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The National
07-08-2025
- Politics
- The National
Plans to deliver the SNP's 'Promise' are a muddle. They won't do
Good evening! This week's edition of the In Common newsletter comes from Nick Kempe of the Common Weal Care Reform Group, who was previously head of commissioning of social care at Glasgow City Council. ON June 17, the Scottish Government introduced the horribly named Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament. This was almost nine years after Nicola Sturgeon first promised to improve the lives of children and young people with experience of the care system. The Independent Care Review was then set up to consider how to do it. In 2020, it produced its report, The Promise, which was followed in 2021 by The Plan. The purpose of the bill is to implement recommendations arising from The Promise and The Plan – for example, reforming the Children's Hearing system, which the Scottish Government believe requires changes in the law. Among them is also the recommendation that profit should have no place in the children's care system. READ MORE: SNP must do more to keep my flagship 'promise', Nicola Sturgeon says The policy memorandum accompanying the bill starts well, with this statement: 'The Promise is clear that there is no place for profiting in how Scotland cares for its children and that Scotland must avoid the monetisation of the care of children and prevent the marketisation of care by 2030.' Unfortunately, the proposals which follow represent a complete policy muddle and will not deliver what was promised. Residential care and for-profit problems Take the proposals for children's residential care. They will do nothing to prevent private companies extracting large profits. For residential children's services, the bill only gives Ministers the power to limit profit, not abolish it and that only after a period of collecting data about profit levels – a recipe for delay. In proposing this, the Scottish Government has decided to follow England but not Wales, who are in the process of abolishing private provision completely. The Scottish Government's justification for this stance is they believe profits are lower in Scotland (£28k a year per child) than England and the UK average of £44k a year. This is based on data from the Competition and Markets Authority. For context, £28k a year is four times the amount per child the bill proposes to spend extending aftercare services to children who leave care before 16 over their lifetimes! Every pound extracted in profit is a pound less for helping a child who needs it. (Image: Vitolda Klein on Unsplash) The latest Looked After Children Statistics report that 1324 children and young people were in residential care settings in 2024, and suggest that of these a minimum of 365 were in placements provided by the private sector. That is more than £10 million in private profit. The explanation for this retreat from The Promise appears to lie in the Financial Memorandum to the bill. This states that the Scottish Government is concerned that profit-making providers would walk away from service provision (with their buildings) if the profit extraction stopped. The answer to that risk is for the Scottish Government to pledge to use emergency powers to take over such services and, if their current powers are not sufficient to do this, to add new emergency powers to the bill. The bill contains no proposals to stop profit-making by private companies which operate services for care-experienced children in local communities rather than residential or foster care settings. Such services also monetise the care system. A step forward for foster care The proposals in foster care do, however, represent a step forward. Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs) are the only type of care service in Scotland that are currently required to operate on a non-for-profit basis – but this has never been enforced by the regulator responsible, the Care Inspectorate (CI). As a result, as Common Weal showed in our The Crisis in Foster Care in Scotland report, profits continue to be siphoned out of some IFAs by profit-making parent companies. We are pleased that the Scottish Government has explicitly mentioned our report and acknowledged what is happening in the policy memorandum to the bill. To address these problems the Scottish Government is proposing that all IFAs should be required to register as charities with the Scottish Charity Regulator. It also correctly argues that if any of the current IFAs decide to withdraw from the foster care market as a result, the foster carers contracted to work for them can be taken on by other IFAs or local authorities. It predicts this will release £6-10m a year which can then be reinvested in foster care – less than will be taken in profit for residential children's services. Public services for private profit? All this does represent a significant step forward in government thinking – but begs the question as to how the not-for-profit requirements will be enforced? More specifically, how will profit-making parent companies be prevented from continuing to extract money from IFAs through internal charges for legal and administrative services, or borrowing large sums of money interest-free, as they do at present? The Scottish Government is proposing that the CI should be responsible for delivering this and that after setting up new systems the costs of doing so will be minimal. If it's so simple, the CI could have done this years ago. First Minister John Swinney's Government had published the proposals (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) We would like to see the bill go further and the Scottish Government use its legislative powers to break all links between IFAs and profit-making companies, the only sure way to ensure profit extraction stops. Common Weal's Care Reform Group will publish our full response to the Scottish Government's proposals in due course. The consultation and the bill itself, however, present an opportunity for the public and other stakeholders to challenge the hold that profit-making companies now have over swathes of what are supposed to be public services. We must ensure that they are once again run for public benefit – and only ever in the interests of the children who need them.
