Bill to remove profit from children’s care introduced into Welsh Senedd

The Health and Social Care (Wales) Bill follows a cross-party consultation launched two years ago by the Labour administration and Plaid Cymru group in the Senedd to ensure only non-profit residential and foster care providers can register with Care Inspectorate Wales from 2027.

“We do not believe that private profit should be made from caring for children and young people whose circumstances require them to be in the care of a local authority,” said the Welsh government’s social care minister Dawn Bowden.

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“This bill will eliminate private profit from the care of looked-after children and ensure public money is used to deliver improved services which meet children’s needs and deliver better experiences and outcomes.”

Brendan Roberts, who has experience of care and is trustee of Voices from Care Cymru, said during its consultations with young people “they are always clear that they think it is wrong for companies to make profit out of our need for care and support”.

He added: “We think that public money that is being spent by our corporate parents to provide for our care should all be spent on that.”

Eight out of 10 children’s care homes in Wales are run by private providers, figures from July 2022 showed.

The bill also aims to enable direct payments for continuing healthcare for disabled people so they “can decide for themselves who provides the care they need”, added Bowden.

This move is backed by Disability Wales chief executive Rhian Davies, who said: “For too long, those on continuing healthcare have not been able to decide how and by whom their care is delivered.

"This change will allow disabled people to have and enjoy the same rights as those on social care direct payments.”

Last month it was announced that former director of children’s services for Hampshire and Isle of Wight councils Steve Crocker will lead a Department for Education advisory group on profiteering in children’s social care in England.