{ "meta": { "title": "Foster care and profit: who looks after England's foster children, who owns the agencies, and what councils pay", "standfirst": "About 40 per cent of fostered children in England are now placed through independent fostering agencies, up from 27 per cent in 2010. Councils paid private providers £874 million for fostering in 2024-25, 40.1 per cent of all fostering spend, for the 32.6 per cent of fostered children they place. The competition regulator found the largest agencies' profits materially higher than a working market would produce, and the ownership chains of the two largest owners lead to companies in Jersey and Luxembourg. A viral claim about the National Fostering Agency gets the details wrong, but the market it points at is real. This page sets out the record.", "basis": "Fostering in England is arranged by councils, who either use their own approved foster carers or buy a placement from an independent fostering agency (an IFA). Most IFAs are private companies; a minority are charities or council owned trusts. DfE counts children in foster placements on 31 March by who provides the placement. Ofsted counts approved fostering households, carers and places. Section 251 outturn is what councils spent over the financial year. Company figures come from accounts filed at Companies House. Figures are for England unless stated: Scotland does not permit fostering for profit, and Wales has stopped new registrations of profit making agencies from 1 April 2026.", "sourceNote": "DfE Children looked after in England including adoptions, reporting year 2025 (26 November 2025) and earlier editions back to 2010; Ofsted Fostering in England 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 (26 November 2025) and Ownership of children's social care providers in England 2025 (27 November 2025); DfE LA and school expenditure 2024-25 (11 December 2025); CMA Children's social care market study final report (10 March 2022); SSCP Spring Topco accounts to 31 August 2025 (filed 23 April 2026) and Nutrius UK Topco accounts to 31 December 2025 (filed 21 September 2026); Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026.", "ifaSharePct": 39.8, "agencySpendM": 874, "agencySpendSharePct": 40.1, "econProfitPerChild": 7913 }, "claim": { "eyebrow": "The claim, checked", "heading": "A viral post about the National Fostering Agency, against the filings", "intro": "A post shared widely on X on 8 October 2026 said that David Cameron privatised the National Fostering Agency in 2015, that it is paid £160 million a year straight to a New Jersey tax haven to look after 2,616 children, and that it makes a tax free profit of £61,000 per child. We checked each part against Companies House filings, the agency's former owners' statements and Ofsted's ownership data. Most of the specifics do not stand up. The questions behind them do: who owns fostering agencies, how much councils pay them, and where the money goes.", "rows": [ { "claim": "Cameron privatised the National Fostering Agency in 2015", "finding": "The agency was set up as a private company, The London Fostering Agency Ltd, on 17 November 1995. Sovereign Capital invested in 2006, Graphite Capital replaced Sovereign in January 2012, and in April 2015 Graphite sold its majority stake to a management buyout backed by Stirling Square Capital Partners. 2015 was one private owner selling to another; no public body was sold.", "verdict": "Not supported" }, { "claim": "Paid £160 million a year", "finding": "The fostering group's turnover was £192.9 million in the year to 31 August 2025, mainly from councils for placements. The only £160 million in its accounts is a bank loan, repayable in November 2030.", "verdict": "Not supported" }, { "claim": "Straight to a New Jersey tax haven", "finding": "Jersey in the Channel Islands, not New Jersey, is in the chain: the directors name funds managed by Stirling Square Capital Partners Jersey AIFM Ltd, a Jersey company, as the group's ultimate controlling parties, and 83.51 per cent of the group's equity is held by a Luxembourg company. No dividend was paid in any of the last three years and the owner's manager charges a £400,000 a year monitoring fee. The larger charge was interest accruing on the owner's own lending: the Luxembourg parent held 14 per cent loan notes and preference shares, and £93.1 million of interest had been added to the loan notes by August 2023. They were repaid and redeemed in December 2023 after the group sold its education business; the accounts do not show how much cash reached the owner. None of this is £160 million a year.", "verdict": "Partly right" }, { "claim": "To look after just 2,616 children", "finding": "No filing or Ofsted table gives a number of children placed by the group. Ofsted records its 23 agencies as holding 