Purpose

This report will set out LB Tower Hamlet’s plans to continue participating in the regional fostering recruitment service (Local Community Fostering) with expansion to take responsibility for the full fostering recruitment and assessment pathway (enquiry to approval) to meet the Department for Education’s ‘Renewing Fostering’ Programme expectations. This will include the context of the developing plans for a London Regional Care Co-operative.

Decision

DECISION:

1. Approve LB Tower Hamlets continued involvement in Local Community Fostering, as one of the four Local Authorities within the region.
2. Approve LB Waltham Forest to continue to act as the lead Local Authority pending alternative arrangements or requirements of the programme.
3. Delegate authority to Steve Reddy, Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with Richard Ennis, Corporate Director for Resources / Section 151 Officer, the Mayor and Lead Member to progress and decide on the expansion of the scope and remit of the Local Community Fostering service, including the development of an end-to-end regional fostering recruitment and assessment model, in line with the Government’s fostering reform agenda.
4. Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children’s Services in consultation with the Mayor and Lead Member to agree the final terms of the agreement, including termination and performance management clauses, and subject to the Mayor and Lead Member being regularly advised of the savings being achieved through the agreement.

REASONS FOR DECISION:

1. LB Tower Hamlets has been a member of a regional fostering recruitment service ‘Local Community Fostering’ (LCF), since May 2024. The LCF comprises four Local Authorities (LAs) with LB Waltham Forest as Lead LA. To remain part of the Department of Education’s (DfE) ‘Renewing Fostering’ Programme’ and maintain access to grant funding and improve fostering capacity and consistency, regional hubs are required to expand and take responsibility for the full fostering recruitment and assessment pathway, meeting minimum requirements set by the DfE, by 30th September 2026.
2. Delivery within these timelines will require prompt, operationally agile decision-making across workforce, financial and service-design matters, which cannot be achieved through repeated Cabinet reporting. Without delegated authority, there is a material risk that necessary decisions cannot be taken quickly enough, resulting in failure to meet national deadlines and the consequent loss of agreed grant funding and access to future programme investment.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

1. Option 1: continue as part of the Local Community Fostering regional service with LB Waltham Forest as the lead and further decision making delegated to the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Corporate Director for Resources / Section 151 Officer, (recommended).
2. As of the end of February 2026, the Local Community Fostering region had approved 54 households against a DfE end of year target of 49. The region has been recognised by the Children’s minister as one of the top three performing fostering hub regions in the country in terms of approved foster households.  Local data shows variation across the region in assessment timescales, thresholds and conversion rates, providing the opportunity for consistency and improved transparency across the region.
3. Through the LCF, Tower Hamlets has seen growth trends and higher conversion rates in all areas of the fostering process since April 2024 to date. The figures below show the improvements for LBTH since joining the LCF in conversion rates to initial enquiries and then visits, from initial visits to assessments and from initiating application to approvals.  

•         The conversion rate from initial enquiry to initial visit 14.20%

(slightly higher than 2024/25 at 13.2% and higher than 2023/24 at 4.49% which was prior to LCF)

•         The conversion rate from initial visit to Form F assessment 37.5%

(higher than 2024/25 at 30.7% and higher than 2023/24 at 17.39% which was prior to LCF)

•         The conversion rate from initiating application to Approval 83.3%

(higher than 2024/25 at 25% and higher than 2023/24 at 0% which was prior to LCF)

