The report by Revolution Consulting found council spending on privately run children’s services, including residential homes and foster care services, has more than doubled in the past six years.
In 2021/22, local authorities in England spent £1.5bn on independently run residential care for vulnerable children.
This equates to an 11 per cent increase on the previous year and is up from £736.6m in 2015/16, representing a 105 per cent increase overall.
Last year, the largest 20 independent children’s social care placement providers, excluding Care Tech which was delisted from the London Stock Market in January, collectively recorded 19 per cent - £310m – of their aggregate fee income of £1.63bn as profit.
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