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UK Government Launches £88m Drive to Recruit 10,000 Foster Carers
The government aims to reverse a 12% decline in foster carers by relaxing rules and providing £88m to add 10,000 foster placements in England by March 2025.
- This week the UK government launched a drive to recruit 10,000 more foster carers by the end of the next parliament, backed by £88m funding to reverse a long-term decline.
- Fostering England data reveal approved foster carers in England have fallen nearly 12% over the past decade, with experts estimating a shortfall of around 8,000 amid about 99,000 children in care and roughly 49,000 fostering households.
- Voicing firsthand experience, carers added, `I had to leave fostering because I found the system was just too challenging to work with`, citing lack of support from children's social workers, and Sarah Thomas warned, `Foster carers tell us that due to the cost of living crisis, they do not have the funds in order to enable them to continue fostering`.
- Fostering charities say the ambition must be matched by more investment, as local authorities spent £4.7bn on residential care in 2022, which is more disruptive and costly.
- Ministers say the plan will simplify bureaucracy, strengthen regional fostering hubs, test flexible care models and offer clearer support, but carers and sector leaders warn recruitment alone won’t fix systemic problems.
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