Plans to restrict profit making in the care of looked-after children cleared the first hurdle in the Senedd amid concerns about unintended consequences.
Senedd members voted to agree to the principles of the health and social care bill, which aims to restrict private profit, but warned of “huge risks” in practical terms.
Dawn Bowden, Wales’ social care minister, cautioned that the cost of caring for looked-after children has increased from £60m a decade ago to around £200m today.
“If we carry on that trajectory, we will be looking at a bill for local authorities of around £1bn in the next ten years,” she said, stressing that doing nothing is not an option.
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Ms Bowden added: “We don't want to see children treated as commodities in the care sector; we want to see investment in the care of our looked-after children.”
Russell George, who chairs the Senedd’s health committee, called for investment beyond the £68m the Welsh Government has already committed to the policy.
The Montgomeryshire MS said a majority of members supported the principles but the committee raised “very real concerns” about how the bill will work.
Mr George told the Senedd: “There are huge risks for the sufficiency and sustainability of residential and foster places … as an unknown number of providers leave the market.”
He said the cost of caring for looked-after children has risen dramatically in the past decade, which seems unsustainable with councils already facing enormous pressures.
Jane Dodds, a former social care worker who is the Liberal Democrats’ leader in Wales, described the current system as dysfunctional.
She said: “If we think about it, we are paying our council tax; that goes straight into the shareholders' pockets and it doesn't meet the needs of those really vulnerable children.”
Ms Dodds urged ministers to avoid pitfalls from the experience in Scotland, where a study showed councils spent £218m on for-profit care despite a similar commitment in 2020.
Following the debate on 22 October 22, Senedd members backed the bill and it now moves on to the second of four stages in the Senedd law-making process.