A recent report into attitudes in the care sector towards the commissioning of child placements has revealed “a total lack of confidence in current care commissioning practice”. The National Care Association (NCA) survey, Every Budget Matters, is particularly damning of what it terms “the price-tagging by care commissioners of child placements”.
Decisions are often made on financial grounds rather than on the basis of what is best for the individual child, the report claims. “Quality of care must come first. Price is secondary”, said NCA Chairman Nadra Ahmed, “…Once the local authority becomes the child’s corporate parent, that authority has an absolute responsibility to act in the child’s best interests.”
A copy of the report can be downloaded from the NCA website:
www.nationalcareassociation.org.uk
