When the Independent Review of Children's Social Care was published it was heralded as a ‘once in a generation' chance to fix children's social care.

One of its most headline-grabbing recommendations was its proposal for Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs), new services that would take responsibility for commissioning fostering, residential and secure care placements on a pan-local authority footprint. RCCs was the clearest expression of a wider inclination towards regional working expressed by the review.