4,735 approved fostering places on 31 March 2025, the most of any owner in England.", "verdict": "Cannot be checked" }, { "claim": "A tax free profit of £61,000 per child", "finding": "The group made an operating profit of £18.5 million, then incurred £19.3 million of interest, almost all on bank borrowings, leaving a loss before tax of £0.9 million. Its tax charge was £1.1 million, made up of £3.4 million of current UK corporation tax less a prior year credit and deferred tax. Across the market, the CMA found the largest agencies' profit above a fair return was about £7,913 per child a year in 2016 to 2020, in a sample of large providers that did not name the National Fostering Agency.", "verdict": "Not supported" } ] }, "shift": { "eyebrow": "Who fosters", "heading": "40 per cent of fostered children are placed through agencies, up from 27 per cent in 2010", "intro": "On 31 March 2025 there were 54,820 children in foster placements in England. 32,740 were with their council's own foster carers, including family and friends carers. 17,870 were placed through private agencies and 3,930 through voluntary sector agencies. In 2010, agencies accounted for 12,820 of 47,100. The number of fostered children has been falling since 2022, but the number placed through private agencies has held between about 17,800 and 18,300. Children's homes have moved further: 82.6 per cent of children in children's homes and secure homes on 31 March 2025 were placed with private providers.", "bars": { "ariaLabel": "Share of children in foster placements placed through independent fostering agencies, England, at 31 March", "note": "Private plus voluntary sector agencies as a share of all foster placements. DfE, children looked after at 31 March; the latest edition of each year.", "rows": [ { "label": "2010", "display": "27.2%", "value": 27.2 }, { "label": "2011", "display": "28.1%", "value": 28.1 }, { "label": "2012", "display": "29.5%", "value": 29.5 }, { "label": "2013", "display": "31.3%", "value": 31.3 }, { "label": "2014", "display": "32.3%", "value": 32.3 }, { "label": "2015", "display": "33.4%", "value": 33.4 }, { "label": "2016", "display": "33.1%", "value": 33.1 }, { "label": "2017", "display": "33.4%", "value": 33.4 }, { "label": "2018", "display": "34.2%", "value": 34.2 }, { "label": "2019", "display": "35.9%", "value": 35.9 }, { "label": "2020", "display": "36.8%", "value": 36.8 }, { "label": "2021", "display": "37.5%", "value": 37.5 }, { "label": "2022", "display": "39.0%", "value": 39.0 }, { "label": "2023", "display": "39.2%", "value": 39.2 }, { "label": "2024", "display": "40.1%", "value": 40.1 }, { "label": "2025", "display": "39.8%", "value": 39.8 } ] } }, "carers": { "eyebrow": "Foster carers", "heading": "Councils have lost 14 per cent of their own fostering households since 2021", "intro": "Ofsted counts 33,435 mainstream fostering households in England on 31 March 2025: 18,415 approved by councils and 15,020 by agencies. Council households have fallen from 21,495 in 2021, while agency households have stayed close to 15,000, so agencies now hold 45 per cent of households and 47.9 per cent of the places that have a child in them. When a council has no suitable carer of its own, it buys a placement from an agency. There were 339 agencies, 84 per cent of them privately owned.", "cards": [ { "v": "18,415", "l": "council fostering households, 2025" }, { "v": "15,020", "l": "agency fostering households, 2025" }, { "v": "47.9%", "l": "of filled places are with agencies" }, { "v": "339", "l": "independent fostering agencies" } ] }, "money": { "eyebrow": "What councils pay", "heading": "£874 million to private providers: 40.1 per cent of fostering spend, for a third of fostered children", "intro": "Councils in England spent £2.18 billion on fostering in 2024-25. Of that, £874 million was recorded as private provision of fostering services other than payments to the council's own carers, which is where agency placement fees fall. That is up, in cash terms, from £608 million in 2018-19, the first year the line is split this way, and its share of fostering spend has risen from 35.7 to 40.1 per cent. Private provision may also include fostering companies owned by councils. Some councils record the allowances they pay their own foster carers, who are self employed, as private provision on a separate line (£155 million in 2024-25); that is left out here. Comparing the cost of an agency placement with a council's own is not simple, because agencies often look after children with more complex needs. The CMA compared the total cost of agency placements with councils' own costs and found agency placements about 40 per cent dearer, while noting it was not a precise like for like comparison. Children's homes cost more again: councils recorded £2.74 billion of