Children's social care reforms announced

The government has announced major reforms of children's social care, to crack down on exploitative providers.

It is hoped the reforms will break the cycle of late intervention and help keep families together where possible.

The latest figures show that local government spending on looked after children has risen from £3.1 billion in 2009/10 to £7 billion in 2022/23.

Education secretary, Bridget Phillipson said: "Our care system has suffered from years of drift and neglect. It’s bankrupting councils, letting families down, and above all, leaving too many children feeling forgotten, powerless and invisible.

"We want to break down the barriers to opportunity and end the cycle of crisis through ambitious reforms to give vulnerable children the best life chances – because none of us thrive until all of us do.

"We will crack down on care providers making excessive profit, tackle unregistered and unsafe provision and ensure earlier intervention to keep families together and help children to thrive."

The government highlighted that some providers are making excessive profits or running unregistered homes that don’t meet the right standards of care.

Analysis by the Local Government Association shows that there are now over 1,500 children in placements each costing the equivalent of over £0.5 million every year, while the largest 15 private providers make an average of 23 per cent profit.

The reforms will require key placements providers to share their finances with the government, which should enable profiteering to be challenged. It is also hoped that increasing financial transparency will ensure the providers that have the biggest impact on the market don’t unexpectedly go under and leave children without a home.

Cllr Arooj Shah, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: "It is positive to see the Government building on recent progress following the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, and pursuing an approach rooted in what we know works for children and their families.

"We are particularly pleased to see an ongoing focus on early help and family networks, and a strong commitment to tackling profiteering and other problems in the market for children’s social care placements.

"Moving forward, progress will be limited by the significant funding and workforce challenges within children’s social care, councils and amongst partners more widely.

I"t is vital that the Government uses the forthcoming Spending Review to ensure that all those working to keep children safe and to help them thrive have the resources they need to do that well."