The children’s commissioner for England has accused the government of a “deep-rooted institutional ambivalence” to the plight of vulnerable children in care, who are too often “dumped” far from their families and moved repeatedly between different homes.
According to the latest research by the children’s commissioner’s office (CCO), as many as 8,000 children in care in England had three different placements in the course of a year while 13,000 were accommodated in unregulated homes despite widespread concerns about their unsuitability.
One teenager was placed eight hours away from her home town, unable to see her mother for months, while others described living in “disgusting” – even rat-infested – homes, which felt like being in a prison cell, according to CCO research. Another girl did not bother to unpack because she knew she would be passed on “like a parcel” in a few weeks.
The commissioner, Anne Longfield, said the residential care home system was “broken” with insufficient high-quality places, while no one knew what to do with thousands of children. She expressed frustration at the government’s repeated failure to address the crisis despite a series of highly critical reports into the sector.
On Wednesday she published three separate reports into the state of children’s care provision in England, one of which focused on concerns about the impact of the growing involvement of private companies in the sector, which make millions of pounds in profits every year.
Although she said many homes in the private sector were excellent, the system in which they functioned was fragmented, uncoordinated and irrational. “The growing reliance on private providers, some of whom are making millions, is another symptom of a system failing to prioritise the needs of children,” she said. “Both the government and councils have failed in their responsibilities by leaving it to the market.”
CCO analysis of a sample of 14 private providers found a total operating profit of £255m, with an estimated profit margin of about 17% on fees from local authorities. The report warned, however, that the system was “opaque”, making it difficult to understand ownership, costs and profit.
In a separate report, looking into the instability that children in care experience, the CCO found one in 10 children in care moved at least twice in 2018-19, and one in four moved home at least twice in two years, while 11% of children had to change school during the academic year.
Longfield said: “These reports focus on the children that government has been ignoring and seemingly doesn’t know what to do with: those in the care system systemically let down because there isn’t a good, safe, welcoming home for them.
“These shocking cases used to be rare but are now routine, and I am worried the whole system is becoming immune to the devastating effect this is having on children who may have previously been abused and neglected, or have serious mental or physical health needs.”
She added: “These children are being failed by the state. The government needs a strategy to fix problems that it already knows exist. It must also launch the independent review into children’s social care promised in the Conservative manifesto.”
Responding to the report, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “The education secretary has been clear that no child should be denied the opportunity for a loving, stable family life, or be ‘bounced around’ the care system in accommodation that does not meet their needs. We have also set out that children under the age of 16 should not be living in unregulated homes.”
