Wales weighs ban on for-profit agencies approving new foster carers from 2027

A Welsh Government consultation on the next stage of removing profit from children's care closed on 23 September 2026. It proposes that from 1 April 2027 existing for-profit fostering services in Wales would no longer be able to approve new foster carers, and for-profit children's homes could not add beds.

The proposals implement the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025. Since 1 April 2026, Care Inspectorate Wales has been unable to register new for-profit fostering services, children's homes or secure accommodation, and councils have had a strengthened duty to prioritise local authority and not-for-profit placements. In a written statement on 8 July, the Deputy Minister for Social Care, Delyth Jewell, said currently approved carers and existing placements would not be affected by the 2027 restriction.

The consultation also asked about transitional arrangements to let carer approvals carry over when a for-profit agency re-establishes itself as a not-for-profit body and registers with CIW, where there is clear organisational continuity. The Welsh Government's third progress report, published in July, shows 16 for-profit fostering agencies in Wales at 31 March 2026 with 811 fostering households, 23 per cent of the total, compared with 162 households in not-for-profit agencies and 2,507 with local authorities.

Separately, councils must submit draft placement sufficiency plans to Welsh Ministers by 1 December 2026, with approved plans published by 31 March 2027. The next progress report, with data to 30 September 2026, is expected later this year.

What this means for you: carers approved by a for-profit agency in Wales keep their approval and placements, but from April 2027 their agency could not take on new carers unless it converts to a permitted not-for-profit form such as a charity or community interest company. Prospective carers in Wales are likely to find councils, working together as Foster Wales, and not-for-profit agencies are the main routes in.