About the platform
Neutral infrastructure for placement search
MyPlacementHub exists to give local authorities and registered care providers a shared, accurate and safeguarding-led view of placement availability — without changing who holds responsibility for the placement decision.
The challenge
Placement search still depends on informal information
Commissioning and brokerage teams are asked to find suitable provision quickly, often in urgent circumstances, while working from information that is fragmented across mailboxes, framework lists and spreadsheets that were accurate when they were written but not necessarily today.
Providers face the mirror image of the same problem. They receive repeated enquiries in inconsistent formats, frequently for placements they cannot offer, and spend time restating the same registration, age range and specialism information to every authority that contacts them.
The cost is measured in hours of skilled practitioner time, in delays at the point where a child or adult needs a placement, and in decisions being made from a narrower view of the market than is actually available.
No shared view
No single, current picture of who has availability today.
Repeated outreach
The same questions asked by phone and email, provider by provider.
Ageing information
Lists and spreadsheets that go out of date the moment they are circulated.
Pressure on urgent cases
Time lost precisely when the search matters most.
Why we built it
A utility, not a marketplace
MyPlacementHub was created because the missing piece was never a new intermediary — it was shared infrastructure. Existing brokerage models often sit between the authority and the provider and are funded by the placement itself, which introduces a commercial interest in the outcome of a search.
We took a deliberately different position. The platform earns nothing from a placement being made. It holds no view on which provider should be selected. Its only job is to make current, standardised, verified information available to the people already accountable for the decision.
That principle shapes every design choice: providers own and maintain their own records, registration status is shown as the regulator publishes it, ranking is never sold, and enquiries carry no child-identifiable information.
What we believe
- Placements work best when information is accurate and timely.
- Local authorities should not pay commission to see availability.
- Safeguarding and data minimisation are non-negotiable.
- Providers should own and control their own information.
- A neutral utility earns more trust than a marketplace.
- Accountability for the decision stays with the local authority.
Long-term vision
From a single hub to national placement visibility
We are building in stages, proving value with the Children's Placement Hub before extending the same infrastructure across the wider care system.
Stage one — now
Children's Placement Hub pilot
Live availability, verified provider records and structured enquiries with a pilot cohort of local authorities and verified participating providers.
Stage two
Four connected hubs
Young People's and Adult hubs on the same infrastructure, with Emergency operating as a cross-platform urgent availability layer rather than a separate database.
Stage three
Regional and system-level insight
Anonymised sufficiency and response reporting, and integration with case management systems so information flows without re-keying.
Our commitments
Safeguarding, neutrality and transparency
Safeguarding-first
No child-identifiable information at enquiry stage, role-based access and full time-stamped audit trails.
Neutral
No commission per placement, no paid ranking, no promotion of one provider over another.
Open
Available to local authorities and to verified participating providers of every size, including small and independent services.
Transparent
Registration status, ratings and the reasons a provider matched a search are all shown openly.
MyPlacementHub supports the placement search and enquiry process. It does not make, recommend or influence placement decisions — those remain entirely with the responsible local authority.
Join the pilot
Help shape the platform as we test the Children’s Placement Hub. Free for councils during the pilot.