The rankings

Local authority fostering rankings for England

October 2026 measurement. How we measure

FosterScope ranks local authority fostering services and regional fostering hubs in England by Findability Score, a 0 to 100 measure of how easy each one is to find on Google and in AI assistants. In the October 2026 rankings, Devon ranks first with 73.7 and the middle score is 54.1. We scored 136 of the 150 services we measure. The other 14 are listed at the end as not measured, with the reason.

Read the methodology

How are the scores spread? 100 of 136 services score in the 40s and 50s.

Number of scored local authority fostering services in each score band
Score band	Services
0s	0
10s	2
20s	2
30s	6
40s	26
50s	74
60s	23
70s	3
80s	0
90s	0
Middle score (median)	54.1

SearchFilter by regional fostering hubInclude services we could not measureScores in the 50sShowing 74 of 150 services

See what’s driving each score

The 4 checks behind every score are named by AI assistants, found on Google, website can be read, and structured data. Give us your email and we’ll send you a link.

See the 4 checks behind every score

We changed how we measure fostering visibility this month, so part of each change since September comes from an update to our method, not only from changes a service made.

Rank	Service	Hub	Findability Score	Movement
27	Blackpool	Foster With Us	59.7
27	Bradford	Foster 4 Your Council	59.7
29	Bury	Foster for Greater Manchester	59.5
29	St Helens	Foster4	59.5
31	Lancashire	Foster With Us	59.3
32	Cornwall	Fostering South West	58.9
32	North Somerset	Fostering South West	58.9
34	Halton	Foster4	58.8
35	Redbridge	Local Community Fostering	58.5
36	Cheshire West and Chester	Foster4	58
37	Newcastle upon Tyne	Foster with North East	57.9
37	Sheffield City Council		57.9
37	Suffolk County Council	Foster East	57.9
40	London Borough of Barking and Dagenham	Local Community Fostering	57.7
40	Milton Keynes	Local Authority Fostering South East	57.7
40	Rutland County Council		57.7
40	Westmorland and Furness	Foster With Us	57.7
44	Darlington	Foster with North East	57.6
45	Nottinghamshire	Foster for East Midlands	57.4
46	Knowsley	Foster4	57.2
47	Walsall Council		57.1
48	Middlesbrough	Foster with North East	56.8	First month measured
49	Leicester City Council		56.7
49	Sefton	Foster4	56.7
51	Kirklees	Foster 4 Your Council	56.6
52	Bracknell Forest	Local Authority Fostering South East	56.3
52	Peterborough City Council	Foster East	56.3
54	Brighton & Hove City Council		56.2
55	City of York Council	Foster 4 Your Council	56.1
55	Northumberland	Foster with North East	56.1
57	Leeds	Foster 4 Your Council	56
58	Tower Hamlets	Local Community Fostering	55.9
59	Essex County Council	Foster East	55.5
60	Hartlepool Borough Council	Foster with North East	55.4
61	Derbyshire	Foster for East Midlands	55.3
62	Thurrock Council	Foster East	55.2
63	Derby City Council	Foster for East Midlands	55.1
64	Somerset	Fostering South West	55
65	Portsmouth	Local Authority Fostering South East	54.7
66	Bedford Borough Council	Foster East	54.6
67	Manchester	Foster for Greater Manchester	54.4	First month measured
68	Richmond upon Thames	Local Authority Fostering South East	54.1
68	Warrington	Foster4	54.1
70	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	Fostering South West	53.9
70	London Borough of Hounslow	Foster with West London	53.9
70	Windsor & Maidenhead	Local Authority Fostering South East	53.9
73	Calderdale	Foster 4 Your Council	53.6
74	Cambridgeshire County Council	Foster East	53.5
74	Hertfordshire County Council	Foster East	53.5
76	Bath and North East Somerset	Fostering South West	53.4
77	Slough Borough Council	Local Authority Fostering South East	53.3
78	Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council		53.2
79	Stockport Council	Foster for Greater Manchester	53
80	Coventry City Council		52.9
80	Rochdale Borough Council	Foster for Greater Manchester	52.9
82	London Borough of Camden		52.7	First month measured
83	Cumberland	Foster With Us	52.5
84	Bolton Council	Foster for Greater Manchester	52.3
84	Tameside	Foster for Greater Manchester	52.3
84	Telford & Wrekin Council		52.3
87	Hampshire County Council	Local Authority Fostering South East	52.1	First month measured
87	Oldham Council	Foster for Greater Manchester	52.1
89	County Durham	Foster with North East	51.9
89	London Borough of Merton		51.9
91	Worcestershire County Council		51.8
92	Kent	Local Authority Fostering South East	51.6	First month measured
93	North Yorkshire	Foster 4 Your Council	51.3
93	Wigan	Foster for Greater Manchester	51.3
95	North Tyneside Council	Foster with North East	51.2
96	Stoke-on-Trent City Council		51.1
97	Medway Council	Local Authority Fostering South East	51
98	London Borough of Hackney		50.7
99	Gloucestershire	Fostering South West	50.6
100	London Borough of Bexley		50.4

Services with the same Findability Score share a rank.

You can download these rankings as a file. For AI assistants says where the files are and what they hold.

Questions about the rankings

Which local authority fostering service in England is easiest to find online?

In the October 2026 rankings from FosterScope, Devon ranks first with a Findability Score of 73.7 out of 100, followed by Salford City Council (72.8) and Buckinghamshire Council (70.2).

Which regional fostering hub is easiest to find online?

In October 2026, Foster4 has the highest score of the 9 regional hubs we scored, at 47 out of 100.

How many local authority fostering services in England have no structured data?

107 of the 136 services scored in October 2026.