Jobs Live Inform

Most social workers back ban on profit-making from children’s care

Over half of practitioners (55%) believe profit-making companies should be banned from providing care, though one-third fear it would worsen placement shortages, a Community Care poll has found.

By on June 18, 2024 in Children
Photo by Community Care

The majority of social workers support banning profit-making companies from providing children’s care, a Community Care poll has found.

This follows the publication of a bill in Wales to end profit-making from the provision of children’s care placements.

Under the Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill, only not-for-profit organisations and councils would be able to provide fostering, children’s home or secure accommodation placements, following a transitional period.

Wales would be the first UK country to enact such a ban, though the Scottish Government is committed to doing the same and for-profit provision is scarce – though legal – in Northern Ireland.

In England, as of 2023, independent fostering agencies (IFAs) accounted for 47% of filled mainstream fostering places and private children’s homes accounted for 81% of residential placements.

But what would be the ideal way forward?

In a recent Community Care poll, 55% of practitioners backed a ban on profit-making companies providing care placements. A further 35% said they supported a ban in principle, but feared it would worsen placement shortages.

The remaining 9% disagreed with children’s care placements only being provided by not-for-profit organisations or councils.

Celebrate those who’ve inspired you

For our 50th anniversary, we’re expanding our My Brilliant Colleague series to include anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.

Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by either:

  • Filling in our nominations form with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
  • Or sending a voice note of up to 90 seconds to +447887865218, including your and the nominee’s names and roles.

If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com

, , , ,

One Response to Most social workers back ban on profit-making from children’s care

  1. Alec Fraher June 21, 2024 at 4:30 pm #

    the issues have not been framed correctly; whether for-profit or not top slicing happens irrespective of the stated commercial model is expected.

    the issues correctly understood must be placed within the decision-making for the allocation state-aid ie it’s a condition of contracting and public procurement processes to ensure the most economically advantageous tender after and only on the condition that an existing State or public sector provision isn’t available and/or suitable ~ these procedures are prescribed, although the Public Procurement Act 2023 affords greater flexibility, the procure procedure available are suited only for highly standardised and routine services ~ this flying in the face of the urgency associative, and especially, with OAP’s.

    the child simply gets lost and the standing/status of their Care Plan (and subsequent statutory reviews) is subsumed by ‘the Purchasing Authority’ obligations to the provider(s) beyond any misgivings about quality ~ both sw’s and contract officers have limited sway irrespective of the quality of care offered; it becomes a buyer-beware scenario very very quickly often presented as risk escalation in respect of the child’s behaviour management requirements.

    this impacts on statutory reviewing requirements and especially so in secure reviews which can deteriorate into bidding wars for the child’s care. It’s simply wrong.

    drafting contracts in these situations, if done correctly, taking anything from 6~12mths of hardboiled detail and procure writing.

    the casualisation of which, through the pretence of having standardised proforma and such like, the greatest democratic deficiency of all ~ there’s no freedom of contract like at all.

    the early work looking at this was staggeringly scary; on the one hand aggregated contracts massively exceed anyone’s authority ie delegated powers to spend while on the other the urgent basis for spending forces the decision-making ~ at worst one-hand washes the other and it is this dereliction of democratic decision-making that brings attention to the profit motive; the actual picture is more subtle and nuanced.

    much more detail is needed here ~ and especially the information management requirements as required by Council’s delegating it’s duty of care to a third party provider.

    the liabilities for which the State has responsibilities are woefully being diluted and have been for a few decades …
    but then ‘we’ knew this in 2007.

    thoughts ….