Local authorities are developing their kinship local offers and responding to a changing policy and practice landscape.
Kinship care policy tracker
Kinship care is a fast-moving policy space. Our kinship care policy tracker is the best place to understand more about the current state of play for kinship care policy in England and get our verdict on what should happen next.
Our policy tracker does not represent a formal nor complete response in all areas; we regularly update the content below as progress is made, as new evidence emerges, and as our thinking as an organisation develops. We want to share our views early and often so you and others can help strengthen and support our policy work.
Last updated: 1 July 2025
2025
1 July: Updated ‘Kinship care leave’ following the launch of the government’s parental leave review and confirmation of kinship carers within its scope.
17 June: Updated ‘Financial allowances’ following announcement of the Kinship Allowance Pilot expression of interest for local authorities.
12 June: Updated ‘Building a new kinship care system’ following the Spending Review 2025.
4 June: Updated ‘Building a new kinship care system’ to reflect the update on the Law Commission’s review of kinship care.
19/20 May: Updated ‘Therapeutic support for kinship families’ section to note response to a written question on ASGSF funded therapy, and ‘Financial allowances’ section following updates to the timeline and process for the kinship allowance trial noted during parliamentary debate.
17 Apr: Updated ‘Therapeutic support for kinship families’ section to note new joint letter from Kinship and other charities on the ASGSF changes.
4 Apr: Updated ‘Therapeutic support for kinship families’ section to reflect government announcement on new restrictions on ASGSF funding for 2025-26.
1 Apr: Updated ‘Therapeutic support for kinship families’ section to reflect expiry of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) and the subsequent renewal following an urgent question in Parliament.
21 – 27 Mar: Updates throughout to restructure and update following progression of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Employment Rights Bill through Parliament.
2024
19 Dec: Several sections updated following the publication of the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
9 Dec: Updated sections following publication of new government figures on children looked after in kinship foster care and tabling of kinship care leave amendment NC14 to Employment Rights Bill.
19 Nov: Updated several sections following the publication of the government’s Keeping children safe, helping families thrive policy paper.
30 Oct: Updated ‘Financial allowances’ and ‘Building a new kinship care system’ sections following the Autumn Budget 2024,
27 Oct: Updated ‘Financial allowances’ section following announcement of a kinship allowance trial in the forthcoming Budget.
14 Oct: Updated ‘Local authority practice’ section following publication of new kinship care statutory guidance, Practice Guide for kinship care, and children’s social care data dashboard.
10 Oct: Amendments and updates made throughout, particularly to reflect new evidence from our Make or Break and Out of Order publications, and following announcements made by the Government during Kinship Care Week 2024.
21 Aug: Updated ‘Support for children in kinship care’ and ‘Therapeutic support for kinship families’ sections following the publication of our Forgotten report.
8 Jul: Manifesto tracker section removed and content throughout updated to reflect new UK Government, including previously articulated plans and priorities from the Labour Party.
10/11/12/13/24 Jun: Added new manifesto tracker section, including various party manifesto commitments around kinship care.
23 May: Language amended throughout to clarify actors and timelines (e.g. around the current and a future Government) in the context of a General Election being called for 4 July.
22 May: Noted Government response to written question sharing that financial allowances pathfinder information will be released “in the coming months”.
24 Apr: Added information within the ‘Data and research’ section to summarise the current data picture for kinship care in England and note recent new information obtained via parliamentary written questions.
15 Apr: Noted recomissioning of Kinship to grow peer support groups and added link to updated list of local authorities involved in next waves of FFC and FNP programmes.
29 Feb: Added a note within the ‘Financial allowances’ section about the #ValueOurLove campaign steering group writing to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury ahead of the Spring Budget 2024.
2023
18 Dec: Revised structure and all sections following the publication of the National Kinship Care Strategy on 15 December 2023.
23 Nov: Amended ‘Financial allowances’ and ‘Kinship care leave’ sections following the Autumn Statement 2023.
1 Nov: Amended ‘Training and support or kinship carers’ section following announcement of a new national training and support offer to be delivered by Kinship.
3 Oct: Added key findings from our Breaking Point report throughout, as well as references to new evidence on local authority support variation from Foundation’s recent survey.
27 Sep: Revised structure to add separate ‘Defining kinship care’ and ‘Data’ sections, added new information on the ONS’ analysis of kinship households, added news on Tesco’s commitment to kinship care leave, and downgraded ‘Prioritising and supporting early kinship arrangements’ to ‘In the right direction…’ following the Government’s Stable Homes response.
21 Sep: Updates made across all sections following the publication of the Government’s responses to its Stable Homes and National Framework consultations.
18 Sep: Added updated information on kinship care and data in the ‘Recognising kinship care’ section, including noting the forthcoming 2021 Census analysis release.
26 July: Amended information on the pathfinder and pilot activity in the ‘Prioritising and supporting early kinship arrangements’ section following the release of further details, including participating local authorities.
19 July: Added updated information on the Family Network Support Package pilots in the ‘Prioritising and supporting early kinship arrangements’ section.
5 July: Added to the ‘Financial allowances’ section to include a recent recommendation from the Lords Public Services Committee, and updated the ‘Training and support for kinship carers’ and ‘Recognising kinship care’ sections (e.g. to include details of a new tender for a national kinship care dataset).
15 June: Updated ‘Kinship care leave’ section to include reference to Forced Out, clarified language in ‘Prioritising and supporting early kinship arrangements’ section, and added note re: ‘whole family’ support in ‘Support for kinship children’ section.
2 May: Updated ‘Access to legal aid’ section with note of new extended eligibility for those pursuing special guardianship in private family law.
26 April: Updated ‘Access to legal aid’ section with additional evidence on non-parental private family law applications.
16 March: Updated ‘Financial allowances’ and ‘Kinship care leave’ sections following announcements made in the 2023 Spring Budget around childcare, Qualifying Care Relief and flexible working.
13 March: First published.
The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) has been renewed for 2025-26 but with significant changes.
The remit of Virtual School Heads has been extended to include a wider group of children in kinship care and will be put on a statutory footing.
There are no current plans to extend legal aid for kinship carers.
National services providing training and support for kinship carers and a new kinship local offer requirement are driving forward improvements.
A government review of parental leave provides an opportunity to deliver kinship care leave whilst the number of Kinship Friendly Employers grows.
There is an open expression of interest for local authorities to participate in the Kinship Allowance Pilot.
There will be a new duty to offer family group decision making, and programmes testing intensive support for family networks are ongoing.
The absence of robust data on kinship families limits their visibility to policymakers, but research interest is growing at pace.
The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill seeks to define kinship care in primary legislation.
The Spending Review outlined £555 million in funding for children's social care to support families, and a Law Commission review has now begun.
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