Regional Care Cooperatives expanded to tackle profiteering in children's social care

The government has announced a major expansion of its children's social care reforms, confirming five new Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs), four additional Fostering Hubs and a new £23.1 million programme aimed at improving support for children with the most complex needs.

The measures are intended to give local authorities greater control over the children's care market, reduce reliance on expensive and unsuitable placements, increase foster care capacity and tackle profiteering by some providers.

Regional Care Cooperatives bring together social workers, care providers and partner agencies including health services and the police across multiple local authority areas to commission and coordinate care for children. With five new RCCs joining two existing pathfinders, the model will now cover more than 100 local authorities across England.

The Department for Education said the expanded approach would help drive out poor-quality and illegal placements while enabling more children to be placed closer to home in settings that meet their needs.

Alongside the expansion, applications have opened for the £23.1 million Home Again programme, with £18.5 million available for up to five RCCs from October 2026. The initiative will provide children with the most complex needs, including those experiencing or at risk of deprivation of liberty, with a single coordinated support plan spanning children's social care, health, education and youth justice.

The announcement follows concerns about increasing use of costly placements and illegal children's homes. The government said some local authorities have been forced to spend up to £1 million a year on individual children's placements.

Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister (pictured) said: "Too many children in care have been let down – placed miles from home in expensive, unsuitable settings, some even locked away, while unscrupulous providers have extracted excessive profits from a system meant to protect them.

"We are expanding the new model of children’s care, which means better supported foster families, real control over the children’s care sector for local authorities and personalised support for the most vulnerable children. This is what a care system that puts children first looks like."

The government is also expanding the Room Makers programme across all Fostering Hubs and RCCs, providing financial support for foster carers wishing to renovate or extend their homes to accommodate more children.

In addition, a consultation has been launched on replacing existing fostering guidance with a single set of simplified fostering standards designed to place enduring relationships at the centre of fostering practice.

The consultation, which runs until 16 September, proposes replacing the existing 31 National Minimum Standards with seven new Quality Standards for fostering services, alongside seven Development Standards covering a foster carer's first year after approval. The proposals would also consolidate existing guidance into a single framework with a stronger emphasis on children's wellbeing, stability and enduring relationships.

CoramBAAF welcomed the government's renewed focus on fostering and children in care but said the proposed reforms represented a significant change for the sector.

In a statement, the charity said: "At CoramBAAF, we welcome the Government’s focus on fostering and children in care. But, we also know that changes of this scale will bring questions, opportunities and challenges."

It said it would provide updates, practical resources and opportunities for practitioners to help shape its response to the consultation, adding: "This consultation is a real opportunity for the sector to influence the future of fostering, and we want as many voices as possible to be part of that conversation."