With more than 51,000 children and young people in foster care across England, the £1.4bn annual bill for fostering services accounts for around £1 in every £6 spent by children's services departments.
In light of this, claims in a report by public sector consultancy firm Impower that £150m can be relatively straightforwardly saved from the collective fostering bill have sparked much debate.
So what exactly does it propose and just how feasible is it?
Calculating the cost
The report suggests that local authorities could make significant savings by recruiting more foster carers "in-house", rather than providing places through independent fostering agencies (IFA). It calculates that council-provided foster placements, which make up 68 per cent of provision, are, on average, £17,000 a year less expensive than agency placements.
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