‘Profiteering’ care homes slammed
Cllr Laura Mayes says it's immoral that care providers are making excessive profits from children being in care homes
Child care operators who make excessive profits are acting immorally, according to a senior Wiltshire Councillor.
Laura Mayes, who was the council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services under the previous administration, said some care providers had the council “over a barrel.”
The council’s Children’s Select Committee was debating the cost to the taxpayer of children in care.
The committee heard that spiralling costs were caused not by an increasing number of children in care, but by the cost per child of external care.
External residential placements accounted for a £3.8 million council budget overspend.
The council had budgeted for care costs of £3,800 a week per child, but was facing bills of £6,200.
Meanwhile, independent fostering agency placements accounted for a £1 million overspend.
“That is an awful lot of money, and it appears to be rising exponentially,” noted committee member Robert Smith (Westbury West, Reform).
The meeting heard that the number of children in care had increased from 482 in March 2025 to 491 in March 2026, before coming back down to 480 by July.
Jon Hubbard, the council’s current Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said rising costs were being mitigated by the success of its ‘kinship’ scheme, which saw young people placed with family members, or returned to their parents, when it was safe and suitable to do so.
And he said a government mandate for children’s homes offering care to 17 and 18-year-olds to be OFSTED registered “had a catastrophic impact on the cost of placements.”
He said care costs were being mitigated by Wiltshire Council opening its own care homes, but added: “If you really push me, I do not want Wiltshire to build more children’s homes, and I do not want more children to be housed in residential care.
“Where children have to come into our care, I want us to place them in fostering or kinship arrangements wherever possible.
“There is absolutely no doubt that the best thing for a child brought into care is to be in a loving family environment, rather than a children’s home.”
Cllr Mayes said: “What has not been mentioned is the excessive profits made by some providers. This is something the Government needs to address.
“A significant number of private equity companies are involved in what is described as the children in care ‘market’ – a word I dislike in itself.
“When councils are over a barrel and know that someone is making a profit from the situation, I find it immoral.”