Accredited official statistics

Fostering in England 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

Updated 19 December 2024

Applies to England

The Fostering in England 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 release also includes:

• data tables

• methodology

• pre-release access list

Summary

This release covers:

• the numbers of foster carers and foster places and placements, in both local authority (LA) and independent fostering agencies (IFA)

• data relating to types of foster care, registrations, deregistrations and a range of other subjects

• the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

Main findings

The number of mainstream fostering households continues to decrease.

In the past, substantial decreases in mainstream LA households were offset by increases in the number of IFA households, but since 2022 IFA households have also decreased. Over the last year, there has been a 5% decrease in the number of mainstream LA households, and a 2% decrease in the number of IFA households.

There is a continuing upward trend in the number of family and friends households.

At the end of March 2024, family and friends households (sometimes known as kinship foster care) accounted for 21% of all active fostering households, an increase from 16% in 2020. Family and friends households accounted for 50% of all newly approved fostering households as at 31 March 2024.

The use of IFAs for mainstream foster care is increasing.

The IFA sector now accounts for 44% of mainstream fostering households, up from 41% in 2020. IFAs now account for 48% of all filled mainstream fostering places.

The number of applications for mainstream fostering has increased since last year.

The number of applications received from prospective fostering households in 2023 to 2024 was around 8,500. This is an increase from the previous year when it was around 8,000. The proportion of approved applications remains at the same level as last year.

The year-on-year decrease in newly approved mainstream households seen in recent years has slowed down.

At the end of March 2024, there were around 3,800 newly approved mainstream households. This represents an 18% decrease compared with 2020 but is in line with last year.

Introduction

This statistical release covers LA fostering agencies and IFAs in England in the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. It includes data about fostering households, foster carers, retention, recruitment and capacity of providers.

We collected data from 460 agencies (147 LAs and 313 IFAs). This was 98% of all 469 eligible agencies and is likely to account for a slightly higher proportion of all foster carers.

Among the agencies that submitted data were several organisations that run children’s services, including fostering, for particular LAs independently of the council. There were also several joint returns, such as Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, which submit a combined dataset as ‘London Tri-borough’. For more details please see the accompanying dataset.

We divide fostering households into 2 main groups for this analysis. The main part of this report covers ‘mainstream fostering’, which refers to all foster homes except those with a primary placement offer of family and friends foster care (including permanent, non-permanent and fostering to adopt arrangements). ‘Family and friends fostering’, which is covered in the last section, refers to arrangements organised through an LA to allow children to be cared for by someone they already know.

This year we see a continuation of trends observed last year: ongoing decreases in the number of mainstream fostering households and carers, but rising numbers of family and friends fostering arrangements. This is likely to be influenced by an increased policy focus on kinship care, including family and friends fostering, following the independent review of children’s social care.

Fostering sector overview

Out of the nearly 12 million children and young people under the age of 18 living in England, just over 400,000 (3%) are in the social care system at any one time. At the start of this reporting period, about 84,000 of these children were looked after in residential care, of which around 57,000 were in foster care. While the number of children in some kind of residential care has increased steadily over recent years, the number of children in foster care has plateaued since 2020.^{[footnote 1]}

At the end of March 2024, there were 42,615 fostering households in England. The number of households has decreased steadily since 2021, and the make-up has changed. Family and friends fostering is the preferred route in many cases, and it is increasingly common for this type of foster care to be used to meet the needs of individual children. The largest subset of fostering households is mainstream LA households (18,860). These currently account for 44% of total fostering households (figure 1).

Figure 1: Number of fostering households by type and sector as at 31 March, over the last 5 years

^{Estimates are included in the number of places as at 31 March 2020.
View the data for figure 1 in an accessible table format.}

There is substantial variation in the size and type of fostering agencies within the IFA sector. You can read more about this in our transparency data on the Largest national providers of private and voluntary social care.

Mainstream fostering

Sector stability

In the years since 2021, there have been year-on-year decreases in the number of approved or newly approved mainstream fostering households as at 31 March in both the IFA and LA sectors (figure 2).

In the past, substantial decreases in mainstream LA households were offset by increases in the number of IFA households, but from 2022 onwards there have also been decreases in the number of IFA households (figure 2). There has been a 14% decrease in the number of approved or newly approved mainstream LA households from 2020 to 2024.

