{"id":5442,"date":"2015-09-18T19:29:57","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T19:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=5442"},"modified":"2015-09-18T19:29:57","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T19:29:57","slug":"hedge-funds-have-no-place-in-childrens-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/hedge-funds-have-no-place-in-childrens-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Hedge funds have no place in children’s services"},"content":{"rendered":"

17 September 2015
\nSource: The Guardian<\/a>
\nRay Jones<\/a><\/p>\n

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Only in Britain do we delegate to the market crucial decisions about the welfare and safety of our most vulnerable children<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"monopoly<\/div>\n

<\/a> The direction of travel is clear: children\u2019s services are to become a money maker. Photograph: Huw Jones\/Alamy<\/p>\n

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Sometimes in life there\u2019s deja vu, the feeling that we have been here before. And then there are coincidences that it is hard to believe have really occurred by chance. This was my experience recently.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I was working with a local safeguarding children board and its partners which were seeking to drive forward child protection improvement, in the context of big funding cuts for all the public sector bodies around the table. In the midst of this positive activity, I spotted a news alert that David Cameron was making a speech in which he would be sharing his thinking about how\u00a0a further \u00a320bn public expenditure cuts were to be made<\/a>. One of his priorities for change would be child protection and children\u2019s services, bringing in new providers because \u201cwhat energises new markets are new insurgent companies who break monopolies and bring in new ways of doing things\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Plans to privatise child protection are moving at pace<\/a><\/h1>\n
Ray Jones<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It felt as though I had been there before. There should be little surprise that this political script of marketisation and privatisation should now be targeted at child protection. No other country in the world delegates to the market crucial decisions about the welfare and safety of children, such as initiating court proceedings to have children removed from their families and deciding where they should live. But with the health service, schools, probation, prisons, and welfare benefits assessments open to the market, the direction of travel has been clear for some time.<\/p>\n

In his speech, Cameron said that \u201cnon profit trusts\u201d (but he also mentioned non-specified \u201cother partnerships\u201d) would be able to take on crucial children\u2019s social services responsibilities from \u201cany local authority failing its children\u201d. This is not what his government\u00a0pushed through in a recent regulatory change<\/a>. There, it is explicit that private profit-driven companies can get contracts for these responsibilities as long as they set up non-profit subsidiaries. As with academy schools, we know how the parent company then makes it profit \u2013 it charges its subsidiary whatever it wants for management, facilities and support services. It is a money maker.<\/p>\n

And now for the strange coincidence. Two hours later, I received an email from a consultancy firm selling itself as giving \u201cinvestors a better way to access industry knowledge \u2026 helping thousands of clients get answers to their most critical questions, without leaving their desks. Rather than spending hours reading research reports, or travelling to meet people at conferences, we can connect clients directly with industry experts to hear immediate, relevant insights\u201d.<\/p>\n

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In a time of adversity and austerity, social work has come of age<\/a><\/h1>\n
Ray Jones<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Who are these clients who want \u201cindustry insights\u201d. They are, according to the email I received, \u201cthe world\u2019s finest hedge funds, asset management and private equity firms\u201d. And what did they want from me? I was told they came across my name \u201cwhile doing some research online on social work in the UK, and wanted to see if you would be interested in a paid phone consultation with my American client\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now, I assume hedge funds and private equity firms pay well. Just look at the multi-million pound payments received by their directors, who generate big profits from the \u201cindustries\u201d they cherry pick. It was a little tempting to take up their offer to be paid to advise their private investor clients. But I replied saying that I had no interest in having the conversation. Still, I suspect these companies will continue to circle child protection and children\u2019s social services and social work. And there may be others willing to advise about how and where to strike to \u201cenergise\u201d the market being created in children\u2019s social services.<\/p>\n

Ray Jones is professor of social work at Kingston University and St George\u2019s, University of London. A former director of social services, his most recent book,The Story of Baby P: Setting the Record Straight<\/a>, was published by\u00a0Policy Press<\/a><\/em> in 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 
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17 September 2015 Source: The Guardian Ray Jones Only in Britain do we delegate to the market crucial decisions about the welfare and safety of our most vulnerable children The direction of travel is clear: children\u2019s services are to become a money maker. Photograph: Huw Jones\/Alamy Sometimes in life there\u2019s deja vu, the feeling that… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5444,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442\/revisions\/5444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}