Local authority or independent fostering agency?

The comparison, side by side

How the two routes actually work

Local authorities (LAs) recruit, assess and approve their own foster carers, and place children with them directly.

Independent fostering agencies (IFAs) also recruit, assess, approve, train and support carers, but the children placed with their carers are referred from local councils on a fee-per-placement basis - an IFA doesn't have children of its own to place, it places children a council couldn't place in-house.

Of England's approved mainstream fostering households, 18,860 are with local authorities and 14,890 are with agencies, alongside 8,865 family and friends (kinship) households, for 42,615 in total. Of new approvals in the latest year, 45% went to local authorities and 55% to agencies - agencies are now recruiting the majority of new mainstream carers even though they hold a smaller total stock of households, reflecting more aggressive, better-resourced recruitment.

Source: Ofsted, "Fostering in England 2023-24."

The placement cost differential, and why it matters to you

In-house local authority foster placements save roughly £25,000 per child compared with residential care; agency-placed children save roughly £10,000 per child compared with residential care. Both routes cost a great deal less than residential care, but agency placements cost the taxpayer materially more than local authority ones.

This is why councils are actively trying to grow their own in-house carer pool rather than relying on agencies, and it's useful context for why some local authorities now offer genuinely competitive support to try to match what agencies provide.

Source: Westco Communications, "The science behind foster carer marketing and recruitment," cross-checked 2025.

Support: what genuinely differs

Independent agencies typically offer more intensive, structured training and a dedicated supervising social worker with a smaller caseload than many council social workers manage - this is a genuine and commonly cited advantage of the IFA route.

Local authorities typically offer stronger local and community connections, since children are more likely to stay in their existing school and community, and carers are dealing with the same council that handles local services, schools and housing.

Neither of these is universally true of every individual service - quality varies service by service on both sides, which is exactly why we've proposed, in our methodology, to build an honest, Ofsted-powered directory rather than relying on generalisations like the ones above for your specific decision.

The marketing rules agencies are meant to follow

Since October 2025, the Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP) has required member agencies to market truthfully: to reference only the most recent Ofsted inspection report, to use only genuine testimonials given without inducement, and not to denigrate competitors or the wider sector.

This is voluntary industry self-regulation, not statute, but it's a useful bar to hold any agency's marketing against - and it's part of why we always show the date of an Ofsted rating, not just the rating itself, whenever one appears on this site.

Source: NAFP, "Foster carer recruitment marketing guidance."

Can you switch routes later?

Generally, yes - carers do move between local authorities and agencies, and occasionally back again. The exact process, timing and any impact on an existing placement varies by service and area, and it isn't something we can state as a fixed national rule honestly, so speak to both services directly if this is something you're considering.