In a letter to Andrea Coscelli, Josh MacAlister, founder of Frontline social care, urges the CMA to “investigate aspects of the Children’s Social Care Market” previously called for by children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield and the communities and local government select committee.
I’ve written to the @CMAgovUK asking them to open an investigation into aspects of the children’s social care ‘market’. It would provide important evidence for the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. pic.twitter.com/kekp2S3Jli
— Josh MacAlister (@JoshMacAlister) January 25, 2021
In the letter MacAlister does not specify the “aspects” he believes should be investigated but in her report on Private provision in children’s social care, published in November 2020, Longfield states: “The CMA should undertake a market study of the children’s social care sector. It is imperative that the government and local authorities understand how competition constrains prices in the sector and, where it doesn’t, what the alternatives are.”
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In its report on funding of local authorities’ children’s services, published in July 2019, the communities and local government select committee says there may “be a role for greater regulation of the market to ensure that costs do not rise disproportionally and that there is appropriate competition. The Competition and Markets Authority should investigate this market.”
MacAlister tells Coscelli that an investigation “into this area would provide invaluable evidence to my review if it were to happen in the near future”.
He also explains that he has been contacted by many organisations and individuals across the sector highlighting concerns including “insufficient supply" of homes for children "that meet their needs in the communities that need them which leads to significant out-of-area placements, placement breakdowns, and the use of unregulated provision; the high and rising cost of placements; and the role of the sector in the placement market”.
Sector leaders welcomed the renewal of calls for an investigation, however, others called for more clarity on its scope.
Kathy Evans, chief executive of Children England, said: “Ministry of housing, communities and local government select committee called for CMA to investigate nearly two years ago, so [it] should be done. But as we said here, when [the] children’s commissioner repeated the call earlier this year, it's not making the market more competitive we need, but moving away from competition.”
Carolyne Willow, director of children’s rights charity Article 39, said: “It appears from the email that Josh MacAlister has published that many have already expressed deep concerns about the shortage of loving homes for looked-after children in England. I couldn’t work out from the email, however, what he is asking the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate.
"As a competition regulator, the CMA’s role is to investigate anti-competitive practices, not the impact of profit-making and markets in children’s social care or the funding available to local authorities to meet their statutory responsibilities. Let’s hope MacAlister will clarify shortly what he wants the competition regulator to do, and how this fits with his own areas of investigation.”
The long-awaited Care Review, a pledge in the Conservative's 2019 election manifesto, was launched earlier this month.
