Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the period 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025 (or the most recent 12-month period for which data is available):
1. Children’s Home Placements
* The total number of children placed by your authority in independent (private or voluntary sector) Ofsted-registered children’s homes during the period.
* For each placement, please provide:
* Ofsted registration category (e.g., EBD, LD, ASD, SEMH, solo placement, secure, crisis, DoLS)
* Whether the placement was in-area or out-of-area
* Weekly fee charged by the provider
* Duration of placement (start and end dates, or ongoing)
79 total Children placed in independent Ofsted Registered Children’s Homes during Period.
Specific details of each placement, including whether the placement was in area or out of area and the fees and the duration of placement would risk identifying the placement and, subsequently, the child concerned. This would therefore be a breach of the first data protection principle and this information is therefore exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
2. Highest and Lowest Rates
* The highest weekly fee paid for a children’s home placement during the period, and the type of provision it related to.
* The lowest weekly fee paid for a children’s home placement during the period, and the type of provision it relates to.
Highest Weekly Rate: £22,470.00
Lowest Weekly Rate: £5,085.63
3. Average Rates: the average weekly fee for:
* Standard EBD placements
* Solo placements
* DoLS or high-need therapeutic placements
Disclosure of this information would prejudice ongoing negotiations in relation to new contracts in 2025 where a fee model is being introduced to older people’s care homes.
If we were to publish the amounts paid to each care home, then it is commercially sensitive for the care homes involved in the new model.
Whilst we of course need to be open and transparent with public funds detailing amounts paid to each care home is not helpful nor appropriate especially as in some cases where a single care package is commissioned it in effect publishes the cost of that package.
Whilst we have acknowledged the need to be open and transparent, it is nonetheless in the public interest for this information to be withheld pursuant to section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
4. Framework Information
* Whether your authority uses a preferred provider framework for children’s home placements, and if so, the name of the framework and lead organisation.
Peninsula Framework and Devon County Council is the Lead Authority