CYP Now - Care Review chair calls for probe into ‘children’s social care market’

The chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England has called on the government’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) to launch an investigation into the children’s social care “market”.

Josh MacAlister has been named as chair of the review. Picture: Frontline

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

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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