A children’s housing charity has seen a council contract worth more than £8.5m cancelled just months into a seven-year term after the local authority “lost confidence” in the service it was providing.
St Christopher’s Fellowship, which offers residential care, fostering, supported housing and specialist support services for vulnerable children and young people in care, was last year awarded a Croydon Council contract worth £8.6m for the provision of children’s residential services at the Precious House children’s home in Croydon.
Precious House is designed to provide care for up to four children and St Christopher’s began its operations there in March, the charity said.
But the council last month published a report announcing it had terminated the contract because “concerns about the delivery of Precious House were identified soon after commencement of the service”.
The council said: “A key factor resulting in these recommendations has been the outcomes experienced by children placed at Precious House.
“All children had moved from stable arrangements, where they had remained for several months, into situations that subsequently resulted in placement breakdowns and/or hospital admissions.
“Despite efforts to work with the provider to improve practice, the situation has deteriorated to the extent that reasonable steps to address the concerns are no longer considered viable or effective and confidence in the ability of the provider to deliver the service is lost.”
In a statement, St Christopher’s Fellowship, which had an income of £16.3m in the year to the end of March 2025, said it strongly disputed “a number of” the assertions in the council’s report.
Jonathan Whalley, chief executive of St Christopher’s Fellowship, has formally raised these matters with the council and set out where the charity believed the report was “inaccurate and lacks proper context”, the charity said.
St Christopher’s Fellowship said it had been waiting for a response for “almost three weeks”.
The charity said: “We are also mindful that a recent Ofsted visit did not openly highlight any major concerns and can confirm that the official report rated the service as good in all areas.
“It highlighted that ‘staff promote a warm and welcoming environment for children’ and that ‘children’s health needs are addressed well’ and ‘children receive coordinated support that promotes their safety and wellbeing’.”
The council report said Precious House had not had a permanent registered manager since the charity’s registration and service commencement.
“Recruitment and retention of staff have been of significant concern, contributing both to delays in service delivery and to the deterioration of the emergency accommodation provision,” the report said.
In response, the charity said it has had a registered manager in place since registration and “does not accept” the suggestion that staffing levels prevented the service from operating effectively.
“The home was staffed from the outset, supported where necessary through our wider workforce arrangements,” the charity said.
“Where concerns were raised during weekly dialogue with our commissioners, St Christopher’s responded constructively, listened to feedback and put actions in place to address areas identified for improvement.
“We also sought to work collaboratively with the council to find solutions and support the best outcomes for the children in our care.”
The charity said there had been a “number of successful outcomes for young people” in the home.
“Those joining the home have typically done so as a result of a previous placement breakdown, or the need to be transitioned from unregulated services to this new regulated service,” the charity said.
In response to the charity’s chief executive, a spokesperson for Croydon Council said it ended its contract after “identifying poor standards of care within the first two months of its opening”.
The spokesperson said: “We are hugely disappointed that the care provided fell below the standards expected.
“The welfare and safety of the children and young people in our care remain our priority, and we are supporting those affected while suitable alternative arrangements are being made.
“The home is not currently accepting new referrals and Ofsted has been informed of these changes.”