Revealed: money for educating excluded children funded Bolton bar owner’s social life

Call for seismic change' in social care system after Robert McGuinness's use of funds

• Related: How did Bolton children's home receive Ofsted licence then close just months later?

The owner of a children's home in Bolton shut down for serious and widespread failures" spent thousands intended for educating marginalised children on drinking, foreign trips and his pub business, the Guardian can reveal.

Between 2015 and 2021, 1.5m was paid by two local authorities to a community interest company" (CIC) run by Robert McGuinness, the main director of the children's home. The CIC was set up to provide vocational training to children from years 9 to 11 (ages 14-16) excluded from mainstream schools.