private residential care, out of £9.0 billion spent on children looked after in all.", "bars": { "ariaLabel": "Private fostering agency spend as a share of council fostering spend, England, by financial year", "note": "DfE Section 251 outturn: private provision on line 3.1.2a (fostering services excluding fees and allowances for the council's own carers) as a share of line 3.1.2 total fostering services.", "rows": [ { "label": "2018-19", "display": "35.7% (£608m)", "value": 35.7 }, { "label": "2019-20", "display": "38.5% (£693m)", "value": 38.5 }, { "label": "2020-21", "display": "39.4% (£724m)", "value": 39.4 }, { "label": "2021-22", "display": "38.2% (£719m)", "value": 38.2 }, { "label": "2022-23", "display": "37.5% (£745m)", "value": 37.5 }, { "label": "2023-24", "display": "39.9% (£845m)", "value": 39.9 }, { "label": "2024-25", "display": "40.1% (£874m)", "value": 40.1 } ] } }, "profit": { "eyebrow": "What the regulator found", "heading": "Margins of 19.4 per cent, and about £7,913 a year per child above a fair return", "intro": "The Competition and Markets Authority studied the 15 largest private providers over 2016 to 2020, across Great Britain, who together held slightly over half of fostering placements; its fostering analysis rests on eight of them. The eight named fostering providers did not include the National Fostering Agency. It found the largest agencies charged about £820 a week per placement, flat in cash and falling in real terms, with margins averaging 19.4 per cent, measured before rent, depreciation, amortisation, interest and tax. After allowing for a normal return on capital, their profit was about £7,913 per child a year on an average fee of £42,626. The CMA concluded that prices and profits of the largest providers were materially higher than it would expect in a working market. It also found where the extra cost of an agency placement goes: agencies paid foster carers £4,725 more per child a year than councils, and spent £4,262 more on overheads. For children's homes owned by private equity, profits covered interest only 1.07 times, against 9 times for other providers.", "cards": [ { "v": "19.4%", "l": "average margin before rent, depreciation and interest" }, { "v": "£820", "l": "average weekly price per placement" }, { "v": "£7,913", "l": "profit above a fair return, per child a year" }, { "v": "40%", "l": "dearer than a council's own, approximately" } ] }, "owners": { "eyebrow": "Who owns them", "heading": "Six owners hold nearly a fifth of all fostering places in England", "intro": "Ofsted traced every agency to the company at the top of its UK ownership chain. On 31 March 2025 the six largest agency owners held 19 per cent of all approved fostering places, and five of the six are private. The two largest are each more than double the size of the next. Ofsted notes that ownership overseas is not visible in its data. The accounts fill some of that in: National Fostering Group's directors name funds managed by Stirling Square Capital Partners Jersey AIFM Ltd, a Jersey company, as its ultimate controlling parties, with a Luxembourg holding company owning 83.51 per cent; Nutrius, which runs Foster Care Associates, says all its parent companies are incorporated in Jersey and tax registered in the UK. Nutrius made £27.8 million before tax in 2025 on turnover of £266.9 million across fostering, residential care and schools, with a tax charge of £14.8 million.", "bars": { "ariaLabel": "Largest owners of independent fostering agencies in England by approved fostering places, 31 March 2025", "note": "Approved fostering places in the owner's agencies. Ofsted, Ownership of children's social care providers in England 2025.", "rows": [ { "label": "SSCP Spring Topco (National Fostering Group): Private equity, Stirling Square", "display": "4,735", "value": 4735 }, { "label": "Ursae Bidco (Nutrius: Polaris, Foster Care Associates): parents in Jersey; CapVest the named controller until March 2025", "display": "4,725", "value": 4725 }, { "label": "Liberi Topco (Compass): Private equity, Cap10 Partners", "display": "2,235", "value": 2235 }, { "label": "Orange Cloud Topco: controlled through a Luxembourg entity of MML Capital", "display": "1,520", "value": 1520 }, { "label": "Midhurst Child Care: Private, individual owner", "display": "1,105", "value": 1105 }, { "label": "Birmingham Children's Trust: Council owned trust", "display": "1,025", "value": 1025 } ] } }, "nfg": { "eyebrow": "The largest agency", "heading": "National Fostering Group: an 18 per cent margin before interest, and more than half of it spent on interest", "intro": "National Fostering Group calls itself the UK's largest independent fostering agency, with 32 registered agencies (Ofsted's register shows 23 agencies under the group's ownership). In the year to 31 