CHILDREN’S rights campaigners urged Education Secretary Gavin Williamson today to extend his new ban on children being placed in unregulated care accommodation to those aged 16 and 17.

It was announced by the Department for Education (DfE) that the ban for children under 16 will come into force in September, after Mr Williamson launched a consultation on the issue last year.

The consultation was launched after the death of Jacob Andrew Bates, a 17-year-old from Derbyshire who took his own life in 2017 while he was in an unregulated care setting. He had autism and suffered from mental health issues.

The coroner Peter Nieto wrote that he did not find any “causal or contributory connection between the unregulated placement and his death.”

But he expressed “serious concern” over Jacob being placed in an unregulated placement as he had a history of repeated self-harm.

Under the new ban, teenagers the same age as Jacob could still find themselves being put into unregulated care placements.

Article 39, a charity that campaigns for the rights of children in institutional settings in England, said it was “bitterly disappointed” with the exclusion of children aged 16 and 17 from the ban. 

Statistics from the DfE suggest that 660 children under the age of 16 were placed in unregulated settings — in hostels, flats, caravans, barges, and even tents — across the year 2018-19.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, reported last year that about 12,800 younger and older teenagers in total had spent some time living in unregulated settings during 2018-19.

She has called for the ban on unregulated accommodation to be extended to include older teenagers, warning that 17-year-olds can be “easy prey” for people who abuse or exploit children.

Labour shadow minister for children and early years Tulip Siddiq said: “After a year of consultation, the government still hasn’t realised that most looked after children in unregulated accommodation are over 15.

“Their proposed solution is yet another sticking plaster that won’t address the problem.”

The DfE has said independent or semi-independent provision can be the right option for some older children where it is high quality.

Ministers are also expected to introduce national standards for unregulated accommodation, which are currently not inspected by Ofsted.

Ms Longfield said that “at the heart of these problems is a chronic shortage of residential provision for children in care.”

Mr Williamson has said that plans will be “developed” to support local authorities in creating more children’s home places, but he did not mention any funding plans.