Private equity owns 11 of England’s 20 biggest children’s care providers, research finds

The ‘big four’ independent fostering agencies have paid more than £200m from taxpayers to shareholders in interest payments since 2020. Photograph: Toru Hanai/Reuters

Private equity companies and sovereign wealth funds now own or partly own 11 of the 20 largest providers of fostering and children’s homes in England, as calls to ban “obscene” profit-making in children’s care grow.

An investigation by the thinktank Common Wealth found the “big four” independent fostering agencies – which provide almost a quarter of fostering placements in England – have siphoned more than £200m from taxpayers to shareholders in interest payments since 2020.