RCC and Fostering Hubs Delivery Partner

Tender description

RCC and Fostering Hubs Delivery Partner The Delivery Partner (DP) will help establish: up to six new RCCs with local authorities (LAs) and partners across health, youth justice and commissioning; support up to 10 existing fostering hubs to transform into end-to-end hubs covering foster carer recruitment, assessment, approval and post-approval support; and up to 4 new end-to-end fostering hubs. up to 4 new end-to-end fostering hubs. RCCs are a structural reform designed to address fragmented commissioning, weak regional coordination, and insufficient placement sufficiency. By bringing LAs together, RCCs pool expertise, improve forecasting and market intelligence, strengthen negotiating power, and develop shared data, governance and delivery functions. They will progress through a national maturity model, with full national coverage expected by 2029. Alongside this, fostering reform is accelerating through plans to create 10,000 additional foster homes, expand fostering hubs as a single front door for prospective carers, and halt the decline in fostering households. 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 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.