Michelle has welcomed the Labour government’s reform to the children’s social care system, hailing it as a ‘landmark moment’.

New powers handed to Ofsted will allow them to crack down on exploitative children’s care providers and transparency will be increased around their finances.

The children’s social care system has been a major concern both for MPs and councils. The number of looked after children rising – up to 84,000 last year, from 75,000 the year before. With spending on looked after children which ballooning from £3.1 billion in 2009/10 to £7 billion in 2022/23. A number of local authorities are on the brink of bankruptcy.

With a lack of homes for looked after children, councils have to look to private providers, often charging extortionate prices. There are now over 1,500 children in placements each costing over £0.5 million every year, while the largest 20 private providers make an average of 23 per cent profit.

Some children have been placed in unsafe, unregistered placements hundreds of miles from vital support networks. Such settings are illegal to run but Ofsted found 887 unregistered homes, up from 370 in 2022-23, meaning at least 1,000 children are in these settings.

Michelle said “I am so thrilled that in the first few months of taking office, this Labour government has made more progress on children’s social care than the Conservatives did in fourteen years.”

“I’d like to congratulate local campaigners who have pushed hard to see change in this area”