Cost of Living Care for Children in England

The cost of living care for children in need of protection in England has almost doubled in five years, but many children still do not receive adequate care. According to a report, an average of £3100 for each child who was used in a children’s house in March 2024. However, these huge sums do not represent any value for money, the report concludes.

Experience of Care

Ezra Quinton, now 20, who was first placed in care at the age of nine, remembers broken windows and broken glass in the showers of one of the nursing homes in which he was placed. He believes that he has had up to 60 different placements, and although he spent most of his life in Salford and Stockport, he lived in Wales, Liverpool, Crewe, and Leeds. His education was significantly disrupted, but he achieved C grades in all his GCSEs.

Rising Costs

The rising costs were driven by a record number of children in care, the increasing complexity of their needs, and a profit-oriented market. In 2023-24, the councils spent £3.1 billion on children’s homes, in a market described as "dysfunctional". It is said that councils have difficulties finding enough suitable placements and argue that this enables many private providers to choose the children they take, based on how much support they need and how much profit this allows.

Profit-Oriented Market

The author of the report says that several factors contribute to increasing costs, but with the vast majority (84%) of children’s homes being for profit: "It is really important to achieve the balance between the offer of available nursing homes and demand correctly." The report emphasizes how two-thirds of children in living care are outside of their local authority and almost half (49%) were more than 20 miles away from home in March 2024.

Response to the Report

The educational department said in a statement: "Vulnerable children across the country have long been disappointed with years of drift and neglect in the social care of children that this report releases." It also added that it is undertaking "the greatest reform of the social care of children" to "break the crisis of the crisis for children" – and to point out that more family members help recruit employees and new laws to terminate benefit in nursing homes.

Criticism of the System

Claire Bracey, a preliminary managing director, says that the report "once again raises the lid to the blackmailed profits that are achieved from the provision of houses for our most endangered children". She argues that "this market failure leads to an unforgivable failure [for] the future of the children in our care … Children who are considered can hardly wait. Now urgent steps have to be taken."

Defense of Private Providers

But some small, privately driven children’s homes insist that they do not make excessive profits. Sara Milner, who set up Cherry Wood Children’s Home in Surrey, says that the personnel costs make up 80% of the costs. "The fees that we collect from the local authority reflect our direct costs and we make moderate margins … but we have to be able to achieve profits to a practical business and to offer security for the future of young people, which is obviously really important if you do this type of work."

Government Response

The government has already announced that it can limit the profits that private companies can achieve, but argues that the houses of council members can actually be more expensive. Mark Kerr of the association said: "We know that official data show that the costs of the local authority are higher. So if there is a price-performance ratio, the independent sector will probably show more price-performance ratio than the local authorities."