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Hundreds of children in care placed out of county

Martin Heath,Hertfordshire political reporterand
Deborah Price,Local Democracy Reporting Service
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Some children are being sent to live as far away as Scotland

Almost 400 of Hertfordshire's looked-after children are sent to live outside the county, new figures show.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service says some are sent as far as rural Scotland and County Durham.

A Conservative councillor has called for action to "reduce reliance on long-distance placements".

Hertfordshire County Council said it was working hard to increase the number of placements within the county.

Figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show there were 393 looked-after children who were placed outside the county at the end of March 2026.

A total of 276 of those were placed in neighbouring counties such as Essex or Bedfordshire.

The remaining 117 were sent to areas further afield, sometimes as far as 280 miles away.

The five children who were furthest away were in rural Scotland, County Durham, Devon and Lancashire.

Getty Images An adult wearing glasses and a white top sits facing a child seated on a chair in a bright indoor room. The child is sitting with knees drawn up and hands clasped around the legs, while both look towards each other. The background is softly blurred, with shelves and household items visible.Getty Images
The county council says children on long-distance placements see their own social workers regularly

The Liberal Democrat-run county council said four of those youngsters were in specialist placements and the fifth was with a long-term foster carer.

The Become charity said that one in five looked-after children across the country were moved out of their home area.

It added: "When young people are suddenly thrown into an area they don't know and have to start a new life away from their family and friends and even people that look like them, it is extremely difficult."

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Councillor Paula Hiscocks says long-distance placements disrupt education and family contact

Paula Hiscocks, a Conservative councillor for Rickmansworth, said: "I understand cost matters but stability matters more, and children do better when supported close to home.

"Their families can visit, they can stay in the same schools if possible, and it's just the sheer numbers that have got me anxious."

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The Liberal Democrat-run council said children living a long way from the county were visited at least every four weeks by their own social workers.

It added that officials were undertaking a "significant amount of work" to increase places within the county and it would be spending £21m on 70 new residential places by September 2027.

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