Regional Adoption Agency grant (360G-cabinetoffice-G2-GA-202112639407-20-21)

Grants with local authorities to develop Regional Adoption Agencies. In June 2015, the Department published the position paper: Regionalising Adoption. The paper asked for LAs and voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) to submit expressions of interest in creating an RAA (Regional Adoption Agency). RAAs involve multiple LAs/VAAs combining adoption services. In these scenarios, one authority will act as the accountable body, which also receives the payments for that RAA. Grant claims are submitted quarterly. The Department led an assessment process resulting in the funding of 19 RAA projects. The selected projects were funded at different rates, proportional to their standard of readiness for progress, and the number of looked after children living in the local authority areas. The first funding period ran from September 2015 to March 2016. All decisions were made subject to Ministerial approval. After assessment of transition plans, the Department allocated funding to all 19 projects and communicated the ongoing intention to fund all projects to go-live date, subject to satisfactory progress.