At the end of March 2023, there were 43,405 fostering households in England. This total has remained fairly stable over the last 5 years, but the make-up has changed. There is an increased reliance on care from family and friends to meet the needs of individual children, but less choice for children who do not have this option. The largest subset of fostering households continues to be mainstream LA households. These currently account for 46% of the total, despite having decreased since 2019 (figure 1). Figure 1: Number of fostering households by type and sector as at 31 March, over the last 5 years Estimates are included in the number of places as at 31 March 2020. View the data for figure 1 in an accessible table format. There is substantial variation in the size and type of fostering agencies within the IFA sector. You can read more about this in our transparency data on the Largest national providers of private and voluntary social care.