Figure 2: Year-on-year net change in mainstream fostering households by sector over the last 5 years

^{Estimates are included in the number of households as at 31 March 2020. This chart is calculated by comparing datasets from separate instances of the annual fostering data collection, while the joiners and leavers section below is based on data from just this year’s fostering data collection.
View the data for figure 2 in an accessible table format.}

Most regions saw slight decreases in the number of mainstream fostering households across both LA and IFA sectors this year. East of England was the only region to see an overall rise, with a 1% increase in fostering households compared to last year. East of England (5%) and East Midlands (4%) saw small increases in the number of IFA households, while London saw a 1% increase in IFA households.

Figure 3: Percentage change in number of approved mainstream fostering households by region between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

^{View the data for figure 3 in an accessible table format.}

Joiners and leavers

The number of applications received between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 was 8,485. During this period, 4,055 mainstream households joined the sector, of which 2,795 were new to fostering. The number of deregistrations over the same period was 4,820. Some of these may have deregistered and re-registered, changing agency or sector. The overall change in the number of households (joiners minus leavers) recorded in this year’s collection (-765) is smaller than that recorded in last year’s collection (-1,045).

Figure 4: Total approved mainstream households at the start and end of the collection period with in-year joiners and leavers

^{Figures are rounded, so subtotals for different types of joiner and leaver in the chart may not sum to totals.
View the data for figure 4 in an accessible table format.}

The proportion of in-year applications completed by the end of the year was 65%, which is the same as last year. This year, 33% of these completed applications were approved. At the end of March 2024 there were 3,785 newly approved households, some of which will have started the application process before the beginning of the year. The total number of applications this year was slightly higher than last year (8,485 up from 8,010). Over the last few years, the proportion of withdrawn applications has remained fairly steady at about 2 out of 3 of those completed in-year.

Figure 5: Applications received in 2023 to 2024, by status on 31 March 2024

^{This flowchart shows that, of the 8,485 applications received in 2023 to 2024, 5,535 were completed and 2,950 were still in progress as at 31 March 2024. Of the applications completed in-year, 1,815 were approved, with 3,670 withdrawn and 50 rejected. Of the withdrawn applications, 2,445 were withdrawn by the applicant and 1,225 by the service. This chart is not to scale. Figures are rounded, so subtotals may not sum to totals in adjacent rows.
View the data for figure 5 in an accessible table format.}

Of the fostering households that held approved status at some point during 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, 12% had deregistered by the end of the year (4,820 of 38,565). On average, LA households that deregistered this year had been registered for just under 8 years, while IFA households that deregistered this year had been registered for about 5.5 years.

Foster carers

As at March 2024, there were 57,065 approved mainstream foster carers. This is a decrease of 4% from last year (59,380). Of these, 11% were approved during the year. Of the new approvals, LA carers account for 45% and IFA carers account for 55%. The proportion of newly approved LA mainstream carers is lower than the proportion of all LA mainstream foster carers (56%) active in March 2024. In the LA sector, the total number of approved mainstream carers has decreased by 15% since 2020.

Fostering households

As at March 2024, it was most common for mainstream households to be approved for non-permanent foster care (51%) or permanent foster care (38%) as their primary care type. In line with previous years, many households (63%) offered multiple types of foster care. This was higher in the IFA sector (85%) than the LA sector (45%).

The proportion of households approved for 3 or more children is 28% in LA households and 41% in IFA households (figure 6).

Figure 6: Household size for all approved and newly approved mainstream fostering households as at 31 March 2024

^{Totals include households approved for zero children. All figures are rounded so subtotals may not sum to totals in brackets.
View the data for figure 6 in an accessible table format.}

Fostering places

As at March 2024, there were 70,465 approved mainstream fostering places. The number of approved mainstream fostering places has decreased slightly (-3%) since last year, when it was 72,770. The decrease in approved LA mainstream places has been slightly larger (-4%) than the decrease in approved IFA mainstream places (-2%) since last year.

The proportion of filled places across both LA and IFA sectors was 60% and 62% respectively. As at 31 March 2024, 16% of all approved fostering places were vacant. A similar proportion of places were vacant in IFA (16%) and LA (17%) households this year.

This year, 1,675 household places were used exclusively for short breaks, which is equivalent to 2% of all approved mainstream places. The number of short-break-only places has fluctuated over the years. There have been year-on-year increases seen since 2021 when the total was 1,250, but the total is still less than in 2020, when there were 1,750 places.

Figure 7: Number of filled, vacant and not available mainstream fostering placements as at 31 March each year, over the last 5 years

^{Estimates are included in the number of places as at 31 March 2020.
View the data for figure 7 in an accessible table format.}

There are several reasons why a fostering place may be recorded as ‘not available’. You can read more about this in the statistical glossary.

