14 hours ago
Hike in fostering costs branded ‘despicable' by Flintshire councillor
While many fostering and children's care providers are already moving to non-profit models to comply with the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025, Cllr Carolyn Preece criticised action by some providers to pump up profits.
A report put before Flintshire's Joint Education, Youth and Culture and Social and Health Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee revealed that one unnamed independent fostering provider has reportedly hiked fees by 40% this year.
'It is despicable ,' said Cllr Preece. 'To do that, to increase it by that amount is just money grabbing in the short space of Time they have left before they can no longer be a provider.
'To me that is a company that we shouldn't really be using in the first place because that is showing their true colours.'
It was a feeling echoed by Cllr David Coggins Cogan who said: 'Well done to Welsh Government, I think the elimination of profit from children's care is long overdue.
'The firm that has increased fees by 40% is beyond despicable, it's disgusting. Extracting profit of the backs of children who we are looking after is beyond reprehensible.'
Chief Officer for Social Services Craig Macleod said that over the next five years the business would likely find it difficult to work in Wales as a result of the move.
'The organisation that has increased its fees substantially, authorities will be very hard pushed to commission any further services from them,' he said. 'From a Welsh Government perspective, this is why they are bringing this legislation in.
'I must stress however that the majority of providers we work with currently are keen to embrace the new legislation and are committed to prioritising the welfare of the children in care.'
The report highlighted that Flintshire's transition to a system of care that eliminates profit must be done with the interests of the children and families involved remaining at the core of decision-making.
It detailed the Social Services team's strategy for adjusting to the new legislation around children in care – focusing on bringing more care and fostering provision in-house and working more with those providers who are transitioning to a non-profit model.
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Ambitious plans for council to bring care of looked-after children in-house by 2030
'The work our teams are doing in Flintshire to make this happen is amazing,' said Cllr Preece. 'I also commend the Welsh Government because this is the right way forward.
The authority is planning to increase it's residential bed capacity for looked-after children to 30, double the number of respite beds for disabled families to six and and provide in-house fostering provision for an additional 52 children by 2030.
Coupled with contract with agencies that transition to non-profit, that should see the authority meet the deadline to remove profit from care. Children in care who are currently settled in England, where the legislation does not apply, will not be repatriated to Flintshire if their needs are being met by their current care provider to prevent unnecessary disruption.
The plans are ambitious, but Mr Macleod said that working with not-for-profit partners would help them deliver the change by 2030.
'It is really really challenging,' said Mr Macleod. 'We are realistic that we have to work with high quality local providers to develop all this provision and we have a number of trusted providers we currently work with to bring in some of the capacity we will need.'
