Children in for-profit homes fare worse than those in local authority facilities
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 17 October, 2022
Children's homes run for profit are providing a poorer quality of service than homes run by local authorities, according to researchers at Oxford University.
The team at the Department for Social Policy and Intervention found that for-profit homes receive, on average, worse Ofsted ratings than their local authority equivalents, across all inspection domains. Local authorities with higher levels of outsourcing to for-profits are also rated worse for children's social care services.
The researchers also found that for-profit homes violate more legal requirements of their care provision, the paper published in Social Science and Medicine reveals.
Outsourcing and for-profit provision have become a dominant practice in the children's residential social care sector in England but, the researchers note, there is a critical absence of evidence of the impact this has had on the quality of these services - and the experience of children in care.
Dr Anders Bach-Mortensen, Carlsberg Foundation Visiting Fellow from Oxford’s Department for Social Policy and Intervention, said: "It is well-known [that] huge profits are being made by companies running these homes, but the response has typically been that the quality of the services justify the costs. Our research suggests quality is not the same in both sectors and should be of concern to commissioners."
The researchers created a dataset from more than 13,000 Ofsted inspections of children’s homes, the providers being inspected by Ofsted, the area of operation and a measure of deprivation of that area, spanning from 2014 to 2021.
The authors note caution is needed in regulating the sector because many of the problems faced by local authorities are exacerbated by a lack of appropriate places, and the role of for-profit providers cannot be replaced without substantial coordination and long-term planning.
Benjamin Goodair, co-author and doctoral researcher, added: "Our analysis shows the outsourcing of these services has not delivered as promised in terms of securing high service quality for children in care. This is a cause for concern because most children are currently accommodated by for-profit providers."
The full paper, ‘Outsourcing and children's social care: A longitudinal analysis of inspection outcomes among English children's homes and local authorities’, is published here.