Biggest independent children’s care providers in England made £300m profit last year

The number of children in care is at its highest level since before the pandemic, with 82,170 looked-after children in England. Photograph: Tricia de Courcy Ling/The Observer

The biggest independent providers of children’s care in England made profits of more than £300m last year, as concern mounts over the conditions that some children are being placed in and the spiralling costs for councils.

Fee income for the 20 largest operators of independent children’s care totalled £1.63bn last year, a 6.5% increase on the previous year. And 19% of that – £310m – was recorded as profit, according to an independent analysis. Half of the top 20 providers have some private equity or sovereign wealth fund ownership.