Councils to receive £30m to speed up adoptions

The funding, which will be formally announced in Wednesday's Budget, is intended to cover the £27,000 "inter-agency fee", which covers the cost of another agency finding, assessing and matching adoptive parents with a child.

It is believed that many local authorities are put off from seeking adoptive parents from outside their area because of the cost, which means children can end up waiting longer to be matched.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I am determined to tear down the barriers to children in care being found loving adoptive parents.

"The average time it takes to place a child with a new family has been falling and I am delighted we are able to offer this funding to try to ensure it falls further."

Carol Homden, chief executive of Coram, which runs a voluntary adoption agency, said: "Anything which improves the adoption process and enables children waiting to be adopted to benefit from the stability and security of a loving family as soon as is possible can only be a good thing.

"We hope that local authorities will consider all options simultaneously.

"When seeking adopters for a child they will be free to select the family best placed to meet that child's individual needs, whether from their own adopters or from a voluntary adoption agency.

"We also hope that the support being made available to local authorities will enable them to focus on the adoption support needed to help adopted children and their new families bond and thrive."

News of additional funding for councils comes just a week after it emerged that the number of children being placed for adoption is continuing to fall.

Figures published by the Adoption Leadership Board show that 740 placement orders were granted between October and December 2014, compared with 780 in the previous three months (July to September 2014).

Numbers have more than halved since July to September 2013 when 1,550 orders were made.