Children's Care Commissioning Special Report: Policy Context

Most care commissioning involves developing contracts with independent providers from the voluntary and private sectors to provide places in residential children's homes and foster families. There is a shortage of places in both settings. In 2019, the Fostering Network estimated a shortfall of 8,000 foster carers in the UK and an Ofsted report last year highlighted the shortage of carers with the right skills to match to a cohort of looked-after children who are generally older and have more severe emotional and behavioural needs.

In recognition of a shortage of foster carers with the right skills, Staffordshire County Council has cast its net countrywide as part of a pilot project with private provider National Fostering Group to find foster families able to care for adolescents that would otherwise be cared for in residential care (see practice example). What long-term impact the Covid-19 pandemic has on the recruitment and retention of foster carers is also still unclear. Councils have reported foster carers being unable to maintain existing or take on new placements due to health concerns – two-thirds of foster carers in England are aged over 50 putting them at greater risk of experiencing severe Covid symptoms – but interest in the role has also emerged from previously untapped communities and groups keen to help during the pandemic.