Children in Kent were placed in unregulated homes more than 1,000 times in three years, more than anywhere else in the country.

The shocking figure was revealed by Kent County Council in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Guardian.

The newspaper is investigating the alarming number of children in care who are sent to illegal or unregulated accommodation increasingly frequently.

Cuts to social services and a lack of available housing means vulnerable under 18s frequently find themselves in the care of facilities that are either not regulated by inspectorate Ofsted or registered with the body.

The practice has been linked to an increased risk of sexual exploitation and becoming caught up in county lines drug dealing, with 80% of 41 police forces in the country expressing concern about unregulated homes.

On one occasion a girl who had been sexually exploited was housed with a perpetrator of sexual exploitation.

Of 109 councils which responded to the FOI requests, Kent recorded 452 placements in 2016-17, 312 the following year and 326 in 2018-19.

"This is another example of managing a crisis not finding a solution to a crisis. These children deserve better from us all..." – Anne Longfield, children's commissioner

Sarah Hammond, the director of children’s social services at Kent county council, told the paper its commissioning team undertook its own inspections of accommodation for looked-after children before contracts were signed.

She added: “We pay for quite a substantial amount of support – some young people in these places are having upwards of 35 hours of support each week."

The investigation found overall the number of placements in unregulated homes rose by 22% to just under 6,000 over the three year period, meaning despite recording high figures Kent bucked the national trend.

The number of placements involving unregistered also increased from 129 to 212 nationally.

“We don’t see councils doing this to save money, we see councils doing this because they have tried. They are really caught between a rock and a hard place..." – Yvette Stanley, Ofsted

Children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said placing children in unregulated homes was “simply unacceptable”.

She added: “I understand that there is a serious shortage of accommodation for older children in care but on their behalf we should never accept anything less than genuinely high-quality caring places that would pass appropriate levels of scrutiny. This is another example of managing a crisis not finding a solution to a crisis. These children deserve better from us all.”

While Ann Coffey, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for runaway and missing children said the situation was "a national scandal.”

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s national director for social care, said an increase in the number of young people needing supported accommodation due to a fall in those sent to young offenders institutes or mental health facilities coupled with a lack of homes meant people were opening up facilities to meet the need.

She added: “We don’t see councils doing this to save money, we see councils doing this because they have tried. They are really caught between a rock and a hard place. But children’s homes should be registered and supported lodgings should be of a standard that we would expect for young people moving to independence.”

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