PRIVATE CARE CASHES IN ON KIDS' CRISIS

05-07-2006

Costs of caring for children in one local authority area have risen by a whopping 23% in just two years - and the extra cash has been lining the pockets of private firms.

One of The Stirrer's correspondents, John Mellor from Wolverhampton, used the Freedom of Information Act to discover how much it cost his council to look after youngsters whose parents either can't or won't ldo the job.

In the year 2003/04 the bill for care homes and fostering services totted up to £12.4 million. By 2005/06 it had soared to £16.1 million.

Wolverhampton Council admits that the major cause of the increase has come from farming out some of the more “difficult” children to private care companies who've given the green light to tender by the government.

They also say that the situation is certain to be similar in many other parts of the country - adding millions nationwide to the council taxpayers burden.

What really matters of course is how well these youngsters are looked after, but we can't help noticing an irony here.

The Stirrer always understood that one of the key advantages of privatising services was that it was supposed to reduce costs, not increase them.