Biggest private children’s homes in England made £300m profit last year

Fee income for 20 largest operators - many private equity-owned - soars as councils struggle to meet costs

The biggest private providers of children's homes in England made profits of more than 300m last year, as concern mounts over the conditions some children are being placed in and the spiralling costs for councils.

Fee income for the 20 largest operators of independent children's homes totalled 1.63bn last year, a 6.5% increase on the previous year. And 19% of that - 310m - was recorded as profit, according to an independent analysis. Half of the top 20 providers have some private equity or sovereign wealth fund ownership.