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Drive Forward Foundation Annual Report 2025/26

Drive Forward Foundation's Annual Report 2025/26 sets out a year in which the charity supported just under 1,000 care-experienced young people towards sustainable, fulfilling employment, through its vision that every care-experienced young person has the opportunities and support to achieve their career aspirations. It also covers research conducted with over 500 employers on their experiences and perceptions of care-experienced talent, plus the charity's mission, strategy and financial statements.

Report snapshot
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About

Drive Forward Foundation is a London-based charity supporting care-experienced young people into sustainable and fulfilling employment through one-to-one support, employer partnerships and policy work.

Key Metrics

Just under 1,000 care-experienced young people supported
500+ employers surveyed
387 employment, education, training and progression outcomes achieved by young people over the year

Key Outcomes

  • Care leavers supported towards sustainable, fulfilling careers
  • Employer research informing care-experienced employment policy
  • One-to-one support from a dedicated consultant

Geography

London

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
440,000+ young people aged 4-18 active members across 7,000 Groups
Key Metric 2
140,000 volunteers supporting the movement across the UK
Key Metric 3
373 Sections opened or re-energised in England between April 2024 and March 2025
0.3% overall growth in young people (ages 4-18), driven by 31% increase in Squirrel Scouts (5,200 young people)
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
55,000 foster carers and 370 fostering service providers as members across the UK
Key Metric 2
45 new Fostering Friendly Employers recruited, bringing the scheme to over 680,000 employees across the UK
Key Metric 3
95 Fostering Wellbeing Pioneers in Wales offering peer support and mentoring to fellow foster carers
191 children and young people engaged in outdoor adventure weeks through the Fostering Attainment and Achievement programme in Northern Ireland
Impact Snapshot
100,000+
pupils across the UK reached by Primary Engineer's engineering education programmes in 2025–26
289
trainees (106 women, 183 men) supported by Build It International to complete construction skills training in Zambia in 2025
1,300+
families reached across 40 farming communities in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, by Action on Poverty
upReach Associates are 44% more likely to secure skilled employment than their peers from similar backgrounds.
Impact Snapshot
69%
of child and family-related national policy documents published April 2025 to March 2026 referenced Foundations' work
44%
of local authorities use Foundations' evidence, tools and resources in their day-to-day work (Department for Education national survey)
8
new impact evaluations launched in 2025/26, including two full-scale randomised controlled trials of domestic abuse recovery programmes
Nine Partner Places, one in each region of England, now receive direct funding and hands-on support to embed evidence-led practice through the new Evidence into Practice programme