Care news

• The Guardian view on fostering: reform is welcome, but excess profits must be tackled | Editorial

  10-02-2026 19:55
  Sensible plans to boost collaboration between councils may not be enough to tilt the balance away from private providersNearly 55,000 children in England live with foster carers, and despite a recent fall in the number of children in care, pressure on the system remains intense. Rising costs and the growing role of private providers in residential care and foster placements have exposed deep weaknesses, yet reform has lagged behind the crisis in children’s homes. Only now have ministers se
  
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• Out of the red, but at what cost? Birmingham council asset sales have left city reeling, say residents

  10-02-2026 12:43
  As council declares it’s ‘no longer bankrupt’, people say closure of services have added to social isolation and crimeWhen Birmingham city council announced last week it was “no longer bankrupt”, after years of budget cuts and asset sales, one retired police officer was left feeling despondent.Wendy Collymore had experienced first-hand the impact of the council’s cost-cutting drive on the UK’s second largest city when the adult day centre her elderly fat
  
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