Tender: Delivery Partner for Establishing Regional Care Cooperatives and Expanded Fostering Hubs in England (Jul 2026–Mar 2028)

About

The Department for Education is seeking a Delivery Partner to support the establishment and early operation of up to six Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) and to deliver the expanded Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme across England from July 2026 to 31 March 2028, using a mix of virtual and in-person engagement. The supplier will provide structured coaching, facilitation and technical expertise to guide regions through RCC staged progression (Foundation and Development), including diagnostics, planning and governance, co-design of sufficiency strategies, market shaping, adoption of the national common data model and establishment of regional forecasting and commissioning functions. Under the same contract the Delivery Partner will support Fostering Hubs to manage recruitment and approval end-to-end, supply subject matter expertise in fostering recruitment and retention, establish performance monitoring and reporting, deliver change management and troubleshooting, provide stakeholder and HR-related assistance, and co-produce assessing social worker practice models while working with approximately 100 participating local authorities and aligning hubs with RCC leadership as the system evolves.