Department for Education signals expansion of Regional Care Cooperatives to reform children’s placement market

The Department for Education has set out further detail on plans to expand Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) as part of ongoing reforms to children’s social care commissioning and placement provision across England. The proposals aim to address longstanding market pressures, rising placement costs, and concerns about the availability and quality of care for looked-after children.

RCCs are designed to enable groups of local authorities to collaborate in commissioning, developing, and managing residential and foster care provision at a regional level. The policy reflects recommendations made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (2022), which identified structural weaknesses in the placement market, including limited local provision, increasing reliance on emergency or spot purchasing, and rising use of unregulated or unregistered accommodation.

Local authorities collectively spent approximately £9 billion on children’s placements during the 2024–2025 financial year. Despite this level of investment, the government has acknowledged that placement availability, stability, and quality outcomes remain inconsistent. RCCs are intended to improve system planning through pooled resources, shared data intelligence, and strengthened multi-agency collaboration.

Two RCC pathfinder programmes were launched in 2025 in Greater Manchester and the South East of England. Early evaluation findings indicate that regional coordination may support improved placement sufficiency planning and reduce reliance on reactive commissioning models.

The government has indicated that learning from these pilot areas will inform a phased national expansion, with RCCs expected to become a central structural feature of the children’s placement system over time.

The Greater Manchester RCC has focused on developing regional demand forecasting tools and increasing the supply of specialist residential placements, including services supported by enhanced mental health provision. The cooperative has also introduced workforce development initiatives, including collaboration with further education providers to support professional qualifications for residential care managers.

The model operates as a unified commissioning body across local authorities and third-sector partners, with the stated aim of strengthening market negotiating power and reducing out-of-area placements.

The South East RCC operates through an independent not-for-profit entity, Home and Future, which currently works across 17 local authorities. The organisation has implemented regional placement data systems to support sufficiency analysis and cost benchmarking, and has facilitated placement-sharing agreements between participating authorities.

The cooperative is also developing region-wide commissioning frameworks for residential placements, alongside workforce training initiatives and increased integration with regional fostering services.

Under the policy framework, RCCs are expected to undertake a number of commissioning and oversight functions on behalf of participating authorities, including:

• Coordinating regional or sub-regional placement commissioning and provision development;

• Expanding specialist local placement options and supporting foster carer recruitment and retention strategies;

• Improving market transparency through data sharing, benchmarking, and collective negotiation with providers;

• Strengthening multi-agency working with integrated care boards, youth justice services, education providers, and police services;

• Operating as independent delivery bodies with shared accountability structures and formalised data reporting requirements.

The government has indicated that aligning RCC geographical footprints with other public service boundaries is intended to improve inter-agency coordination and streamline safeguarding and placement decision-making processes.