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Interagency fee

The interagency fee is a charge that is paid when a local authority places a child with an adopter approved by another adoption agency (this could be another local authority, a regional adoption agency, or a voluntary adoption agency).

The purpose of the interagency fee is to ensure that agencies receive adequate payment for the work involved in recruiting, assessing, preparing, approving and matching their adopters, and in supporting a child’s start in their adoptive family’s home. It is also intended to encourage the matching of children and adopters across agency boundaries, which is crucial for avoiding delay and ensuring the best possible matches for children.

The interagency fee increases every year on 1 April in line with Consumer Price Inflation including Owner Occupiers’ Housing Costs (CPIH) for the previous calendar year, as published by the Office for National Statistics.

In 2023, due to the exceptional circumstances of high inflation and the impact on local authority budgets, after consultation with members, CVAA agreed to limit the inflationary increase in the interagency fee to 5%. This was with a view to enabling as many children as possible to be placed with the best adoptive families to meet their needs. In 2024, the annual increase resumed and you can find all of the latest fee information for 2024/25 below.

Interagency fee: An Operational Guide with Appendices for England, Wales and Northern Ireland Incorporating revisions agreed in 2020: Updated February 2024

Interagency fee rates and terms 2024 to 2025 – England and Wales

Interagency Fee rates & terms 2024 to 2025 – Scotland

Interagency Fee rates & terms 2024 to 2025 – Northern Ireland

Interagency Fee rates & terms 2024 to 2025 – Wales

 

The CoramBAAF Form IA 2021 (UK-wide) can be downloaded here.

CVAA has also produced a briefing about the interagency fee in cases where children have been placed with families for over 12 months without an Adoption Order being made. The briefing summarises a survey of our members and explains how the fee is used by VAAs and why it is important.

Please note that the interagency fee is paid by adoption agencies – it is not charged to adopters.