Kinship carers in England to be given financial support in government pilot | Carers
To prevent their grandchildren from being taken into care, grandparents who provide full-time care for them will be given guaranteed financial support under the government’s pilot programme.
Charities have welcomed the trial as groundbreaking and said it had the potential to change the lives of tens of thousands of children looked after under “kinship care” arrangements if fully rolled out across England.
Kinship caregivers are grandparents, aunts and uncles, older siblings, or close family friends who assume full parenting responsibility when a child loses a birth parent as a result of death, family court order, serious illness, or imprisonment.
Campaigners have been fighting for more than two decades to ensure financial recognition of the role and personal sacrifice of kinship carers. Some caregivers say they feel ignored and exploited as a “cheap option” despite saving state billions they would otherwise have to spend on foster care or residential care.
Around 132,000 children live under kinship arrangements in England, but most carers receive little or no government financial support to cover the extra costs of raising children. Many say they have given up work to care for child relatives. Many are already low-income and at high risk of poverty.
Kinship carers in seven council areas will receive the same level of financial assistance as foster carers for the first time under the trial, which launched on Friday. £170 to £299 per week depending on where they live and the age of the child.
This means a relative carer living outside London looking after a 15-year-old will receive an allowance of £13,832 a year from April. This is not a tested method and will not affect universal credit or child benefit payments.
Introducing the plan on Friday, Children’s Minister Josh MacAlister said: “As a country we owe a debt of gratitude and support to kinship carers; the new funding we are piloting recognizes the vital role they play in ensuring families can stay together.
“We committed to this program to support kinship carers who step up for the children they love and give every child the best possible start in life.”
In fact, MacAlister is being tasked with implementing recommendations he outlined in an independent review of children’s social care he wrote for the previous Conservative government in 2022, two years before he became a Labor MP.
Academic evidence shows that kinship care is not only much cheaper than foster or residential care, but is also more likely to lead to better health and employment outcomes for the child. It helps them maintain a strong sense of family, identity and culture.
Lucy Peake, chief executive of charity Kinship, said the scheme could be life-changing but only covered 5,000 children in its pilot form. He called on ministers to quickly expand aid to all related families across the country.
“Relative carers hold our care system together and the government must provide the right support for them to do the right thing and keep their families together to ensure they are not pushed into poverty,” she said.
Cathy Ashley, chief executive of the Family Rights Group, welcomed the “groundbreaking” plan but said it should be made universal as soon as possible. “We call on national and local governments to establish the fair, effective support system that children and families need,” he said.
The seven council areas taking part in the three-year trial are: Bexley in Greater London, Bolton, Newcastle upon Tyne, North East Lincolnshire, Medway in Kent, Thurrock in Essex and Wiltshire.
