'Time to stop profiteering in children's care system'

PROFITEERING in the children’s care system must be stamped out so nobody gets rich off the back of vulnerable boys and girls, the Children’s Commissioner for England has demanded.

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Recent reports have delivered a damning verdict on the sector, describing how youngsters are still placed in “illegal homes” — which are not registered with regulator Ofsted — at huge costs to the taxpayer.

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza found the average weekly cost of such a placement was more than £10,000.

Children were housed in caravans, holiday camps or even Airbnbs — sometimes for as long as three years.

'We need to intervene far earlier in their lives'

She estimated councils in England spent £353m on illegal children’s homes last year, with 36 placements costing £1m each by September.

On Friday, a cross-party group of MPs warned that half of children in the system in England are placed in locations more than 20 miles from their family homes.

And the inquiry also highlighted concerns that private equity-backed providers of accommodation were more likely to have excessive profits.