Bedford Borough Council is spending up to £11,800 a week on unregistered homes as a foster carer shortage continues.
Children in Bedford Borough are being placed in unregistered residential homes and high-cost external care as the council struggles with a shortage of foster carers, a report to councillors has revealed.
A report presented to Bedford Borough Council’s Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Monday, January 26), examined placement sufficiency for children in care and growing budget pressures caused by a lack of family-based placements.
The report said there has been a 10 per cent decline in fostering households across England since 2021, and warns that without action, more vulnerable children will be placed in residential rather than foster care.
Read: Bedford Borough Council faces £59 million funding gap up to 2030
At the time the report was written, five children from across the Borough were living in unregistered residential placements.
All were subject to additional visiting requirements and monthly oversight by the service director while they remained in unregistered settings.
During the committee debate, members were told the position had already improved.
“That number is quite significantly different now,” Melanie Field, manager for corporate parenting, said, “We’re now working with three children who are in unregulated arrangements, which is a significant improvement.
“Two of those children, their registrations are going through with Ofsted in the providers that they’re in, and we continue to search for one.”
The report also highlighted steep cost increases in external care placements over the past year:
- Residential placements: from £5,991 to £8,299 per week
- Unregistered provision: from £9,903 to £11,809 per week
- Independent foster agency placements: from £941 to £1,045 per week
The report said in-house foster care placements cost an average of £433 per week.
Cllr Paul Edmonds (Green, Castle and Newnham) questioned whether such increases were sustainable.
Harmesh Bhogal, executive director for children, education and families, confirmed that cost trends were being built into budget planning, but acknowledged the scale of the challenge.
The report also said Bedford borough has 47 available in-house fostering households, providing capacity for 84 placements, but that approval terms, respite use and carers being temporarily on hold mean availability remains fluid.
Application drop outs
Since April 2025, while the council has approved nine new foster carer households, there were six resignations, resulting in a net increase of only three.
The report said resignations are not always a negative indicator, as they can occur, for example, when a child achieves permanence within their connected network through a Special Guardianship Order (kinship care).
Members heard that many potential foster carers drop out during the application process and that better analysis was needed.
The committee heard that the government will publish further details of proposed fostering reforms in early 2026, including consultation on expanding who can become foster carers and improving support for existing carers.
The report warned that if the council does not respond as planned, the situation is unlikely to change and may continue to escalate in terms of the number of children staying in residential settings.
Information on fostering in Bedford Borough can be found on the council’s website.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
