5m
18 Nov 2024

Government vows crackdown on profiteering in care sector

The education secretary has told Channel 4 News that vulnerable children in the care system are being failed despite what she said was “an absolute fortune” being spent on them.

Bridget Phillipson’s promise to carry out the biggest overhaul of children’s social care “in a generation” comes as this programme reveals that the average spend on children’s homes has soared by 137% over the past six years.

The government has outlined measures in England to clamp down on the profiteering by some providers of private children’s homes and promised to ensure care leavers are supported until they are 21.