A new study by the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, has shed new light on the extent and impact of outsourcing in England's adult and children's social care sectors.
The report compiles a comprehensive, longitudinal data resource on outsourcing trends, and their associations with critical outcomes nationwide. The findings are crucial to understanding the care crisis impacting both sectors, and the challenges of maintaining quality care amid increased marketisation.
Over the last 30 years, social care services for children and adults in England have been increasingly outsourced to private for-profit providers. However, regulators and commissioners tasked with ensuring quality provision have faced difficulties due to a lack of clear evidence on how these changes have affected care outcomes.
Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO of Become, the national charity for children in care and care leavers, said: ‘This valuable report makes clear the link between private placements for children in care, and increased instability from distant moves. It also highlights the lack of data regarding the quality of care children receive when they're sent to live away from their local area, miles away from everything they know – their school, their friends, and, sadly, often, brothers and sisters.'
Our analysis reveals a paradox in England's social care: for-profit providers have grown to dominate the sector, operating over 80% of adult and children's residential care services, even though they consistently underperform public and third sector provision.
Lead author of the report, Dr Anders Bach-Mortensen, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, Oxford University
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