August 2025 its turnover was £192.9 million. The cost of sales, which the accounts do not break down but which would include foster carers' allowances and fees, was £122.8 million, and overheads £51.6 million. Before depreciation and the amortisation of goodwill from its acquisitions it earned £34.7 million, 18.0 per cent of turnover; after them, an operating profit of £18.5 million, or 9.6 per cent. Interest took £19.3 million, £18.1 million of it on bank borrowings, so it made a small loss before tax. Net debt was £172.3 million. Before 2024 part of the group's borrowing was from its owner. Until December 2023 the group's Luxembourg parent held £41.0 million of loan notes at 14 per cent, on which £93.1 million of interest had been added by August 2023, and £70.6 million of preference shares, also at 14 per cent. Interest on that lending accrued to the owner each year; the accounts do not show how much cash it received when it was repaid. Both were repaid or redeemed in December 2023, after the group sold its education business, the schools and children's homes run under Outcomes First Group, for £360.4 million of cash proceeds. A widely quoted £104 million underlying profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for 2023 is for that whole group, not fostering.", "cards": [ { "v": "£192.9m", "l": "turnover, year to Aug 2025" }, { "v": "£18.5m", "l": "operating profit" }, { "v": "£19.3m", "l": "interest payable" }, { "v": "£172.3m", "l": "net debt" } ], "timeline": [ { "date": "17 Nov 1995", "text": "The London Fostering Agency Ltd is incorporated as a private limited company. It is renamed The National Fostering Agency Ltd by June 2003." }, { "date": "2006", "text": "Sovereign Capital, a private equity firm, invests. NFA more than doubles its placements and makes six acquisitions." }, { "date": "19 Jan 2012", "text": "Graphite Capital replaces Sovereign as principal shareholder in a management buyout. NFA is the second largest independent fostering agency, with 16 offices." }, { "date": "Apr 2015", "text": "Graphite sells its majority stake to a management buyout backed by Stirling Square Capital Partners. NFA supports nearly 2,100 foster families." }, { "date": "Dec 2023", "text": "The group sells its education business, redeems the preference shares and repays the loan notes held by its Luxembourg parent, and refinances with a £160 million bank loan, repayable in 2030." }, { "date": "31 Mar 2025", "text": "Ofsted records the group as the largest owner of fostering agencies in England: 23 agencies, 4,735 approved places." } ] }, "rules": { "eyebrow": "What the law now says", "heading": "England has a power to cap profits it has yet to use; Wales has stopped new profit making agencies", "intro": "The three nations have taken different routes. Scotland does not permit fostering agencies run for profit. Wales passed a law in March 2025 to remove profit from children's care, and from 1 April 2026 no new children's home, secure accommodation or fostering service can register unless it is a specified kind of not for profit body, and the Welsh Government has committed £75 million over three financial years to help councils and regions develop new residential and fostering provision. England's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 gives the Secretary of State a power to limit the profit of private children's homes and fostering agencies, but only by regulations, and only if satisfied it is necessary having regard to value for money. DfE's 2024 policy paper said it would use the power only if its other market reforms did not work. As at 9 October 2026 we found no regulations made under it.", "timeline": [ { "date": "10 Mar 2022", "text": "CMA final report: prices and profits of the largest providers are materially higher than expected in a working market." }, { "date": "18 Nov 2024", "text": "DfE's Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive says the government will cap profits only if its other reforms do not work." }, { "date": "24 Mar 2025", "text": "The Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 receives Royal Assent." }, { "date": "1 Apr 2026", "text": "Wales: no new registrations of children's homes, secure accommodation or fostering services except by specified not for profit bodies." }, { "date": "29 Apr 2026", "text": "England: the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 receives Royal Assent, with powers for financial oversight of providers (section 16) and to limit their profits (section 17)." } ] }, "councils": { "eyebrow": "Council by council", "heading": "The councils that spend most on private fostering agencies", "intro": "Private fostering provision in 2024-25, from each council's Section 251 return, shown beside the number of children the council had in foster placements