Lewisham Council has approved funding for a new Lewisham children’s home at 200 Kirkdale in Sydenham, which will be the first of its kind in the borough for several decades. The five-to-six-bed home will provide residential care for up to six young people with complex needs, the council confirmed in a decision record issued this week.
The Lewisham children’s home decision
The capital investment to buy, refurbish and operate the home was signed off on Wednesday 16 September, following an agreement by the Mayor and Cabinet earlier this month to bring children’s residential care back in-house. Council decision records describe 200 Kirkdale — a large property in the SE26 area — as the site of the borough’s first council-run children’s home in decades.
The move marks a significant shift in how Lewisham cares for its looked-after children. According to council papers discussed earlier this year, the borough is currently entirely dependent on the external market for residential placements, with no council-operated provision of its own. The new home is the first stage of a longer-term plan to change that.
Why the council says it is needed
Figures published alongside the decision lay bare the pressures on the borough’s children’s social care system. Lewisham currently has 51 children in residential care, but only around a quarter of them are placed within the borough — the rest are placed with providers elsewhere, often miles from home.
Those placements are expensive. Residential care costs the council nearly £30 million a year, with individual placements for young people with the most complex needs costing more than £10,000 a week in some cases.
Cabinet Member for Children, SEND, Youth Empowerment and Culture, Cllr Rotimi Skyers, said the home was about giving children in care stability as well as a place to live. “Every child deserves to feel safe. But for a child in care, that safety often comes with disruption. Being moved around can be deeply unsettling, and children deserve more than placement roulette,” he said.
He added that keeping young people close to home matters: “It is a safe space for up to six young people with complex needs to feel supported and thrive,” with children able to keep their local connections, schools and friendships.
‘This isn’t simply about saving money’
The council has been clear that the move was about care quality as much as cost. Skyers acknowledged the financial argument — council-run homes are expected to cost less over time than relying on expensive private placements — but said money was not the driving force.
“We have a responsibility to use public money wisely. But this decision isn’t simply about saving money. It is about investing in our children,” he said.
The cabinet member has described the home as a landmark: “First in decades.”
What happens next
Three steps must be completed before the first child can move in. The building at 200 Kirkdale needs to be refurbished, care staff must be recruited, and the home must be registered with Ofsted, the regulator for children’s homes.
The home also sits within a wider programme of reform. A Children and Young People Sufficiency Strategy — the council’s plan for making sure there are enough of the right kinds of placements for children in care — is due to go before the Children and Young People Select Committee for scrutiny.
The wider picture
Lewisham is not alone in facing a crisis in children’s residential care. Across England, local authorities have become heavily reliant on private providers, with costs rising sharply and many children placed far from home.
The government has acknowledged the problem. In November 2024, the Department for Education announced a capital programme offering 50 per cent match funding to local authorities to develop provision for children with complex mental health needs and challenging behaviour between 2025 and 2029.
Lewisham’s own papers show the council began developing a plan for council-owned children’s homes as part of that picture, with the Kirkdale property now the first to be taken forward. If successful, the council has indicated further homes could follow.
About this story: LondonStreets verified the facts above against Lewisham Council decision records and council papers, as reported by News Shopper and MyLondon in September 2026. Quotes are from public statements by Cllr Rotimi Skyers, Lewisham’s Cabinet Member for Children, SEND, Youth Empowerment and Culture.
