Claim councils are "recruiting sergeants" for "county lines" provokes angry response from directors of children’s services

Councils bear an inadvertent responsibility for the growth of ‘county lines’ drugs gangs by placing looked after children outside their home area, a report has claimed.

That message has infuriated the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults said children placed by councils outside their own area were at heightened risk of being recruited into crime including ‘county lines’ drug dealing.

Its report No Place at Home said the Department for Education should develop an emergency action plan to significantly reduce the number of out of area placements.

This would require the Government to accept responsibility for ensuring sufficient local placements are available to meet the needs of looked after children.

It also called for unregulated semi-independent accommodation for children to be regulated and inspected and for every out of area placement decision to be backed by evidence that the child will be kept safe, with children consulted before any such move.

Group chair Anne Coffey, Independent Group for Change MP for Stockport, said local authorities “are unwittingly becoming recruiting sergeants for ‘county lines’ gangs by placing so many children far away from home”.

She said its inquiry had heard that risks faced by children increased when moved away from their home area and they “become magnets for paedophiles and ‘county lines’ drugs gangs, who find them easier to exploit because they are isolated from family, friends and social workers.

But Rachel Dickinson, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “The suggestion in this report that local authorities are acting as ‘recruiting sergeants’ [for county lines], is wholly inappropriate and we are in dialogue with the report authors directly.”

Ms Dickinson said placing children close to their community, family and friends was preferable but there could be good reasons for a more distant placement where there were safety concerns or needs that could not be met locally.

She said: “Any increase in the number of out of area placements must be viewed in the context of a 24% increase in the number of children in our care over the past decade, a shortage of foster carers and placements in residential children’s homes, as well as a mismatch between the location of these placements and need.”

The ADCS would “strongly caution against the view that all young people in out of area placements or unregulated provision are badly placed or left without support”, Ms Dickinson added.

But the report said councils might be inadvertently opening up new ‘county lines’ operations because relocating children, who have been groomed to sell heroin and crack cocaine, can create opportunities for criminals to expand their reach into rural areas.

It said more than 70% of police forces said placing children out of area increased their risk of exploitation.

The APPG said that as of 31 March 2018, there were 30,670 out of 75,420 looked after children placed outside their home local authority areas, equivalent to 40% and up from 35% in March 2012.

Teresa Heritage, vice chairman of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Placing children outside of their home area is always a decision [councils] take seriously and may be needed to give them a new beginning away from abuse or neglect; for their own safety; to break gang affiliation, or to place them near other family members or to access specialist services.

“However, increasing numbers of older children are coming into care. As they are more likely to need accommodation in children’s homes, this is placing significant pressure on places. Most children’s homes are now also privately owned and concentrated in areas where accommodation is cheapest.”

Mark Smulian