Fostering Innovation Fund - Market Engagement

This is a Pre Market Engagement Notice for Fostering Innovation Fund Grant Funding. We anticipate that this funding will be provided under Section 14 Grant Terms and Conditions. This engagement will not result in a contract for services. A Pre Market Engagement Notice has been published to enable the Department to reach as many interested organisations as possible that may not have access to Find a Grant. There is also a Find a Grant notice relating to this competition: https://find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/grants/fostering-innovation-fund---market-engagement-1 This notice is for information only and is **not** a call for competition. The department reserves the right not to enter a formal procurement process. This notice serves to raise awareness, share provisional timelines, and seek early views from the market. The purpose of this PIN is to initiate market consultation on the grant funding for projects through the Fostering Innovation Fund. This PIN is intended to: - Raise awareness with the market of a potential future application process to enable suppliers to consider bids for funding innovative models of foster care designed to achieve prescribed outcomes. - Share information about DfE’s proposed approach and invite the market to share early thoughts to inform any further shaping of our requirements, timelines, approach and any other aspects relating to this opportunity. - Help DfE gauge the market’s interest, capability and capacity for delivering innovative solutions in foster care against the named objectives. All information in this notice will be subject to ministerial agreement and internal approval, including the estimated funding amount. Eligibility Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) and Fostering Hubs – both existing and those who, at the time of fund launch have been successful in their application to become either an RCC or Hub in 2026- 2027. Whilst we would encourage applications to be submitted by the Hub’s lead local authority (LA) the project application form can be submitted by any LA within a fostering Hub on behalf of the hub. For RCCs we would anticipate that the contracting authority or proposed contracting authority will apply on behalf of the RCC. We know there are already great examples of innovation in fostering in both the public and private sector and would encourage applications from Fostering Hubs and RCCs working in partnership with other organisations. We would encourage interested organisations to attend the market engagement session. The Department is happy to share details of interested parties; the follow up survey will ask if you would like us to share your details with Hubs and RCCs to allow them to contact you to discuss the potential of partnering. Please note, in all instances bids must be led by RCCs or Hubs. Any other organisation cannot apply for this funding independently or as a lead bidder, but we welcome their thoughts on the fund. Objectives The number of foster carers in England has been steadily decreasing since 2021, which is reducing the number of loving homes available for children and young people who need foster care. The government is committed to ensuring every child who cannot live with their birth family has the warmth, stability and belonging of a home where they are loved where appropriate. The government has pledged to grow the number of LA and third sector foster places by 10,000 by 2029. As announced in Renewing Fostering: homes for 10,000 more children, the Department for Education (DfE) will launch an innovative programme supported by an investment of £12.4m to scale and spread new and existing models of care. Through this programme we want to test different models of foster care at scale that push at the boundaries of how we do things now to achieve better results for children. We want to better understand what models will improve outcomes for children through ensuring the right approach for a child depending on their circumstances and needs. This programme will seek bids which are designed to achieve the following outcomes: - Increased number and diversity of foster carers, particularly from under‑represented age groups - More children stepped down from residential care into foster care where this is in their best interests - Reduction and prevention of placement breakdown - Speed up the process of foster carer approvals We will seek bids for projects which can demonstrate reach, delivery and scalability across a regional footprint. Regional delivery provides greater reach, economies of scale, access to specialist provision, more robust evidence on scalability, alignment with wider reforms, and reduced delivery risk. A key aim of the Fostering Innovation Fund is to build more evidence to identify what works across wider geographical areas and to share learning. A key requirement of any grant funding will be the commitment to engage fully with evaluation activity and regular reporting to the department on key management information and delivery progress. We intend to invite bids for projects at different stages of development, ranging from evidence - based interventions to those with limited existing evidence but that draws on evidence-based principles, as well as open-innovation approaches that test new or emerging models. All information in this notice will be subject to ministerial agreement and internal approval, including the estimated funding amount.  The total value of this fund is £12.4m over financial years 2026 - 2027 and 2027 - 2028. Depending on the scale and nature of the bids received we anticipate funding approximately 8-12 projects.