Find out how you can commission our services in your local area to support kinship carers.
For professionals:
The kinship local offer
Information on the kinship local offer, why you must involve kinship carers in developing your offer, and how Kinship can help.
Are you a kinship carer?
Please visit Support and advice for kinship carers
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What is a kinship local offer?
A kinship local offer is a publicly available document each local authority must publish. It should detail the support available to kinship families in that area. This used to be known as a family and friends care policy.
The need to publish a kinship local offer is explained in the Department for Education’s statutory guidance for local authorities, published in October 2024. This framework for provision of support to kinship families also details:
- the broader policy context of kinship care
- how local authorities should support kinship families
- what local authorities should include in their kinship local offer
For professionals, a kinship local offer should provide a clear framework to help ensure that practice is transparent, equitable and consistent across children’s services, early help and partner agencies.
What should a kinship local offer include?
A well-developed kinship local offer should cover:
- definitions of kinship care
- rights and entitlements under the strategy and relevant legislation
- information for kinship foster carers (formerly known as family and friends foster carers)
- how kinship care is identified
- support available at each stage of the journey for kinship carers with each type of care arrangement
- referral and assessment routes
- discretionary allowances
- benefits advice and links to national guidance
- information on how financial support decisions are made
- access to peer support groups
- parenting and therapeutic support
- training opportunities
- how schools can support kinship families
- support for children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health
- opportunities for feedback, consultation and co-production
- how kinship carers can help shape improvements to support
A kinship local offer should be underpinned by the principle that support should be based on the needs of the child, not just their legal status.
Why co-production is crucial
Local authorities should always work meaningfully with kinship carers to develop their kinship local offer. This is key in order to ensure your offer meets the needs of kinship carers in your area. This is also a statutory requirement, as the statutory guidance (p. 37) states:
“Local authorities should consult children, kinship carers and parents, as appropriate, in drawing up their kinship local offers, and set out how the kinship local offers have been informed by their views.”
If you want to co-produce your kinship local offer, but you’re not sure how or where to start, we can help. See How Kinship can help for more information.
As part of a research project, we co-created a practical toolkit for co-production work with kinship carers. Find out more and download the toolkit.
Why developing a strong kinship local offer matters
clear kinship local offer can help local authorities to:
- demonstrate compliance with national guidance and best practice
- improve consistency and transparency for kinship families
- reduce confusion and duplication across services
- strengthen early intervention
- build trust and positive relationships with kinship carers
- identify gaps in support and areas for future commissioning
When co-designed with kinship carers, kinship local offers also ensure support reflects the needs of local kinship families.
How Kinship can help
Local offer consultancy
At Kinship, we offer tailored consultancy for local authorities developing or strengthening their kinship local offer. We enable co-design that is truly meaningful, rooted in lived experience and shaped with local families, not just for them.
Drawing on diagnostic insights from our national work on local offer development, we help local authorities reflect on their strengths, gaps and stretch innovations.
Our practice development work is led by Tim Fisher, a leading expert in practice participation and co-design in children’s social care. We also offer co-facilitation with kinship care-experienced practitioners, ensuring your co-production is grounded, relational and credible.
Our approach is collaborative, responsive and tailored to your local authority context. We aim to help you develop a kinship local offer that is trusted, visible and truly valuable to the families it serves.
We also host a local offer awareness and insights group, bringing together local authority colleagues from across the country to share learning, updates and ideas on implementation.
Commissioned programmes
As well as our consultancy services, we also offer 2 commissioned programmes.
Our Kinship Connected and Kinship Reach programmes offer intensive, evidence-based support designed to prevent families from reaching crisis. They are aligned with the Foundations Practice Guide Principles and tailored to meet local needs.
These pioneering programmes enable local authorities to meet statutory guidance, strengthen their kinship care local offer, and deliver high quality support that makes a real difference for families. Find out more about our commissioned services. You can also email the team at commissions@kinship.org.uk.
Help us keep your information up to date on Kinship Compass
Kinship Compass is a location-based search tool that shows kinship carers what support is available in their area. This local information includes:
- their local authority’s kinship local offer (if available)
- the details for the local authority team working with kinship carers
- the details of their local authority’s virtual school and virtual school head
If you work for a local authority, please check your local authority’s details. If you notice anything that doesn’t seem correct, please email digital@kinship.org.uk.
How Kinship helps kinship carers
We offer a range of free support for kinship carers in England and Wales. If you are involved in developing or maintaining your local authority’s kinship local offer, you can signpost to us and our services. Please feel free to use this draft copy:
Kinship is a national charity that provides dedicated help, advice and information to all kinds of kinship carers. You can call their free advice line, join a support group and attend free workshops, both online and in-person.
Our services for kinship carers include:
- free online and in-person workshops (England only)
- online advice and information
- online and in-person peer support groups
Kinship carers can also use our Kinship Compass tool to find services, information and support in their local area. This includes their local authority’s kinship local offer, which is available via Kinship Compass if it’s publicly available.
Kinship carers can also contact the Kinship advice team for free, non-judgmental advice and information if they live in England or Wales.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about Kinship or how we can support you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Email us at commissions@kinship.org.uk.
Information for kinship carers
If you’re a kinship carer, see our guide to what local authorities should offer kinship carers.
Use our Kinship Compass tool to see whether your local authority has a kinship local offer.
If you want to engage with your local authority about their kinship local offer – or their lack of one – we can help. See our free campaigning toolkit or join a free online workshop on campaigning.
See other related content
Learn about Kinship’s research, informed by the experiences of kinship carers, and see how we use this evidence to call for change in law, policy, and practice.
Join our professionals' network for social workers, academics and other professionals with an interest in kinship care.