Josh MacAlister issues warning as government launches £88m ‘call to arms’ to recruit 10,000 new foster carers
Private providers of child social care in England will be pushed out of the system if they are found to be profiteering, the children’s minister has said.
Josh MacAlister, who is in charge of overhauling the care system for children, also called for a fostering equivalent of the Homes for Ukraine scheme to provide homes for tens of thousands of children.
Announcing a major push to recruit 10,000 new foster carers as part of a bid to rebalance child social care away from private providers, MacAlister said the state was “failing to provide the lifelong, loving relationships that these kids need”.
MacAlister led an independent review of child social care under the last Tory government before becoming an MP and then minister. He said his message to private providers was: “If you want to be part of this system in the future, don’t price-gouge; don’t profiteer.”
