Children's social care market interventions advisory group

Independent experts from across the sector will advise government on reforms to placements for children in local authority care.

Role

The group will advise the Department for Education to support the delivery of reforms to the children’s social care placements market.

Overview

The market interventions advisory group supports the department to address issues in the children’s social care placement market.

The group will support the delivery of measures set out in Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive. It will focus on the supply of children’s social care placements and the operation of this market.

The group will:

  • test and refine delivery of market measures
  • provide DfE with advice on the implementation of proposed market measures including unintended consequences
  • test and refine stakeholder management and engagement plans

Terms of reference

The group aims to support DfE in their work to:

  • prevent profiteering, where it is present, in the children’s social care placements market
  • boost the amount of placement provision available where needed to provide more suitable placements in the right places for children in local authority care – looked after children or children in care
  • diversify the market to encourage greater involvement from local authorities, the voluntary sector and social investors
  • stabilise the children’s social care placements market and improve its resilience to market forces and possible shocks

Governance of the group:

  • DfE will provide secretariat functions
  • queries about the focus and activities of the group should be directed to DfE
  • all discussion takes place in a Chatham House environment with no opinions being attributed to any one individual
  • all group members must agree to and sign non-disclosure agreements
  • the group is not a decision-making body - whilst work of the group will feed into ministerial advice, final decisions on policies and funding rests with the government
  • membership of the group may change
  • where named members cannot attend a meeting, the group can request for a substitute representative to attend at least 10 calendar days in advance of the meeting

Meeting frequency

The group will meet every 3 months.

It first met in April 2024 and had 2 meetings before pausing for the 2024 general election. The group reconvened in January 2025.

Membership

Current members are:

  • Steve Crocker, Chair of the Children’s Social Care Market Interventions Advisory Group, DfE Non-Executive Board Member
  • Adrian Rocks, Head of Commissioning Alliance
  • Anders Bach-Mortensen, Associate Professor of Social Care and Policy at Roskilde University, Senior Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford
  • Angela Kawa, Senior Advisor for the Local Government Association
  • Colette Dutton, Director of Children’s Services for Wigan Council, Greater Manchester Regional Care Cooperative lead
  • Daniel Turnbull, Senior Director of Markets at the Competition and Markets Authority
  • Judith Hay, Former Director for Children, Education and Skills at Newcastle City Council, Director of Sunbridge
  • Lucy Butler, Director of the South-East Regional Care Cooperative
  • Paul Carberry, Chief Executive at Action for Children
  • Phil Rook, Chief Financial Officer for Worcestershire County Council
  • Rachael Wardell, President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), Executive Director of Children, Families and Lifelong Learning at Surrey County Council
  • Scott Greenhalgh, Chair Social and Sustainable Capital LLP, Chair Certitude London
  • Sophie Clarke, Managing Director of We are Juno CIC
  • Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care in Devon, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) lead for commissioning
  • Yvette Stanley, National Director of Regulation and Social Care, Ofsted

Contact details

CSC.MIAG@education.gov.uk