Curbs on profiteering in the children’s social care sector cannot come soon enough. It is getting on for three years since the Competition and Markets Authority found that children’s home owners in England, Scotland and Wales were making excessive profits while carrying too much debt – exposing children and councils to unacceptable risks. Of all the failed experiments in privatisation of the past 30 years, this has a case to be considered the worst. A situation in which children are regularly uprooted from their areas due to services having been shaped by market forces – rather than their needs – should never have been allowed.
Bridget Phillipson’s announcement on Monday that the government will seek to limit the profits of providers in England, and restrict the use of agency social workers to promote a more stable workforce, was the clearest indication so far of the direction that government reforms will take (children’s social care is devolved, and the Scottish and Welsh governments are pursuing their own plans). Ofsted will gain new powers to issue fines and inspect chains as well as individual homes. Providers will be obliged to be more transparent about their finances.
