英国卫报与调查新闻局的联合调查揭示，英国地方议会每年支付超过1.25亿英镑公众资金，将易受伤害的儿童安置在非法养老院1。过去两年内，超过480家私人公司因1800个非法儿童安置获得2.5亿英镑报酬1。尽管运营未经Ofsted注册的儿童之家属于刑事犯罪，但几乎英国每个议会都在使用这类非法看护设施1。
造成这一现象的主要原因是缺乏合法床位供应和监管机构不愿关闭这些设施1。调查发现，平均每个非法安置费用超过15万英镑，至少9个议会为单一安置支付超过100万英镑1。预计任何时候，十分之一的被照顾儿童生活在非法设施中1。英国儿童专员Rachel de Souza表示："长期以来，非法儿童之家一直被允许在阴影中运营，儿童被视为商业机会，大量公共资金被用于未妥善注册或检查的安置。"1
Prospero Health and Social Care是该市场最大的参与者，过去两年获得760万英镑用于86个未注册设施安置1。2024年1月至2026年4月间，该公司工作人员共有44项指控涉及伤害儿童或构成风险，其中16项被证实1。Ofsted在2020年识别了144家非法养老院，到今年已增至710家1。Ofsted上月获得首次定罪：Catalyst Care Ltd因运营肯特郡的三家未注册养老院被罚92000英镑，该公司在2022-2025年间从地方当局获得超过170万英镑1。
A joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed that local councils across England spend more than £125 million per year in public funds to place vulnerable children in unregistered care facilities 1. Over the past two years, more than 480 private companies have received £250 million for approximately 1,800 placements in illegal children's homes 1.
Despite operating unregistered children's homes constituting a criminal offense, councils nationwide have resorted to these unlicensed facilities, primarily due to a shortage of legal bed capacity and regulatory reluctance to close non-compliant operations 1. At any given time, an estimated one in ten children in care are believed to be living in illegal settings 1. The average cost per placement exceeds £150,000, with at least nine councils each paying over £1 million for single placements 1.
Prospero Health and Social Care represents the largest operator in the illegal care market, receiving £7.6 million over two years for 86 unregistered facility placements 1. Between January 2024 and April 2026, the company's staff faced 44 allegations involving harm to children or posing risk, of which 16 were substantiated 1. Catalyst Care Ltd, another major provider, received over £1.7 million from local authorities between 2022 and 2025 while operating three unregistered homes in Kent 1. The company received its first conviction, being fined £92,000 1.
Ofsted, the regulator, identified 144 illegal care homes in 2020, a figure that has risen to 710 by this year 1. The agency intensified enforcement measures beginning in July of the previous year 1. Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, stated: "Illegal children's homes have long been allowed to operate in the shadows, with children treated as business opportunities and vast sums of public money spent on placements that are not properly registered or inspected" 1.
评论
还没有评论，欢迎留下第一条。