Removing profit from the care of children looked after: board discussion December 2025

The Eliminating Profit from the Care of Children Looked After Programme Board (“the Programme Board”) was initially established in September 2021 following publication of the initial Programme for Government in July 2021. 

Its purpose is to oversee and advise on implementation of the Programme for Government commitment to ‘Eliminate private profit from the care of looked after children’, being taken forward through the provisions within the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 (“The 2025 Act”). A summary of Programme Board discussions is published for transparency.

Welsh Government update:

An update was provided which included the below key highlights:

• The public consultation setting out proposed changes to the registration and annual returns processes, and the approach to monitoring and enforcement closed on 8 October and 27 responses had been received. An analysis and summary of consultation responses was being compiled by officials with plans to publish the summary early in 2026.
• Cwmpas support to ‘for-profit’ providers continued and the Cwmpas working group continued to meet and provide an opportunity for any broad concerns or challenges to be fed into.
• 6 monthly reporting and grant monitoring meetings with local authorities in respect of Eliminate and Radical Reform grant funding were underway.
• The communications working group continued to meet, with membership extended to include partners from Social Care Wales, WLGA and Foster Wales.
• provides a system centred on the wellbeing of:
  • Recent communications activity included a CIW bulletin to reflect the adjusted 31 March 2026 cut-off date for registrations and variations for 'for-profit' providers following provider feedback.
  • A Written Statement confirming the signing of the first commencement order had been published on 2 December.
• The second report on the progress to transition to a not-for-profit model for the care of children looked after had also been published in November 2025. Further planned reports were due to be published on a 6 monthly schedule in May and November 2026.

Market intelligence report:

The Market Intelligence Report had been prepared by the Children’s Commissioning Consortium Cymru (4Cs) and shared with members ahead of the meeting and an update was provided:

• On residential care, the number of commissioned services had decreased by 6% compared to the previous quarter. Continued growth of local authority homes had been seen and it was anticipated this would continue beyond the 2025 to 2026 financial year. At the time of reporting, 75 local authority children’s homes were registered with CIW. Independent sector increases had also continued, with the majority of new registrations being from ‘for profit’ providers, with 1 not for profit home registering within this reporting period.
• On foster care, overall, a lack of sufficiency remains. Commissioned services with independent providers of foster care had decreased this quarter and a year-on-year notable reduction had been seen. At the start of the 2025 to 2026 financial year, 60% of the foster care market was operated by Local Authorities and 40% operated by the independent sector, of which 7% operated under a permitted business model as outlined in the Act.
• Positive examples of care services provided across various forms of provision had been evidenced in the report. In addition, good collaborative working between LAs and private providers was also noted.
• The published 4Cs Needs Profile Analysis was highlighted as a resource outlining where specific needs and gaps in sufficiency are.

Risk register and lessons learned log

Some changes had been made to several risks within the Programme Board risk register following discussions at both the Board level and at Workstream 1. No opposition to these amendments was raised by Board members.

A review of the risk in relation to timings and the transition period was proposed in light of the evidence provided within the Market Intelligence Report. It was agreed this would be reviewed following the Board meeting.

Workstream updates

Workstream 1 had continued to meet regularly since the previous Board meeting, and the below update was provided: 

• A memorandum of cooperation had been established by ADSS Cymru regarding the use and sharing of data.
• A recent report into the experiences of children and young people placed into services operating without registration had been finalised and next steps for the report would be to consider how lessons can be learned from its findings.
• ADSS Cymru was undertaking financial modelling to support LAs in the development of their own in house provision.
• Forecasting and demand modelling was also underway to help inform LAs of the likely need in future years

Workstream 2 had met once since the previous Board meeting and subgroup 1 (under workstream 2) which focused on how to support existing not for profit organisations to expand, had also continued to meet regularly.

The Board was made aware that Keith Edwards who previously chaired Workstream 2 had stood down, and he was formally thanked for his work throughout his time as Chair.