Non-profit provision the key to solving sufficiency

However, instead of focusing on how to stimulate the supply of places the government has decided it is the process of commissioning that needs reform (see special report).

Its analysis is that sufficiency is a problem of market management on the part of local authorities who lack the contracting muscle to dictate terms to providers and need to work together on a broader footprint to access a wider range of places. To that end it has backed proposals in the Care Review for regional care co-operatives (RCC) as a way of reorganising care commissioning.

There is some logic to adopting a regional approach: most notably, that some children in care now need specialist therapeutic support most authorities cannot provide alone, working together should encourage the sharing of good practice among commissioners, and consolidating some processes regionally has the potential to reduce costs.