The UK Foster Carer Crisis Explained
The UK needs more than 8,000 additional foster carers — right now. Here's why the shortage exists, what it costs children and the state, and how the gap could be closed.
What the numbers tell us
The UK has around 83,000 children in the care system at any one time, of whom roughly 57,000 are in foster placements. To meet current and projected demand, the sector needs a net gain of over 8,000 approved foster household places — not just recruits, but fully trained and matched carers. The gap has widened every year since 2015.
Why is there a shortage?
The shortage is structural — it has multiple interlocking causes that have compounded over a decade. Addressing any one in isolation is insufficient. Here are the six main drivers:
1Rising demand
The number of children coming into the care system has increased by over 20% since 2015, driven by rising poverty rates, domestic abuse, parental substance misuse, and the long-term aftermath of the pandemic on family stability. The system was already near capacity — now it is consistently overstretched.
2The spare bedroom barrier
Every foster child is legally entitled to their own bedroom. As housing costs spiral — particularly in urban areas — many people who would otherwise make excellent foster carers cannot meet this basic requirement. High rents, small properties, and housing insecurity all reduce the recruitable pool.
3An ageing carer base
The average UK foster carer is 51 years old. As this experienced cohort ages out, there are not enough younger recruits to replace them. This is partly a perception problem — many working-age adults assume fostering is incompatible with work or only for those who have "finished" their careers.
4Underfunded local authority recruitment
Most children in care are placed by local authorities, but many councils have seen their fostering recruitment budgets squeezed. Under-resourced recruitment campaigns, poor marketing, and lengthy bureaucratic processes deter potential applicants before they have even made an enquiry.
5Misconceptions drive self-elimination
Studies consistently show that a large proportion of people who might qualify to foster never enquire — because they assume they are ruled out. Common myths around home ownership, relationship status, age, and income cause self-elimination before a conversation has even taken place.
Read: Common fostering myths →6Carer retention failures
One-in-four foster carers leave the role within their first two years. The most common reasons are insufficient support, feeling undervalued, and being matched with placements beyond their training. Every carer who leaves represents a recruitment cost lost and another vacancy created.
What is being done — and what needs to change
The government's 2023 Stable Homes: Built on Love strategy committed to a multi-year reform programme including investment in foster carer recruitment, piloting Regional Care Cooperatives, and improving carer support. However, sector organisations including the Fostering Network warn that without sustained investment in retention and recruiment, the structural gap will continue to widen.
✅ Underway
- Stable Homes strategy (DfE)
- Regional Care Cooperative pilots
- Mockingbird® family model expansion
- National fostering quality standards review
- Increased ISA threshold (2025)
⏳ Still needed
- Sustained national recruitment campaigns
- Flexible fostering pathways for working carers
- Improved carer retention and support
- Landlord incentives for carer-renting households
- Faster approval processes without cutting quality
The human cost
When there are not enough foster carers, the consequences are acute. Children wait longer in emergency placements. Siblings are separated when a single household cannot take a sibling group. Children with complex needs are placed in expensive residential units that cost the state up to ten times more than foster care — and which have consistently worse outcomes. Some children "bounce" through multiple placements, undermining any chance of stability. The carer shortage is not an abstract policy problem. It has a direct and measurable impact on the life outcomes of tens of thousands of children each year.
What can you do?
The single most impactful action any individual can take is to find out whether they could foster — and if the answer is yes, to take the next step. The entire burden of the shortage cannot fall on a small group of people. It requires many thousands of ordinary households saying: "I wonder if I could do this."
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