26 Oct 2026
We have published new polling on the public’s views about profiteering in children’s social care, as the deadline for the House of Lords inquiry into the sector approaches today, Monday 26th October.
We have also been encouraging people who have experience of the care system to respond with written evidence before the inquiry deadline of midnight tonight.
Our new polling, commissioned from Survation, was conducted at the end of September among 1,066 people in Great Britain. It shows that 50% of those who expressed a view supported the statement that “England should go further and work towards ending profit-making provision in children's social care altogether”. 29% supported the government’s chosen path of capping profits while 21% said no further action needs to be taken on profits.
However a quarter of the respondents to this question said they didn’t know, suggesting a possible lack of understanding of the issue amongst the public.
The polling also showed that a majority of people expressing a view say private providers should not profit from children’s care. And nearly double the number of respondents supported rather than opposed England following in Wales’s footsteps to phase out profits in the sector (39% compared with 20%).
Peers are looking at profiteering amongst other issues. At the first evidence session of the Lords Committee inquiry on 19th October, Helen Waite from the Department of Education explained that tackling profits in the sector is challenging, saying that a timeframe had not been set but it would be done “as quickly as possible”.
We are calling for Children's Minister Josh MacAlister to copy Wales's example and ban profits from the sector in England.
Our opinion
It’s shocking that the government has set no timeline for capping profits from children’s care in England, even though Wales and Scotland are forging ahead. Our new polling suggests many people will be surprised that capping profits is the limit of the government’s ambition. Why not remove the profit motive altogether when it comes to the care of vulnerable children?
It’s truly immoral that private equity has been allowed to sink its claws deep into the sector. It means councils are struggling to make ends meet as they spend jaw-dropping amounts on care. Meanwhile children get placed further away from their support systems because these companies really don’t give a damn about anything except their financial returns.
Burnham’s government is afraid of clamping down on profits in children's care because the companies involved are highly dependent on public revenue. But that’s exactly why the Children's Minister Josh MacAlister should be setting up a publicly owned provider as a backstop so they can tackle this issue head on.
The latest Ofsted figures show that 85% of children’s homes in England are privately owned. 11 of the 20 largest providers of children’s social care are owned or part owned by private equity funds.
