Fostering households and carers, England
Accredited official statistics
Approved fostering households and foster carers in England at 31 March each year since 2021, those approved by councils and by independent fostering agencies, from Ofsted's fostering statistics.
Approved fostering households
33,435
31 Mar 2025 · with 56,345 approved foster carers, at 31 March
Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 14:52 UTC- Approved fostering households
- Households approved by councils
- Households approved by independent agencies
- Approved foster carers
- Carers approved by councils
- Carers approved by independent agencies
Source: Ofsted. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
5 periods, newest first
| Period | Approved fostering households | Households approved by councils | Households approved by independent agencies | Approved foster carers | Carers approved by councils | Carers approved by independent agencies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Mar 2025 | 33,435 | 18,415 | 15,020 | 56,345 | 30,930 | 25,415 |
| 31 Mar 2024 | 33,745 | 18,860 | 14,890 | 57,065 | 31,810 | 25,255 |
| 31 Mar 2023 | 35,005 | 19,835 | 15,170 | 59,380 | 33,575 | 25,805 |
| 31 Mar 2022 | 36,050 | 20,845 | 15,205 | 61,360 | 35,330 | 26,035 |
| 31 Mar 2021 | 37,325 | 21,495 | 15,830 | 63,890 | 36,670 | 27,220 |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Ofsted
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/childrens-social-care-statistics
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 9 November 2026, 14:49 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/fostering-in-england-1-april-2024-to-31-march-2025SHA-256 3ee1d8b01b6c45f94966c4dd817790cb72caac1bffc9c1ca9835b1add1ad59bc · 23,021 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69202f3625317fc65a5cfd81/Fostering_in_England_underlying_data_2025_final.odsSHA-256 5f3e547ea5881438b33d681533c9dde59ea773c8f482520ef86807f2b8b82bef · 136,268 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 9 November 2026, 14:52 UTC Run at 9 November 2026, 14:52 UTC; 30 of 30 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Ofsted; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-09T14:49:14Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 30 of 30 figures and the headline reproduced |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 30 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 30 of 30 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2025-03-31 ended 588 days before retrieval (limit 640), from Underlying data: fostering in England as at 31 March 2025 |
| Pass | The households give the carers | 15 of 15 cases of the years' carers are their one- and two-carer households' carers within 10 (9 exactly) |
| Pass | Councils and agencies add up to England | 10 of 10 cases of the years' households and carers approved by councils and agencies are England's within 7.5 (8 exactly) |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/childrens-social-care-statistics – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- Mainstream fostering households and carers approved at 31 March, by fostering services run by councils and by independent fostering agencies, as Ofsted's annual fostering collection records them; formal kinship care (family and friends) households are counted apart from 2021-22 and are not in these figures.
- Ofsted rounds every figure to the nearest 5, its totals for England included, so councils and agencies may not add up exactly to England. The collection is not revised.