Delivery Partner for Regional Care Cooperatives and Fostering Hubs

The Department for Education is seeking a Delivery Partner to support the establishment and operation of five new Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) and expand the Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme across approximately 100 participating Local Authorities (LAs). The successful organisation will provide expert coaching, facilitation, and technical support to guide regions through the RCC staged progression model (Foundation and Development phases), including diagnostics, governance, sufficiency strategy co-design, market shaping, and adoption of national data standards. Concurrently, the Delivery Partner will enhance Fostering Hubs to manage end-to-end recruitment and approval processes for foster carers, with support spanning performance monitoring, change management, stakeholder engagement, and social worker practice model development. The role requires building long-term capability within hubs, ensuring strategic alignment between RCCs and Fostering Hubs, and supporting integration across the system. This contract contributes to the Department's goal of securing homes for 10,000 additional children by 2029 and realising the vision of every local authority being part of an RCC.