Fostering in Liverpool

Liverpool has over 1,400 looked-after children and young people, making it one of the cities with the greatest need for foster carers in England. Not every looked-after child will live with foster carers, as some live with relatives, in residential care or other arrangements, but this figure gives a clear sense of the scale of need locally.

Nationally, England had 81,770 children looked after on 31 March 2025, and around 56,400 were in foster care at the start of the 2024 to 2025 fostering reporting period. In practical terms, Liverpool needs carers across different home types and life stages, including people able to support older children and teenagers, sibling groups, and children with additional needs.

You can foster either directly with Liverpool City Council or with an independent fostering agency, and both options can be the right choice depending on what you need. Local authority fostering can feel closely connected to local planning and services, because the council is both the fostering provider and the children’s services authority. Liverpool’s own fostering information sets clear expectations, such as being over 21, having a spare room, and being able to balance fostering with flexible work where applicable.

IFAs are also regulated and inspected by Ofsted, and inspection outcomes can help you compare provider quality over time. A sensible way to decide is to compare how support works in practice: ask about supervising social worker caseloads, out-of-hours advice, training pathways, respite, and how the agency supports you when placements are challenging. Pay matters, but the day-to-day experience of support often matters more for long-term sustainability.

Fostering payments in Liverpool depend on the provider, the child’s age and needs, and the type of fostering you are approved to do. Liverpool’s fostering service explains that carers receive a skills-based professional fee that can increase as you gain experience and complete training, alongside an allowance per foster child to contribute towards day-to-day costs.

For certain arrangements, Liverpool also publishes example figures, such as an emergency fostering fee of £50 per child per night and a setup fee of up to £500, plus additional benefits like 100% council tax exemption on that scheme. The UK government publishes minimum weekly fostering allowance ranges for England, which vary by age and region. The most important step is to request a written breakdown of what is included, what is additional, and how payments work between placements.

Liverpool needs foster carers across a wide range of child ages and placement types. Liverpool’s own fostering information highlights the need for homes for children of all ages up to 18, including babies and toddlers, older children and teenagers, and sometimes brothers and sisters who need to stay together.

The same guidance recognises that some children have additional needs, including physical disabilities and learning difficulties, and that some children require culturally informed care that respects background, religion and identity. In practice, local demand includes a mix of short-term placements while plans are made, longer-term stability where children cannot return home, and emergency care at short notice.

No, you do not need to own your home to foster in Liverpool. Liverpool’s fostering guidance is clear that you must be able to offer a secure home with a spare room, and it specifically states that you do not have to own your own home. What matters most is stability and suitability.

If you rent, the fostering service will usually explore how secure your tenancy is, whether your landlord needs to be informed, and whether your home environment is appropriate for a child’s needs. The assessment will also consider space, privacy, safety, and how your household routines support stability. If your housing situation is likely to change soon, it is still worth having an initial conversation, but expect the service to discuss timing carefully.

Start with regulated sources, then narrow down using quality indicators. In England, fostering providers are inspected by Ofsted, and you can use the Ofsted reports site to search providers and review inspection outcomes and history. This shows more than marketing language — it shows how a provider performs against safeguarding, leadership and support expectations.

Liverpool’s local authority fostering service provides a clear route if you want to foster directly with the council, including eligibility information and how to apply. You can also use fostering directories like Think Fostering to search by location and compare multiple providers. A practical approach is to shortlist three to five providers, speak to each one, and ask the same questions about supervision, out-of-hours response, training, respite and placement matching.

There is not one fixed public number that stays the same, because agencies can operate across multiple local authority areas, open or close regional offices, and change their coverage. The most reliable way to build an up-to-date view is to use the Ofsted provider search for fostering services and filter by location.

Liverpool includes the local authority fostering service and multiple independent fostering agencies that operate in and around the city, including providers with wider North West coverage. Rather than quoting a number that could quickly become outdated, we encourage you to check Ofsted ratings, inspection history and support models, then contact a shortlist for direct conversations.