BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[Pblakeney]

The AI report BT posted was more or less the same as the FT article, which more or less tells me the source material is more or less the same (sorry to be all Tim Hartford about this).

But I still would like to know how this breaks down. I think it will include the costs to manage those placements in addition to the placements themselves, and so include a big chunk of local authority social work costs.

May as well go to the source then, although it doesn't give a cost breakdown.
"8 The cost of placing children in residential care has risen significantly in recent years. Between 2019-20 and 2023-24, local authority spending on looked-after children increased by 54% to £8.1 billion in 2023-24, £1.5 billion more than the annual budget. This contributed significantly to local authorities’ wider financial pressures. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of upper-tier councils identified spending across children’s services and education as the most substantial cause of short-term financial pressures in 2024. Most of the cost increase relates to residential care spend almost doubling to £3.1 billion, although the number of children in residential care increased by only 10% between March 2020 and March 2024. In 2023-24, local authorities spent an average of £318,400 per child in a children’s home, equivalent to £6,100 per week. The Local Government Association has identified placements costing up to £63,000 a week. DfE has described children’s social care as financially unsustainable (paragraphs 1.6, 1.12 and 1.14, and Figure 4)."

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Managing-childrens-residential-care-summary.pdf