Figure 8: Number of vacant mainstream fostering placements as at 31 March over the last 5 years by sector

^{Estimates are included in the number of places as at 31 March 2020.
View the data for figure 8 in an accessible table format.}

Family and friends fostering

At the end of March 2024, family and friends care accounted for about a fifth of all fostering provision. Family and friends fostering has become more common in recent years, with a net increase in households of 21% since 2020. There is a high level of turnover amongst family and friends foster carers (figure 9), because specific households are approved and deregistered based on need.

Figure 9: Total approved family and friends households as at 31 March, with in-year joiners and leavers, over the last 5 years

^{Estimates are included in the number of households as at 31 March 2020. Slight discrepancies between in-year deregistrations and new approvals and subsequent totals are because the data for each year is based on separate annual data collections.
View the data for figure 9 in an accessible table format.}

Revisions to previous release

This is the first release of this data for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024

The Fostering in England 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 also includes:

• data tables

• methodology

• pre-release access list

Contacts

If you are a member of the public and have any comments or feedback on this publication, please contact Emma Martin at socialcaredata@ofsted.gov.uk.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Hannah Tempest and Noopur Naik.

Glossary

Definitions of terms are in the statistical glossary.

Annex: data tables for figures

This section contains the underlying data in an accessible table format for all figures.

Data for Figure 1: Number of fostering households by type and sector as at 31 March, over the last 5 years

Sector	2020 (44,540)	2021 (45,370)	2022 (43,905)	2023 (43,405)	2024 (42,615)
Family and friends (LA)	7,310	8,045	7,855	8,400	8,865
Mainstream (LA)	21,885	21,495	20,845	19,835	18,860
Mainstream (IFA)	15,345	15,830	15,205	15,170	14,890

See Figure 1

Data for Figure 2: Year-on-year net change in mainstream fostering households by sector over the last 5 years 

Sector	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
IFA	220	485	-625	-35	-280
LA	-510	-390	-650	-1,010	-975

See Figure 2

Data for Figure 3: Percentage change in number of approved mainstream fostering households by region between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

Region	IFA	LA
East Midlands	4%	-6%
East of England	5%	-1%
London	1%	-5%
North East, Yorkshire and The Humber	-2%	-5%
North West	-4%	-4%
South East	-4%	-8%
South West	-4%	-4%
West Midlands	-5%	-6%

See Figure 3

Data for Figure 4: Total approved mainstream households at the start and end of the collection period with in-year joiners and leavers

Group	Subgroup	Number
Approved households as at 1 April 2023	Total	34,510
In-year joiners	New	2,795
In-year joiners	Transfer	600
In-year joiners	Return	275
In-year joiners	Other	390
In-year leavers	Leaver	-4,280
In-year leavers	Transfer	-465
In-year leavers	Other	-75
Approved households as at 31 March 2024	Total	33,745

See Figure 4

Data for Figure 5: Applications received in 2023 to 2024, by status on 31 March 2024

Group	Number	Percentage
Applications received in 2023 to 2024	8,485
Applications completed	5,535	65%
Applications still in progress	2,950	35%
Applications completed in approval	1,815	33%
Applications completed in withdrawal	3,670	66%
Applications completed in rejection	50	1%
Withdrawn applications by applicant	2,445	67%
Withdrawn applications by service	1,225	33%

See Figure 5

Data for Figure 6: Household size for all approved and newly approved mainstream fostering households as at 31 March 2024

Sector	Group	1 child	2 children	3 or more children
LA	Newly approved (1,710)	955	540	210
LA	All approved (18,860)	6,210	7,340	5,305
IFA	Newly approved (2,075)	695	880	500
IFA	All approved (14,890)	3,095	5,710	6,080

See Figure 6

Data for Figure 7: Number of filled, vacant and not available mainstream fostering placements as at 31 March each year, over the last 5 years

Status of fostering place	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Not available	17,320	17,365	15,940	14,960	14,755
Vacant	14,060	14,005	13,170	12,100	11,520
Filled	46,120	44,750	44,550	44,580	42,870

See Figure 7

Data for Figure 8: Number of vacant mainstream fostering placements as at 31 March over the last 5 years by sector

Sector	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
IFA	5,965	6,475	6,185	5,640	5,245
LA	8,100	7,530	6,985	6,460	6,275

See Figure 8

Data for Figure 9: Total approved family and friends households as at 31 March, with in-year joiners and leavers, over the last 5 years

Group	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
New approvals (in-year)	4,615	5,215	4,850	5,465	5,600
Deregistrations (in-year)	3,730	4,180	4,470	4,755	4,665
Total approved households (at 31 March)	7,310	8,045	7,855	8,400	8,865

See Figure 9

1. DfE, ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, Exploring education statistics, November 2023. ↩