1. Continuing within the partnership places the Local Community Fostering partners at the forefront of regional collaboration and leadership in line with central governments direction of travel. This option enables all partners to continue to shape a model that reflects local needs while meeting emerging national requirements, ensuring influence over programme design rather than having a model imposed at a later date. Progressing at pace will increase the likelihood of further government investment, given the Minister’s emphasis on supporting authorities leading the programme. 
2. Option 2: continue as part of the Local Community Fostering regional service but with a different lead LA (not recommended)
3. LB Waltham Forest has led the programme since the initial DfE grant application in May 2023, with the service now fully operational, high-performing and nationally recognised, having exceeded its DfE approval targets. Local Community Fostering is, however, a regional partnership arrangement, with oversight shared across the partner local authorities and decisions not taken by LB Waltham Forest in isolation. Senior leaders from each partner authority meet regularly, providing collective oversight, shared decision-making, scrutiny and robust professional challenge across the partnership. The current arrangement also supports clear accountability, with LB Waltham Forest acting as the lead authority for governance, contracts, finance and statutory compliance, whilst remaining accountable to the wider partnership governance arrangements and partner authorities.
4. Importantly, whilst LB Waltham Forest acts as the lead authority for the partnership, Tower Hamlets retains significant influence and control over key decisions made by the fostering service regarding Tower Hamlets children and foster carers.
5. The proposed end-to-end approach and associated changes centre firmly, and primarily, on the recruitment, assessment and approval stages of the fostering journey. Under this model, Tower Hamlets will continue to provide the supervision, training, retention and support offer to its approved foster carers, ensuring carers remain supported through locally delivered services and relationships. Following approval, foster carers will become foster carers for Tower Hamlets exclusively, caring for Tower Hamlets children. Foster carers will be supported by Tower Hamlets supervising social workers, and the children placed with them will continue to be supported by Tower Hamlets social workers. Tower Hamlets will also retain its authority and responsibility for determining which children become looked after, in conjunction with the courts where required, and will determine where children are placed. Oversight of children cared for by foster carers will continue through children’s social workers, supervising social workers and Independent Reviewing Officers, all of whom are Tower Hamlets staff. The Local Authority will also retain responsibility for its Fostering and Permanence Panel arrangements in relation to the ongoing review of its approved foster carers. This means that key decisions regarding children becoming looked after, placement decisions, foster carer training and retention, and the support provided to carers looking after Tower Hamlets children will continue to be taken by Tower Hamlets officers.
6. The effect of the proposed model is therefore not to transfer corporate parenting responsibility, case responsibility, foster carer training and retention, or placement decision-making away from Tower Hamlets. Rather, the regional arrangement strengthens the front end of the fostering pathway by coordinating recruitment, assessment and approval activity, while Tower Hamlets retains responsibility for the children it looks after, the carers approved to care for them, the training and retention of those carers, and the statutory oversight arrangements that ensure children’s welfare and care planning remain locally accountable.
7. In relation to panel arrangements, one option is for Tower Hamlets to continue to hear its own fostering applications through its own Fostering and Permanence Panels, as is the current approach, with capacity increased by one additional panel to support the expanded recruitment, assessment and approval activity. This is the preferred option, as it enables Tower Hamlets to retain local panel oversight, continuity of decision-making and local expertise. An alternative option is for new approval considerations to be heard through a regional fostering panel. If a regional panel is progressed, existing panel members from partner authorities, including Tower Hamlets, have agreed to contribute through a rotational arrangement, ensuring local expertise continues to inform recommendations. Similarly, it is proposed that the Agency Decision Maker (ADM) function will operate on a rotational basis across the participating local authorities. The fostering ADM for Tower Hamlets is the Head of Service for Regulated Service and Resources.
8. Strategic governance is provided through the Local Community Fostering governance arrangements, attended by Directors of Children's Services and senior leaders from each partner authority. The operational design and governance arrangements have been developed collaboratively across all partner authorities, including Tower Hamlets leaders, ensuring that Tower Hamlets continues to influence key decisions, service development and the future direction of the regional fostering arrangements.
9. Tower Hamlets will continue to retain statutory accountability for the quality, safety and effectiveness of fostering arrangements for its children and approved foster carers. This includes oversight of safeguarding, matching, placement stability, foster carer support, complaints, standards of care concerns and escalation of any risks through existing Tower Hamlets management and governance arrangements.
10. Changing the lead authority at this stage would introduce significant transitional risk at a critical point in the programme’s expansion, potentially disrupting delivery, delaying decision-making and diverting officer capacity away from service transformation, workforce alignment and performance improvement. Transferring lead authority functions would incur additional cost, officer time and complexity, including the need to renegotiate legal, financial, data-sharing and accountability arrangements, with no clear improvement in outcomes or value for money. 
11. Central government has emphasised the importance of pace, stability and delivery, and a change in lead authority mid-programme could be perceived as destabilising, reducing confidence in the region’s readiness to deliver the expanded end-to-end fostering remit and secure future funding. Strategic consideration of alternative leadership arrangements would be more appropriately aligned with future Regional Care Cooperative governance decisions.
12. Option 3: exit the Local Community Fostering regional service (not recommended)
13. This would involve transferring the Lead LA role to another LA in the region as there is otherwise regional consensus to continue.  Although membership of a regional hub is not currently mandated, exiting the programme would be a divergence away from the current fostering reforms and clear messaging from central government. Further it would inhibit our ability to access future funding which will be conditional on a regional model. 
14. Option 4: Maintain existing service with no expansion (not recommended)
15. If the partnership decided to maintain the existing service ‘as is’, there would be no further grant funding available and all costs would need to be met by the partners (all LAs involved), or the service disbanded. The cost to Tower Hamlets in 2025/26 to be a part of the LCF under ‘business as usual’ arrangements was £56,000.

Action by: Corporate Director of Children’s Services