Diagrama FoundationEarlier this year, the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 received Royal Assent making Wales the first UK nation to legislate for an end to private profit in the care of looked-after children, including fostering services.
Over the next few years, the legislation will phase in the rule that only local authorities or not-for-profit organisations may offer fostering or residential care meaning for-profit providers will gradually be excluded.
At Diagrama, we wholeheartedly welcome this reform. This brave legislative shift is fundamentally about putting children’s welfare first, not corporate gain: reinvesting any surplus into training, services, and outcomes, rather than shareholder dividends. It’s exactly the ethos underpinning organisations like ours, where every penny spent supports children and their carers.
While this legislation doesn’t apply in England, I believe it signals a broader shift in values across the UK and I hope that it may be introduced here too.
In fact, if similar changes were adopted in England, it would strengthen the position of charities like Diagrama allowing us to support more children closer to home, reduce unnecessary disruption, and ensure every penny is reinvested into care quality rather than profit margins.
The new Welsh model is not simply reform; it’s a call to action. By showing what care provision looks like when it’s built solely around children’s welfare, it encourages everyone, from local authorities to policymakers to ask: Should profit ever come before children?
At Diagrama, we believe the answer is no and Wales’s leadership brings us one step closer to a system focused entirely on what matters most: children’s futures.
Kate Patel
