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Children: Care Homes

Question for Department for Education

UIN 25586, tabled on 21 January 2025

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to local authorities is of housing children in privately run children's homes.

Answered on

29 January 2025

The department publishes data on local authority expenditure on looked after children. This data is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure#explore-data-and-files.

The department does not hold data on the cost to local authorities of housing children in privately run children’s homes. In total, local authorities spent £8.1 billion on looked after children in 2023/24, including £3.1 billion on residential care.