UK government plans strict limits on children's homes profits after shocking report
New rules target private care providers making huge profits from vulnerable kids care system. Government gives more power to watchdogs while reports show children placed in caravans and holiday rentals
The government wants to stop care-homes from taking too much money from kids care system (a problem thats been going on for about 15 years). Local councils now pay twice as much as they did back then – around £7B yearly for looked-after children
Bridget Phillipson education secretary says the system is broken and making councils poor: “Its letting families down and making kids feel forgotten“. The new rules will make care-providers show their money-details‚ and Ofsted gets more power to check on them
The top 15 private care-companies make 23% profit; some kids placements cost half-a-million pounds per-year. The government plans a back-up law that will control profits if companies dont fix this themselves
A report by Dame Rachel de Souza found really bad situations:
- Kids living in caravans
- Some staying in holiday-rentals
- Children placed far from their families
- Disabled kids getting poor care
The Hesley Group case showed big problems – over 100 kids faced abuse in their homes from 2018 to 2021. Now Ofsted will be able to look at all homes run by one company at once‚ which they couldnt do before
The childrens commissioner says its time to change how we treat kids in Britain; many are living in not-good places because of money issues. Some autistic teens even got put in holiday-rentals because hospitals had to let them go
