Councils are paying more than £125m a year of taxpayers’ money to place vulnerable children in illegal care homes across England, an investigation has found. The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) have uncovered a booming industry of businesses profiting from a shortage of beds for the most at-risk children in Ofsted-inspected homes. Local authority payment records show that more than 480 private companies have been paid £250m for 1,800 unlawful placements of children over the past two years.
Even though it is a criminal offence to operate a children’s home that is not registered with Ofsted, almost every council in the country uses illegal care facilities. Regulators have appeared reluctant to shut down illegal settings because councils say they have nowhere else to send traumatised, older children, whose behaviour often poses a risk to themselves or others. But growing concerns about criminal activity and safeguarding failings have led to a tougher stance, with Ofsted securing its first conviction last month.
The previously unseen dataset, obtained under freedom of information laws, identifies the companies dominating the illegal market. It shows more than £40m of public money has been paid to operators linked to care failures, including those involved in the care of a teenage girl harmed in a succession of illegal placements in hotels, Airbnbs and other properties. Some of the children require around-the-clock supervision, with several carers, which can push up the price demanded by providers.
At least nine councils paid more than £1m for a single placement. Average earnings of more than £150,000 per placement have attracted entrepreneurs from outside the care sector. Analysis of the payment records shows property developers, builders and security company bosses, as well as musicians and ex-military personnel, are now running illegal homes.
Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said the findings revealed systemic failings. She said: “For too long, illegal children’s homes have been allowed to operate in the shadows, where children are treated as a business opportunity, and huge amounts of public money are spent on placements that are not properly registered or inspected.” The largest player in the illegal care market is Prospero Health and Social Care. The London-based nursing agency has been involved in staffing more unregistered provision than any other provider in England.
Over the past two years, the company was paid £7.6m by 14 councils for staffing 86 placements in unregistered children’s homes. It has openly advertised for child support workers for “unregistered settings” in England and Wales. Prospero said it supplied staff but did not operate unregistered care homes.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
