The Future of Fostering: Stability, Kinship Strategy and Reforms

Fostering in the UK is at a crossroads. Demand for safe, stable homes continues to rise while the pool of approved foster carers has shrunk in recent years. That tension is forcing bold ideas—bigger support for kinship families, new recruitment models, and practical reforms that make placements more stable and carers better supported. Here’s where things are heading, what’s already changing in 2025, and what it means for carers, children, and local services.

1) Why “stability” is the north star

Every reform on the table aims at one outcome: fewer placement moves and more secure relationships. England’s reform blueprint, Stable Homes, Built on Love, sets six pillars that prioritise love, early family help and multi-agency working—explicitly linking stability to better long-term outcomes.

But the system starts under strain. Ofsted’s latest annual figures for England show fewer approved carers than the year before and a net loss of fostering households—making it harder to match well, especially for teens and sibling groups. That shortage has been highlighted repeatedly by sector bodies and major charities.

What stability requires in practice:

• enough local carers to match children close to school, friends and family
• consistent support around the carer (out-of-hours help, respite, peer networks)
• predictable funding (allowances/fees) so carers can commit for the long term
• smoother transitions at 18 (Staying Put/Staying Close) so a good placement doesn’t end overnight. Evidence shows Staying Put can reduce homelessness risk among care leavers.

2) The Kinship Strategy moves centre stage

One of the biggest shifts is the rapid elevation of kinship care. The 2023 Kinship Strategy put new money and attention behind family-and-friends care; in 2025 that’s crystallised into a Kinship Allowance Pilot in up to 10 English local authorities. Eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or certain Child Arrangements Orders will be paid at least the fostering National Minimum Allowance—and crucially, in this pilot the allowance is not means-tested.

Why this matters for stability: when relatives can afford to step in, children move less, stay closer to their identity and family, and councils avoid costly out-of-area placements. If the evaluation shows reduced disruption and better outcomes, expect wider rollout and a long-term funding line for kinship families.

3) Recruitment and retention: from solo campaigns to “single front doors”

Historically, dozens of councils and IFAs ran parallel adverts for the same pool of prospective carers. The new approach groups effort into Recruitment Support Hubs—often branded “Foster with Us”—to simplify the journey for applicants, cut duplicated spend, and improve conversion. Early evaluations of hub pilots in 2024 reported promising KPIs; government added funding to scale hubs across all local authorities.

The logic is simple: one route in, clearer information, faster callbacks, better triage and training—that means more approved carers and, over time, more local matches. Stability improves when placements are made locally and with better preparation.

4) Making caring sustainable: money that matches the role

You’ll see two financial tracks in the reforms:

a) Allowances and fees. National Minimum Allowances (or Scotland’s SRA) are uprated annually to cover a child’s day-to-day costs, while carer fees/skill payments recognise the professional role. Local packages vary, but reforms and sector pressure continue to push for transparency so carers can plan. (Clarity on what’s allowance vs what’s fee helps recruitment and retention.)

b) Tax relief that keeps more in carers’ pockets. HMRC’s Qualifying Care Relief (QCR) was uprated for 2025/26, raising the fixed household amount and the weekly per-child amounts—meaning many carers pay no income tax on fostering receipts under the simplified method. That’s not system reform on its own, but it removes friction and supports retention.

Together with the kinship pilot, these levers aim to stabilise household finances so carers can focus on care, not cashflow.

5) Practice models that actually hold families together

Money matters—but culture and practice keep placements stable day to day. Two strands stand out:

Peer-support networks (Mockingbird). Mockingbird’s “hub home” model builds small constellations of foster families around a central, experienced carer, offering planned respite, crisis help and community. Evaluations show improved retention and signs of placement stability gains; government has backed expansion through the reform programme.

Post-18 continuity (Staying Put / Staying Close). When relationships are strong, allowing young people to remain with carers after 18 prevents cliff-edges. Recent evidence links Staying Put to lower homelessness risk—another direct win for stability.

Expect these approaches—plus trauma-informed training, PACE-based care, and better mental-health access—to be hard-wired into local sufficiency strategies.

6) Managing market risks while protecting stability

Another live debate is the role of large private providers. Analysis in 2025 reported the growing share of placements delivered by private-equity-backed IFAs and questioned the impact on costs and systemic resilience. Government has flagged plans to limit excessive profit and strengthen oversight. Whatever the structural solution, the goal must be sufficient, local capacity and continuity for children—not sudden contract failures that trigger disruptive moves.

7) What local areas need to do next

Plan for sufficiency with realism. Use the latest Ofsted/DfE data to forecast demand by age and need, then recruit specifically to those profiles (e.g., sibling groups, teens, parent-and-child). Build pipelines through hubs and speed up assessments without cutting safeguards.

Wrap carers with practical support. Every placement should come with a clear offer: 24/7 advice, respite options, quick mental-health access, and on-the-ground education help (Virtual School links, PEP quality, PP+ spend that actually helps). That support protects placements when behaviour spikes or school goes wrong.

Integrate kinship at the front door. Make kinship exploration standard and timely, not an afterthought. Where eligible, connect families to the pilot allowances (or local equivalents) and legal support early; if the national pilot expands, switch from ad-hoc grants to consistent weekly support.

Be honest about money. Publish transparent tables showing allowance vs fee vs add-ons (travel, birthdays, holidays, mileage), and how these compare to the national baselines. It’s both fair and persuasive.

8) What prospective and current carers should watch in 2025–26

• Kinship Allowance Pilot results and any expansion—especially eligibility, application flow and how it interacts with local support services.
• Recruitment Support Hub coverage in your area (look for “Foster with Us” campaigns) and whether it shortens the journey from enquiry to approval.
• Annual allowance uplifts (each April) and any local top-ups, with clear splits between child allowance and fee.
• QCR updates at the start of each tax year; used well, QCR can make a real difference to take-home income.
• Practice support offers like Mockingbird, regular respite, and trauma-informed training—ask for them; they’re becoming part of the mainstream offer.

The bottom line

The future of fostering hinges on stability—stable homes, stable finances, stable professional support. Policy is moving in that direction: kinship is being resourced, recruitment hubs are simplifying entry, tax relief and allowance uplifts are easing pressure, and practice models like Mockingbird are scaling. The gap to close is large—shortages remain and costs of living still bite—but the direction of travel is clearer than it’s been for years.