Before anyone accuses me of being duped, read my trenchant criticism of Nicola Sturgeon's apparent views on Hilary Clinton and US foreign policy at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/03/04/sturgeon-and-clinton-does-being-a-woman-any-woman-trump-sic-her-war-crimes-her-murder-and-betrayal-of-the-poor/ That matters to me, a lot, but nothing can deny her massive achievements on the home front.
In the Guardian today, from George Monbiot, quite an heroic figure for me and often well-tuned into to Scottish affairs:
Bring your suitcase, your bin liner, your dumpy bag. They’re handing out money faster than you can stuff it in a sack. All you need do is join the market in what may now be England’s most lucrative commodity. A commodity with arms and legs, hearts and brains, thoughts and feelings. Children.
Two years ago I stumbled into this issue after discovering that children in care who were being helped by a local charity I’m involved with were suddenly being whisked away, terminating the amazing progress they had been making, breaking their relationships, their sense of home, stability and security. When I began exploring why this was happening, I could scarcely believe what I was seeing: a highly lucrative trade in highly vulnerable young people. Children in “care” were being exchanged between private equity companies for £100,000 apiece. That figure is now wrong. Today they are worth far more.
A few days ago, the Financial Times published an investigation that I defy you to read with anything but open-mouthed horror. The average charge to the state by a private provider for a child in “care” is now £384,020 a year. That’s six times what Eton charges. Some providers now levy more than £1m per child per year, rising in a few cases for children with complex needs to more than £3m.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/05/child-care-councils-private-equity-companies
George’s report is strangely Anglocentric so, here’s what is missing for Scots to know:
Nothing like this is happening in Scotland and it cannot happen because of the achievements of FM Nicola Sturgeon, her government, the SNP and all of us who support it. Nothing makes me prouder.
From ‘the promise in 2016:’
As a result, in Scotland but sadly not in England:
Unregistered/illegal children’s homes or carers (as in the English crisis) are highly unlikely in Scotland—effectively near-zero on a systemic scale—due to mandatory registration and active enforcement.
All children’s residential care (homes) and fostering services in Scotland must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. Operating without registration is illegal, and the regulator has powers to investigate, issue improvement notices, and cancel registrations (with strengthened enforcement via recent legislation like the Care Reform (Scotland) Act). gov.scot
Unregulated placements for under-16s are not permitted (unlike aspects of England’s system). Cross-border placements (e.g., English children in Scottish homes) are monitored with additional requirements.
Searches for Scottish equivalents turn up no comparable reports of hundreds of children in illegal settings. This issue is overwhelmingly documented as an England/Ofsted problem driven by severe placement shortages.
Finally rip-off prices?
Scotland: £28,000 operating profit per child per year.Across GB (England, Scotland, Wales): £44,000 average.
Difference: Scotland was about £16,000 lower per child (roughly 36% lower).
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62287a2e8fa8f526d6df251f/Scotland_summary_.pdf
Yes, I know, that £400 necklace and her bookshelves.
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Mr Monbiot’s report is NOT ‘strangely Anglocentric’ it is specifically about the situation in England as the headline makes clear:
“”Horrific, unregulated, and very profitable. The companies making cash from England’s children in care”
George Monbiot
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It IS ‘strangely’ Anglocentric because for him, it IS strange, ie unusual, for him, not to mention the situation in Scotland!
Your ‘Mr Monbiot’s report is NOT ‘strangely Anglocentric’ it is specifically about the situation in England as the headline makes clear’ is strangely, for you, bad tempered.
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Not bad tempered just accurate. The Guardian usually uses UK in its headlines when England would be the more appropriate and accurate designation. That they used England in this headline clearly describes the focus of the articles content and goes some way to explaining why he did not mention Scotland on this occasion. If he had I am quite sure it would have given the headline writer an excuse to use UK rather than England
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Unlike many commentators, he commonly contrasts the situation in England or UK with that in Scotland.
On this occasion he did not.
For me, that made his report seem strangely Anglocentric.
By all means disagree based presumably on your greater knowledge of his writing this last 12 years but why you thought it was worth ‘correcting’ me in such certain terms, escapes me.
Anyhow, I’m off.
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Brilliant article. Thanks for this.
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12,000 children are in care in Scotland. Half are in kinship care (extended family) or live at home. 6000 are in care away from home.
Children in care or foster care can stay for longer 18+. They receive educational grants, affordable accommodation and do not pay council tax.
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I think we need a balance sheet with SNP/Scottish Govt achievements in one column and their mistakes/screw ups in another. Do you think we would all come up with the same balance or are we all guilty of only seeing what we want?
I very much value the moral and cultural capital we have built up in Scotland and I think Nicola Sturgeon deserves credit for her support for children & families, women, migrants and the LGBTQ communities. I have never thought she was perfect but like many others here I’m not looking for a hero, just leaders who try to make Scotland a good place for all of us to live in
I think we also need to acknowledge the situation George Monbiot describes in England could never happen here is partly due to the Scottish media. Like them or loathe them they do hold the Scottish Government and the SNP to account (yes, we see those stamps Mr Flynn) in a way no other UK party experiences though Jeremy Corbyn and Zach Polanski might challenge this assertion. Maybe the UK would be in a better place now if all their parties faced more probing scrutiny?
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Though I don’t think the BritNat media questions the SNP on anything out of the goodness of their heart. In fact the opposite is true they’d like the SNP to disappear off the face of the Earth. The oligarchs in power across the globe really do not like socially responsible governments that are making the lives of the people more equal and decent, oh no can’t have that. Just have to look at Cuba and Columbia right now. The far right backed by tRump are determined to take control from the left wing, socially responsible Columbian government, via the media etc they won the first round of their election last week, let’s hope they do not succeed in the next round. It’s an amaing country with resources…
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yes, totally agree that the britnat media is not loving us. But even so their criticism does hit home and makes the Scot govt stronger because they know what to expect. Sarwar, Findlay and Oxford would soon buckle if forced to justify their ideas
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The money is being paid back. Unionist parties overspent and cheat with illegal donations.
The money could have just been paid back and saved on the amount spent on investigation.
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