Much discussion today about Ofsted's one-word judgments, which are also used in children's social care. So here is a reminder about what an 'inadequate' children's home looks like. 🧵 This Ofsted report concerns a children's home in Essex for up to four girls. It is run by the private company Care Focus Limited. This report was published by Ofsted on Saturday.

Ofsted has published new data showing how children's homes have become a huge, money-spinning business. If you are squeamish about these things, look away now. 🧵 More than 4 in 5 children’s homes were owned by private companies (2,748 homes, 83%), which accounted for 9,648 places (77%) of 12,458 places.

Shocking but true... local councils paid the Government of Abu Dhabi £173 million last year for the care and education of children in care via the private company Witherslack Group. …te.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/035791…
Profits of almost £36 million represent a margin of around 20%, which is extraordinary given the nature of the 'business'.

More on the privatisation of the care of vulnerable children. You may never have heard of Graphite Capital. But this private equity firm has been one of the UK’s biggest providers of children’s homes and foster care over the years. 🧵 In the past it has bought and later sold companies like Compass and National Fostering Group, extracting millions of pounds while loading them with colossal debts before selling them on to investment groups. Standard financial engineering, but with children in care as assets.

Ofsted has suspended this children’s home in Staffordshire run by the private company TS Children Services Ltd because of serious failings in the care of vulnerable children. This home was only registered in January. reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/2/272…
This is the second children’s home recently registered by TS to be found to be putting children at risk this month. The first home is in Dudley.

https://twitter.com/martinbarrow/status/1785993143642419611

Children in care for sale: Compass Community, one of the UK’s biggest providers of foster care, children’s homes and special education, has been sold by Graphite Capital to another private equity firm, Cap 10. No purchase price disclosed, but Compass was paid more than £100 million by local councils for care and education last year.

A Sunday slice of foster care life: 15 months or so ago, when the boys first came to live with us, they struggled being in crowded spaces. When we took them for their first ever haircut, they were very anxious. 🧵 The young barber sat down on the floor with them, outside his shop, and talked gently to them until they felt ready to go inside. His care put them at ease and they sat for him so he could cut their hair.

Private equity and offshore investors continue to extract millions of pounds from children’s homes and foster care, even as the cost of children’s social care pushes councils into bankruptcy. 🧵 Newly-published financial accounts for CareTech, the biggest private provider, reveal that it charged councils £575 million for care and education for vulnerable children and young people in ONE YEAR.

The care system for children and young people is in crisis. But private companies continue to earn millions of pounds from children in care and investors pocket funding that should be spent on families. Keys Group is the latest company to reveal another leap in profits. 🧵 Keys, owned by private equity, is responsible for the lives of more than `1,200 children and young people in care. Its latest accounts show that local authorities paid it almost £119 million for care and education last year. The accounts are here …te.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/106253…

Four more inadequate children’s homes flagged by Ofsted today in inspection reports. A disgrace.

New Ofsted report published today shows how the 'market' in children's homes and foster care has failed vulnerable children: Local authorities having to find homes for children at the ‘last minute’
gov.uk/government/new… Local councils have few children's homes (and some have none at all). They mostly rely on private companies, providing homes for profit. These are the consequences.

New data on children in care has been published by @educationgovuk today. You can read it here: …e-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistic…
Some key numbers follow 🧵 Factors to bear in mind:
- The pandemic weighs heavily on comparisons for the previous year.
- The number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children is up 10% for the year prior to the pandemic.
- Staying Put is giving more young people a chance to stay in care for longer.

The Office for Students has published new data on outcomes, including those with care experience. @HoyleTime has a great🧵on this but the headline data is: @HoyleTime Data on household residual income is relevant in this context: data says the more money you have the better you do (unsurprisingly)

The safeguarding practice review into the death of 20-month-old Asiah Kudi in Brighton has been published today.

bhscp.org.uk/safeguarding-r… Asiah was left alone for six days while her mother partied in London and Coventry.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

This children's home run by Bradford Council has been judged inadequate by Ofsted, with serious and widespread failure that put children at risk.

reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/2/SC0… The home is registered to provide care for up to
six children with physical or learning disabilities. Ofsted inspectors raised a number of concerns, including staff shortages and medication errors.

Another day, another failing children's home. This one is in St Helens and is run by the private company PIC Children’s Services Limited reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/2/SC0… Ofsted has also raised concerns about this children's home in Leeds run by Nestlings Care files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/501990…

People who profit from private children’s homes keep claiming that they are cheaper than council-run homes. This needs to be challenged. Here are some reasons why 🧵 1.Council-run children’s homes are generally better staffed, with higher rates of pay and a full range of benefits (sick leave, holidays, pensions). This is something to be celebrated.

Serious and widespread failures have been identified at this children's home in Southend, only weeks after it was registered by the private company New Path Residential Ltd.
reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/2/268… It is clear from the report that this home was failing from the moment it opened, putting children in care at risk.

Major scandal: Ofsted asks staff from private care firms to inspect children’s homes.

theguardian.com/society/2022/o… Private equity is given official seal of approval and a major role in the regulation and oversight of the care system.

I keep hearing about Swanton Community in the context of the care of vulnerable young people. So, I did a bit of digging and found an egregious example of how investors are exploiting the care system to make millions. A 🧵 Swanton ‘Community’ sounds very touch feely and its website has a warm, family feel swantoncare.com/about-us/

The (Independent) Children's Homes Association is no different to the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Economic Affairs...pro business, pro profit, against regulation and against the public sector.

https://twitter.com/CawsonSarah/status/1579078489612857345

Defending the indefensible, with a tiny number of LA and not for profit members whose only purpose is to greenwash an organisation whose self serving interests harm children and young people in care.