Ministers limit delegation of child social care functions to non-profit bodies

The Government has amended draft regulations so that local authorities will only be able to delegate children’s social care functions to non profit-making organisations.

The Department for Education announced the change in its response to its consultation, which received more than 1,300 submissions.

“The majority of responses raised concerns with the proposals,” the DfE acknowledged. “By far the most common reason given for this was an objection to the possibility of ‘privatisation’ or ‘profit making’ in children’s services.”

It insisted that its original proposals had been concerned with improving the quality of children’s services rather than savings, ‘privatisation’ or profit-making.

“Indeed the local authorities currently exploring possibilities in this space are considering mutualised and community-interest structures,” it added.

The DfE said it believed that its response should “go a long way towards addressing concerns raised about potential conflicts of interest".

The Department said it would not propose any further changes to the draft regulations, which it intends to lay before Parliament in summer 2014.

The amendments to the draft regulations have been welcomed by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and the College of Social Work.

ADCS President Alan Wood said: “We are delighted that the Government has listened to the concerns outlined by ADCS and has recognised the potential detrimental impact of introducing a profit-making incentive into child protection.

“ADCS members are firm in their belief that services designed to protect and keep safe children and young people should be funded adequately to ensure they are effective, timely and efficacious and that these services should not be predicated on a profit motive.”

He added: “Decisions taken about a child’s life should only ever be based on what is in the best interests of the child as assessed by skilled and qualified social workers and the court system as improving outcomes for children and their families remains our top priority.”

The College’s chair, Jo Cleary, said: “We are pleased that the concerns of our members about how risk would be managed in a profit-making environment have been heard.

“Our members feel very strongly that there should not be any fragmentation of responsibilities where there are high risks to children and young people. Social workers will want to have confidence as to their professional accountabilities if functions are delegated to any other organisation.”

The DfE launched its consultation in April this year, saying that the draft regulations would allow local authorities to delegate “nearly all” children’s social care functions to third party providers.