Josh MacAlister (credit: Laurie Noble/House of Commons)
His first visit after taking up the post was to one of the fostering recruitment hubs, Foster4, which covers Cheshire and Merseyside, and following the visit he said that the DfE would shortly be announcing more action on foster care recruitment.
“As a country, we need far more foster carers,” he said, in a video posted on social media channels. “This is really urgent. It’s a top priority for me. It’s a top priority for the Department for Education, so we’ll be announcing further plans in the near future to make sure we’ve got the foster carers, the foster homes, that children so desperately need.”
MacAlister’s care review called, in 2002, for the recruitment of 9,000 foster carers over three years. However, the number of mainstream foster care households – a group that excludes kinship foster carers – fell by 10% from 2021-24.
LGA urges children’s services funding boost
For the LGA, Hopgood called for the government to use its forthcoming Budget – on 26 November – to “ensure all councils receive sufficient funding to invest long-term into family help, child protection, and child in care and care leaver services”
“It should also develop a cross-government strategy for children, young people and families to ensure all partners are working towards a shared ambition,” she added.
care placements, children in care, children's social care funding, children's social care policy
One Response to Latest children’s services spending boost absorbed entirely by care system, figures show
David Smith September 24, 2025 at 3:41 pm #
There is only one way that this problem will be resolved. Councils buying and running their own residential homes on a nationwide basis. It would take a generation and I’m not sure if a start point is even in place. It could be staffed by LA Social Workers which although expensive would be cheaper and as safe as the current system. So for adoption placements we can no longer pay our for when adoption agencies or councils in essex England uk. Please sign and share and promote quickly
Reply