The poor record of for-profit care homes must lead to a rethink on how public services are organised

The government has yet to respond in detail to the latest, shocking findings about the poor performance of for-profit social care providers, and what a report from Oxford University calls the “astounding pace” of children’s home privatisation. But the revelation that almost all the residential care settings forced to close by regulators in the 12 years to 2023 were privately run must lead to change.

Opponents of outsourced public services are sometimes criticised for putting principle before practice. Who cares who is doing an operation or providing a foster placement – this argument goes – as long as they do it well? Academics have created an innovative data resource that is also a counterblast. Their study deals with social care, not public services in general. But its conclusions about the rate of failure in for-profit provision are a wake-up call that ministers, local government leaders and everyone else who cares about the social care system must not ignore.