'£21 in Every £100 Went to Profit': Are Private Equity Firms Draining UK Care?

Interest costs for the five largest private equity-backed care home providers amount to £102 per bed per week, funding corporate debt instead of frontline care for children. (Image is AI-generated) (Credit: IBTimes UK)

For every £100 of public money spent on Britain's largest private fostering agencies, £21 was taken as profit last year, according to Common Wealth's 'Who Owns Britain?' data dashboard, which analysed Companies House filings for the four biggest independent fostering agencies in England and Wales.

That figure, drawn from 2024 accounts for companies including the National Fostering Group, Polaris, Compass Community, and BSN Social Care, measured as EBITDA margin, sits alongside a Competition and Markets Authority finding that the 15 largest children's home providers maintained average operating profit margins of 22.6% from 2016 to 2020. The regulator warned in its March 2022 report, published on GOV.UK, that the UK had 'sleepwalked into a dysfunctional children's social care market.'