on 31 March 2025. The figures are as councils returned them. Lewisham's is high for its number of fostered children and may include spend that other councils record elsewhere. Councils classify spend differently: Birmingham, whose children's services run through a council owned trust, records its fostering spend as other public provision, and Wandsworth and Middlesbrough are missing because DfE withheld their returns.", "bars": { "ariaLabel": "Council spend on private fostering provision, England, 2024-25, largest twelve", "note": "£ million, Section 251 outturn 2024-25, line 3.1.2a private provision (fostering services excluding payments to the council's own carers). Line 3.1.2 private provision would rank some councils, such as Manchester, higher because it includes their own carers' allowances. Children: all foster placements, DfE, 31 March 2025.", "rows": [ { "label": "Hampshire", "display": "£23.5m (1,215 fostered children)", "value": 23.5 }, { "label": "Kent", "display": "£22.7m (1,120 fostered children)", "value": 22.7 }, { "label": "Staffordshire", "display": "£21.2m (912 fostered children)", "value": 21.2 }, { "label": "Stoke-on-Trent", "display": "£19.6m (765 fostered children)", "value": 19.6 }, { "label": "Worcestershire", "display": "£18.5m (713 fostered children)", "value": 18.5 }, { "label": "Nottinghamshire", "display": "£18.4m (507 fostered children)", "value": 18.4 }, { "label": "Norfolk", "display": "£18.1m (688 fostered children)", "value": 18.1 }, { "label": "Lewisham", "display": "£17.1m (300 fostered children)", "value": 17.1 }, { "label": "Surrey", "display": "£15.7m (618 fostered children)", "value": 15.7 }, { "label": "Bradford", "display": "£15.5m (868 fostered children)", "value": 15.5 }, { "label": "West Sussex", "display": "£15.4m (587 fostered children)", "value": 15.4 }, { "label": "County Durham", "display": "£14.8m (814 fostered children)", "value": 14.8 } ] } }, "questions": { "eyebrow": "Questions this raises", "heading": "Questions and answers", "items": [ { "q": "Was the National Fostering Agency ever publicly owned?", "a": "No. Companies House records it as a private limited company from its incorporation on 17 November 1995. It has been owned by private equity firms since 2006: Sovereign Capital, then Graphite Capital from 2012, then funds managed by Stirling Square from 2015." }, { "q": "Do fostering agencies make £61,000 profit per child?", "a": "Not on any published figure we can find. The CMA, looking at the largest agencies across Great Britain in 2016 to 2020, put their average fee at £42,626 per child a year, with profit above a fair return of about £7,913. National Fostering Group made an operating profit of £18.5 million on turnover of £192.9 million in the year to August 2025, and a loss after interest." }, { "q": "Why do councils use agencies if they cost more?", "a": "Partly because they do not have enough suitable carers of their own; the CMA also pointed to matching children with the right carer and to children with complex needs. Council fostering households fell from 21,495 in 2021 to 18,415 in 2025. When no council carer is suitable or available, the council buys a placement. Agencies also pay carers more: the CMA found £4,725 a child a year more in allowances and fees." }, { "q": "Are the owners paying tax in the UK?", "a": "The two largest groups both carry UK tax charges: National Fostering Group £1.1 million in the year to August 2025 (with current UK corporation tax of £3.4 million before adjustments), and Nutrius £14.8 million in 2025, whose accounts say its Jersey parents are tax registered in the UK. Interest on loans, including loans from a company's own owner, can be deducted against UK profits within limits. The accounts do not show what tax the ultimate investors pay." }, { "q": "Can the government cap profits?", "a": "In England it now has the power, under section 17 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, but only by regulations, after consulting councils and providers, and only if satisfied it is necessary. We found no such regulations as at 9 October 2026. Wales has gone further and stopped new profit making agencies registering from 1 April 2026." } ] }, "sources": [ { "name": "DfE, Children looked after in England including adoptions, reporting year 2025", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025" }, { "name": "DfE, Children looked after in England, year ending 31 March 2010, and later editions to 2020 (placement provider tables)", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-by-local-authorities-in-england-year-ending-31-march-2010" }, { "name": "Ofsted, Fostering in England, 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fostering-in-england-1-april-2024-to-31-march-2025" }, { "name": "Ofsted, Ownership of children's