The Herald Scotland
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
SNP 'failing' to keep care leavers out of temporary housing
But a recent report revealed ministers were on course to miss the flagship target. Now, figures obtained by The Herald through freedom of information (FOI) requests, shows that 1,049 adults leaving the care system in 2024 were placed in temporary accommodation. These figures only cover 23 of Scotland's 32 local authorities, meaning the scale of the problem could be far higher. WhoCares? Scotland told The Herald its helpline is inundated with housing support requests, while 440 care leavers over the age of 16 raised concern between 2021 and 2024, while 37% were homeless. It comes as the Scottish Government unveils new legislative plans to help meet The Promise. However, it fails to remove the 2022 pause on prioritising social housing for care leavers. Read more: SNP must 'reinstate housing pledge for care leavers' Sturgeon urges Scotgov to pick up pace on 'promise' to vulnerable kids 'People will die': Housing Secretary urged to end 'political choice' of homelessness Scottish Tory MSP Roz McCall told The Herald: "This data lays bare the Scottish Government's failure to uphold its most basic duty to care-experienced young people: to ensure they have a safe and secure home. "Temporary accommodation is not a long-term solution, and the scale of the crisis is deeply alarming. "Behind every number is a young person who's been through the care system and is now being let down again. "Ministers talk about Keeping the Promise, but these figures show a government that is still not listening." "We cannot let this fall through the cracks," Ms McCall, who is a Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, added. "If the Government is serious about changing outcomes, we need proper accountability, consistent data, and a national housing guarantee for care-experienced adults." The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) Bill proposes extending the aftercare support currently available for 16 to 26-year-olds who were in care on their 16th birthday to those who had left care beyond that point. It aims to introduce smoother transitions between children's and adult services. The recording of care leavers in temporary accommodation varies widely across local government, with the charity warning The Promise cannot be met unless the true scale of the problem is known. Edinburgh and Glasgow had the highest number of care leavers in temporary accommodation, with 131 and 142 respectively. However areas like Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, West Lothian and Ayrshire also recorded high levels. The figures in these areas could also be higher as local authorities either do not ask the question on housing applications, or the care leaver does not declare it. Read more: 15,000 jobs at risk from 'irreversible' UK inheritance tax changes Pro Palestine campaign group to be banned, says Home Secretary Nicola Sturgeon news, interviews and updates on the former FM Louise Hunter, chief executive of WhoCares? Scotland, said: 'Everyone deserves a safe, secure home – a foundation that allows them to build a life, feel connected, and plan for their future. 'But this data shows that too many care experienced people are being placed in temporary accommodation, facing instability and uncertainty. 'Housing is consistently one of our top advocacy issues that we support care experienced people aged 16 and over with. 'But behind each number is a person who has experienced care and is now being let down by a system that should protect them. 'If Scotland is serious about Keeping the Promise, we must recognise that a stable home is not a privilege, it is a right.' The charity heard care leavers are often not given any say on their housing placement, with one reporting she was forced to take a flat on the same street her father was murdered. In February, the oversight board - a group created to monitor progress to meeting the promise - warned the Scottish Government was not even halfway there to keeping The Promise, while stressing there was no "reasonable explanation" for delay. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Young people leaving care from age 16 are a priority for having their housing needs met and social landlords should also consider care leavers when they allocate houses. 'We are investing £768 million this year in affordable housing, including £40 million to support acquisitions of existing properties to increase the supply of social and affordable homes with 80% of the funding targeting the five local authorities facing the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures. 'The Cabinet Secretary for Housing is determined to ensure that the Housing (Scotland) Bill delivers strengthened rights for everyone experiencing homelessness, including those leaving care.'
