City MPs welcome £53m funding award to tackle illegal and unregulated children’s homes, including for young people in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes’ three Labour MPs have today welcomed £53m in additional funding from the Department of Education to create an additional two hundred placements in council-ran, high-quality children’s homes across the United Kingdom.

A shortage in appropriate placements for children and young people in recent years has led to a sharp increase in the number of children placed in illegally-operating and unregulated accommodation, with these placements costing councils across the country roughly £440m a year. Reports of individual placements costing more than a million pounds each have become disturbingly common, and many councils are forced to place children in accommodation far away from their homes, communities, and support networks.

This additional funding awarded by this Labour Government and announced last week by Janet Daby MP, the Minister for Children and Families, will help local authorities provide high-quality placements within their own boundaries for children with complex needs, and comes as part of an extra £2bn for the children’s care sector over the course of this Parliament.

Callum Anderson, Labour MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, said  “This is the difference a Labour government makes. We’re providing a roof over the heads of vulnerable children, and making sure they get the best start in life. I’m so pleased we’ve been awarded this local funding”.

Chris Curtis, Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, said  “Children and young people, already facing such challenging circumstances, shouldn’t be expected to dust themselves off and transport their lives hundreds of miles away, but that is the legacy of the previous Government. I am very pleased to see Milton Keynes receive a funding award to provide additional high-quality placements for children within our city, which will help give every child the chance they deserve”.

Emily Darlington, Labour MP for Milton Keynes Central, said “Many private providers of children’s accommodation turn young people in crisis into an opportunity to line their own pockets, sometimes skimming off more than a fifth of the cost of the placement as profit for themselves. This Government is cracking down on those cashing in on vulnerable young people and helping to ensure they aren’t dragged away from their existing support networks”.