social care providers in England 2025", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ownership-of-childrens-social-care-providers-in-england-2025" }, { "name": "DfE, LA and school expenditure, financial year 2024-25 (Section 251 outturn)", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure/2024-25" }, { "name": "CMA, Children's social care market study: final report and appendices", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-social-care-market-study-final-report" }, { "name": "Companies House, SSCP Spring Topco Ltd (now Nimbus Topco), 09248650: group accounts to 31 August 2025", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09248650/filing-history" }, { "name": "Companies House, The National Fostering Agency Ltd, 03127814: company record and previous names", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03127814" }, { "name": "Companies House, Nutrius UK Topco Ltd, 11598370: group accounts to 31 December 2025", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11598370/filing-history" }, { "name": "Graphite Capital, National Fostering Agency release (19 January 2012)", "licence": "Quoted for reference", "url": "https://www.graphitecapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/National-Fostering-Agency-Release-issued-by-CC-19.01.12.pdf" }, { "name": "Graphite Capital, Graphite Capital sells National Fostering Agency (2015)", "licence": "Quoted for reference", "url": "https://www.graphitecapital.com/news/graphite-capital-sells-national-fostering-agency" }, { "name": "GLEIF, Legal Entity Identifier record 635400LO3J3Z3JPRBF17 (Stirling Square fund manager, Jersey)", "licence": "CC0", "url": "https://search.gleif.org/#/record/635400LO3J3Z3JPRBF17" }, { "name": "DfE, Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive (CP 1200)", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67375fe5ed0fc07b53499a42/Keeping_Children_Safe__Helping_Families_Thrive_.pdf" }, { "name": "Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, section 17", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/21/section/17" }, { "name": "Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2025/1/contents" }, { "name": "Welsh Government, written statement on commencement of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 (2 December 2025)", "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0", "url": "https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-health-and-social-care-wales-act-2025-commencement-no1-and-transitional-and" } ], "caveats": [ "DfE's agency share counts all children in foster placements, including those with family and friends carers, who are almost all council approved. Ofsted's agency share of filled places counts mainstream households only, so it is higher (47.9 per cent in 2025). The two are different measures and are not combined.", "In 2016 DfE began validating provider type against Ofsted registrations, and the split between private and voluntary agencies shifted. The combined agency share is shown because it is steadier across the change. The 2018 and 2019 figures are the revised values from the 2020 release.", "Section 251 records spend by provider sector, not by named agency. Agency spend here is private provision on line 3.1.2a, which excludes fees and allowances paid to the council's own carers; that split starts in 2018-19. Some councils record their own carers' allowances as private provision on line 3.1.2b; that is excluded. Private provision may include fostering companies owned by councils. The 2024-25 national totals exclude Wandsworth and Middlesbrough, whose returns DfE withheld for data quality.", "Spend per child divides a year's spend by a count of children on one day. It is a rough check, not a unit cost. The CMA's 40 per cent comparison sets total agency cost against councils' own costs, and the CMA said it was not a precise like for like measure.", "The CMA's profit findings cover the 15 largest providers between 2016 and 2020. It said it could not take a view on smaller providers. Its profit above a fair return deducts a cost of capital of 3 to 6 per cent. Its 19.4 per cent margin is measured before rent, depreciation, amortisation, interest and tax, so it is not comparable with a company's operating margin.", "Company accounts are for groups, not single agencies. National Fostering Group's figures from the year to August 2024 onwards are for its fostering business; earlier years included schools and children's homes. Nutrius's group includes residential care and schools. The filings are scanned images; key figures were checked against the text recognition output, and selected pages against the page images.", "We could not find the source of the post's figures of 2,616 children and £61,000 per child. Neither appears in the filings or Ofsted's data." ] }