The Isle of Wight Council has spent an eye-watering £500,000 in just 4 months housing a vulnerable 10-year-old boy in an ‘illegal’ care home – an arrangement described by a judge as ‘wholly inadequate’.
The placement, which has cost the Council a staggering £29,000 per week for the past 17 weeks, equates to around 1.2% of the local authority’s entire annual Children’s Services budget. That budget also funds child protection, education support for over 1,500 children with special needs, and accommodation for more than 200 children in care.
The Council’s questionable spending has been exposed thanks to work by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, off the back of a recent hearing in the High Court.
The hearing related to an application by the Isle of Wight Council to renew a Deprivation of Liberty Order enabling care staff to physically restrain the unnamed child – something rarely issued against someone of such a tender age.
It’s now known that the young boy, who has experienced ‘significant trauma’ and has both complex needs and behavioural issues, was placed in a house run by Great Minds Together, a private care provider. Although the home was not Ofsted-registered, technically making it illegal, the council decided there was no alternative placement available due to a national shortage of secure and therapeutic provision.
But it remains unclear why the boy is in care in the first place, as he is often visited by his mother, siblings and friends. He went into care in November 2024.
During the recent High Court hearing, Mr Justice Keehan quipped that the Isle of Wight Council could have instead sent the child to Disneyland Paris for a month and saved some money, in reference to the spiralling costs. He criticised the quality of care, raising concerns about social isolation and frequent use of restraint by staff.
Great Minds Together has defended the cost, saying that a portion of the money relates to activities and travel, which the Council would normally fund directly.
It has been confirmed that the Council has now moved the boy to a registered home, but it is unclear if the staggering costs are continuing…
UPDATE FRIDAY – A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council has, in a response statement, said:
“Over recent years local authorities across the country have experienced a significant increase in the number of children in their care for whom foster care is not suitable and a home in residential care is required. The national shortage of places in residential children’s homes has contributed to significant price inflation in the children’s residential care sector.”
“You may have seen that The Times has written that “The Local Government Association, which represents councils, said that the number of children’s social care placements costing £10,000 or more a week has risen sharply over the past five years. There were 120 such placements in 2019, rising to1,510 in 2023, while the proportion of councils with at least one of these placements rose from 23 per cent to 91 per cent over the same period. The most expensive placement was £63,000 a week, although for most councils the highest cost was between £9,600 and £32,500 a week”.”
“The Isle of Wight Council is pleased that the child referred to in the article has now moved to a different home. This home is registered with Ofsted and the weekly cost is less. It is not possible to predict how long this will continue for.”
Typical damn council, moving the child to a different home will still be costing thousands. Our money being wasted yet again!!!
£29000 per week!!!
It’s not an illegal provider unless the child is under 8. And the waste of public money is what happens when a necessary social service is privatised.
It’s not possible to accurately determine severe mental health conditions in children, the general consensus is to wait until maturity and adulthood. In the meantime all hell can break loose, and growing children can become a danger to themselves and others and end up in care, as therapeutic and treatment needs have to be determined only by a firm diagnosis. When and where that treatment is not available via the NHS, containment is the next best answer, for which private enterprise identifies the gap in the system and capitalises heavily. Wrong yes, but don’t blame the council; it has no choice as it legally has a duty of care, no matter the cost. It can’t say no, it would be held responsible for a dereliction of duty and sued for millions.
If people want somebody to blame, make it those who voted for wholesale privatisation in the first place. Pointless to do so though, we’re long past the place of no return.
Some really good points there actually however I think the main focus of criticism will be the £29000 per week.
Its an absolutely ludicrous amount of money that, no matter what rhetoric Great Minds Together wheel out, is simply not justifiable. I for one would love to see a breakdown of this.
One of the primary reasons it was privatised was that state run anything is hugely ineffective and costs more than double a private enterprise, There is not one effective state run organisation that can compare with the efficiency of a private enterprise.
Yeah. like the water and rail companies. Er…
All that money on one boy is a disgusting waste of money to another money grabbing institution.
Then multiply it by the rest of the 10,000 kids in the system and get really annoyed. That’s capitalism for you. See a need gap, make a killing, taxpayer foots the bill.
