Original Tender Description
Planned Procurement notice – Regional Care Cooperatives and Fostering Recruitment & Retention Programme
The Department for Education intends to procure a Delivery Partner to support the establishment and early operation of up to six new Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) and to deliver the expanded Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme. This contract is intended to run from July 2026 to 31 March 2028 (final timelines will be set out in the tendering documentation), with activity delivered across England through a mix of virtual and in person engagement. This notice is being issued to inform the market of the forthcoming opportunity and of preliminary market engagement; a full contract notice and information regarding engagement with the market will follow.
Regional Care Cooperatives
Every child deserves safe, high-quality care close to home. Regional care cooperatives (RCCs) will help make this a reality by transforming the approach local areas take to commissioning and providing homes for children in care. Further background on RCCs and the policy intent behind this reform can be found here: Regional care cooperatives policy statement - GOV.UK
The Delivery Partner will provide structured coaching, facilitation, and technical expertise to support regions through the RCC staged progression model—Foundation and Development—so that they are prepared to transition into Delivery, as set out in the RCC Design Specification Guidance here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-set-up-a-regional-care-cooperative. This will include support for:
• diagnostics, planning and governance
• co design and development of sufficiency strategies
• market shaping approaches
• adoption of the national common data model
• establishment of core regional functions for sustainable forecasting and commissioning
As part of its market engagement activity, the Department is also seeking to understand the breadth of legal and commercial expertise available to support RCCs. This includes suppliers capable of providing legally robust, directly accountable advice on organisational and governance structures, pooled and shared budget arrangements, joint decision making frameworks, and commissioning responsibilities alongside the other support set out in this PIN. The Delivery Partner will also be expected to strengthen RCCs’ commercial capability—supporting regions to develop and apply commercial strategies, analyse and model block and soft block contracting arrangements, improve negotiation confidence, and align commercial decisions with sufficiency planning. All support should be designed to build long term capability within RCCs.
Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme
The Department is also seeking a Delivery Partner to support the next phase of the Fostering Recruitment and Retention Programme, delivered under the same contract as the RCC support package. In this expanded phase, Fostering Hubs will progress beyond initial applicant engagement to manage the entire recruitment and approval process, creating a more integrated and end to end model of recruiting, assessing, and supporting foster carers. The programme contributes to the Department’s ambition to secure homes for 10,000 more children by 2029. Fostering Hubs guidance and application forms can be found here Fostering Programme: New Hubs Expression of Interest - GOV-UK Find a grant.
The Delivery Partner will provide subject matter expertise in fostering recruitment and retention, alongside support to hubs in establishing performance monitoring and reporting mechanisms, delivering change management, and offering troubleshooting support as programme and/or LA level issues emerge. Support may include stakeholder relationship facilitation, HR related assistance, and co production of assessing social worker practice models. For new hubs, the Delivery Partner will provide challenge, independent oversight, and practical support through design and implementation. All support should be designed to build long term capability within hubs.
It is anticipated that the Delivery Partner will work with approximately 100 participating LAs across new and existing hubs. The successful organisation will be expected to ensure strategic alignment between RCCs and Fostering Hubs, working closely with RCC leadership where established, and supporting areas to integrate hubs into RCCs as the system evolves. The long term vision is for every local authority to be part of an RCC.