children in unregistered settings, such as rented flats or houses, because there is no place for them in a secure children’s home. Julie Moss, Knowsley’s director of children’s services, said she took a “sharp breath” after receiving the offer and then asked for a cost breakdown of how it could cost so much to house a vulnerable child. While he insisted he was not advocating profiteering, he said costs soon add up for providers looking after the most vulnerable children, who may need four carers around the clock. The £49,680-a-week placement, which started earlier this year, was to provide ‘tier 3.5’ support to a very troubled young person. This support offers intensive services provided in the community, which can act as a bridge between a hospital and community services, with the aim of preventing the need for admission or facilitating a quicker exit to the community. Moss said she reviewed the placement “weekly, sometimes daily” and that it had since dropped to £24,000 a week. It’s a lot of money in a council where money is tight. Knowsley saw a 50% cut in central government funding from 2010 to 2020, a loss of £100m, and Harvey estimated that one child could use 8% of the £31m total children’s services budget. Harvey said: “Costs have gone up… I’m not just making that general point, in terms of inflation. But I think part of the competition in this market means that basically a provider can charge whatever they want and it may or may not be related to the cost of the child’s care.” He said other local authorities were facing similar bills but that the issue was “possibly exaggerated here because of the extreme poverty of some of our families”. Knowsley is the second local authority with income deprivation, after Middlesbrough. Finding special placements is really hard, Moss said. “When we’re looking for care, certainly specialist care, our commissioners can contact up to 400 providers. And you might get one or two that will pay you back. You can search up and down the country.” He added: “At the end of the day in social care, your job is to make what we would call ‘defensible decisions’. To stand up in a court of law and say, “Sorry, your honor, we couldn’t afford that placement,” I would suggest was probably not a defensible decision because you have to meet that person’s needs. New person.”