£29000 a week? How? You could pay someone £25 an hour for 24 hours a day 7 days a week for £4200 to care for them, you could rent that person a very nice house to look after the child in for £750 a week. Feed both of them in restaurants for £2100 a week. So far we are up to £7050 & they are living a high life. Throw in a therapist even at £100 an hour for 6 hours a day 7 days a week £4200 & a physical therapist on the same wage for the same period & we are still only at £15k. The council are being ripped off which means we are being ripped off & some people are getting rich off of the back of a 10 year old child.
Off the back of taxpayers.
All makes me phyiscly sick deep as my own child was taken in care system.Tho unclear finalisation of where/how care 4child would be with this life changer..other than the 1and1 parent struggling with failed systems ,law ,domestic dramas and everything else system ends up adding in.!! herself and nout2ask 4help with ao called laws or rights or who the he’ll plays God at such life damaging n future of young mindset. No surprise all new decades of young people r less n less sain, polite decent public behavior. stand up straight, out going honest achievers. Most don’t leave school grads 4dream jobs.
Anti social crime, drink, drugs, kids having kids.!!
‘mispers’ there’s no point so called care wen ther workers dont care about children at all. Slight ther ow n right by rulss ! Most dont have kids themselves. All wrongness all the systems care charity church clasifyd D/F》》N××nc××
Over £4100 per day. Little wonder our council tax is so expensive, with nothing in return.
IOW council, are always pleading poverty.
Time they took action to halt this gross mismanagement of public money. Rather than the usual response ” its not my department” As with the Floating bridge fiasco.
‘They’ can’t. It’s their statutory responsibility. It might interest you to know that there are currently approximately 10,000 children in private care across the UK, roughly 77% of the total number of looked after children. The AVERAGE private provision costs range from 4-6k a week, for complex needs significantly higher., can be up to £1m a year. The profit margin on care is on average 25%. That’s some turnover…all because we voted for capitalism back in the day and turned our backs on non-profit care.
Well not everyone did, only the moneterist Thatcherites.
No, neither did I. But the majority did which is how we ended up here. And will they be told? No. They simply double down and swallow wholesale the trickle-down twaddle of every posh bloke in a suit whilst touching their caps. EVEN when the Tory Walter the Softy/Lord Snooty lookalike produced a book on disaster capitalism entitled The Sovereign Individual: How to survive and thrive during the collapse of the welfare state. Subtitled ‘How I Made Damned Sure it Would’.
“It is an offence under the Care Standards Act 2000 to operate a children’s home without an Ofsted registration. This is intended to prevent unsuitable people from owning, managing or working in homes. But Ofsted rarely takes steps to prosecute.”
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025-06-18/uk-council-placed-10-year-old-in-illegal-childrens-home-costing-29k-a-week
There’s a difference between children’s homes and social care provision; the latter don’t require registration for children over 8, although they are inspected. Supposedly.
Must be brown envellopes involved… or a mate of a mate in the council running the place.
I wonder if there will ever be a time that the tired, boring, unimaginative “brown envelope” line will not be rolled out everytime there is an article about our council.
Don’t get we wrong – I believe brains, and common sense, are in short supply throughout County Hall but lets steer away from the boring, pointless, repetitive comments and seek justification from open intelligent discussion.
While I agree that there are much needed facilities for children who are victims of abuse and have behavioural problems that is an obscene amount for such a short period. There surely must be a cheaper but adequate care provider and accommodation or was it the case that it was the easiest option and sod the rate payers.
Nothing surprises me these days with the council, they r a joke,they dont care no doubt we will pay for it next april
Well to start with HOW can it cost that much per week… its questionable why, or how to start with.
There are not enough children’s homes (Therapeutic )now to cater for extreme behaviour.
These children cannot be placed in foster care but need many types of therapeutic help with regular changes of staff to prevent burn out.
It is very sad for that child but children homes are necessary to place them safely where they get the right help 24/7 365
At least I now know why my Council tax keeps going up.
“Due to INCOMPETENT spending by IW Council”
The Ritz wouldn’t charge that much for a years stay!
The iw is as broken as the rest of the uk I’d love to see a itemised bill
Who at the council is sanctioning this expenditure and is their any relationship between them and the service provider? A VERY careful audit is needed here.
What a scam. It might be simpler if the government just diverted our wages into their coffers & handed out food stamps.
All the comments about cost.Whay about the poor little boy? The mother and his siblings visit regularly ….the case is in front of a judge to continue using restraints against him…so much for ‘therapeutic care’. Diabolical.
Well said.
So, which one of the councillor’s is a stake holder in great minds together??
Lol, there’s your answer.