Children's Placements 2024-25
Case reference FOI2026/00622
Received 12 March 2026
Published 10 April 2026
Request
Please provide the following information under the FOIA.
1/ Please provide the highest annual amount paid in the 2024/25 financial year for an individual child's placement in either children’s homes, unregulated homes or residential special schools?
Please state the nature of the placement e.g. children’s home. Please provide the total annual cost if the child has been placed in multiple placements.
Please include all costs including all care and education costs, per child placement.
2/ Please provide the highest weekly amount paid in the 2024/25 financial year for an individual child's placement in either children’s homes, unregulated homes or residential special schools? Please state the nature of the placement e.g. children’s home. Please include all costs including all care and education costs, per child placement.
3/ Please provide the highest weekly amount paid in the financial year up to the date this request is supplied - for an individual child's placement in either children’s homes, unregulated homes or residential special schools? Please state the nature of the placement e.g. children’s home. Please include all costs including all care and education costs, per child placement. If known, please provide any mitigating reasons for any high costs (e.g. 4-to-1 care) if you believe it to be relevant. Please provide the response in the response template, if possible.
If you are responding to this request on behalf of multiple local authorities, please provide data for all of them with a breakdown per local authority.
Response
Please provide the following information under the FOIA.
1/ Please provide the highest annual amount paid in the 2024/25 financial year for an individual child's placement in either children’s homes, unregulated homes or residential special schools? Please state the nature of the placement e.g. children’s home. Please provide the total annual cost if the child has been placed in multiple placements. Please include all costs including all care and education costs, per child placement.
A: Highest annual cost per child in 24/25 was £601,915.15. (Same child as below, same nature type)
2/ Please provide the highest weekly amount paid in the 2024/25 financial year for an individual child's placement in either children’s homes, unregulated homes or residential special schools? Please state the nature of the placement e.g. children’s home. Please include all costs including all care and education costs, per child placement.
A: Highest weekly cost per child in 24/25 was £11,697.94 (This is a split of £6,675 Residential & £2,682.94 Education & £2,340 Overnight Short breaks)
3/ Please provide the highest weekly amount paid in the financial year up to the date this request is supplied - for an individual child's placement in either children’s homes, unregulated homes or residential special schools? Please state the nature of the placement e.g. children’s home. Please include all costs including all care and education costs, per child placement.
If known, please provide any mitigating reasons for any high costs (e.g. 4-to-1 care) if you believe it to be relevant.
A: Highest current weekly cost is £11,944 in a Childrens Residential Home.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.