Government announces financial allowances pilot in seven local authority areas

Today the government is announcing seven local authority areas in England that have been selected to take part in their long-awaited financial allowances pilot for kinship carers.

The local authorities are: Bexley, Bolton, Newcastle, North East Lincolnshire, Medway, Thurrock and Wiltshire. The pilot will provide financial support to around 5,000 eligible kinship children and their families in these areas.

With a £126 million investment, these seven local authority areas will be testing how to improve support for kinship carers and family networks. Each ‘Kinship Zone’ will deliver a trial of a guaranteed financial allowance for eligible kinship carers, matching that received by foster carers, to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of the child or children of a relative or friend.

The pilot will aim to discover whether providing kinship carers with life-changing financial support will help keep children within loving, stable families and out of the overstretched care system, reducing costs and improving outcomes for families.

This represents a significant milestone for Kinship’s #ValueOurLove campaign. Together with kinship carers we’ve been campaigning for a financial allowance for kinship families equal to the fostering allowance.

The pilot will run for up to three and a half years, but with £126 million funding confirmed for the first two years and further funding to be confirmed in the next Spending Review. The government has said that the pilots “will inform plans for expansion further down the line”.

The funding will also enable the local authority areas to provide earlier additional support for members of a child’s family network, including informal kinship carers, to help prevent children from entering care.

Alongside the announcement, a report from the National Kinship Care Ambassador was also released, encouraging all local authorities to review and strengthen their support for kinship families as part of the requirement to publish a kinship local offer.

Lucy Peake, Chief Executive of Kinship said:     

“Today’s announcement is an important first step towards ensuring kinship families have the financial support they need to provide children with stable, loving homes. A guaranteed allowance equal to the fostering allowance will be life‑changing for eligible kinship carers in the local authority areas where this is being piloted, many of whom struggle to afford the basics for the children they have unexpectedly stepped in to raise. 

“Following years of campaigning alongside kinship carers, we’re pleased the government has recognised the current system is inequitable and is putting a huge strain on kinship families, pushing many into poverty. Providing financial support to kinship families and investing in family networks will help children stay safely with those who love them and reduce the need for more costly options in the care system. 

“While it’s welcome that this support is being piloted in a small number of local authorities to build the evidence for further roll out, the pace of change remains far too slow, with the pilot reaching only around 4% of children in kinship care in England. Most families will see no change, continuing to face a postcode lottery of poor and inconsistent support. While the pilot is positive for those included, it risks paralysing progress elsewhere. 

“Kinship carers cannot wait another three or four years for the support they urgently need – we know that 13% of kinship carers are concerned they may not be able to continue caring due to the lack of support.  

“Local authorities don’t need to wait for the pilot to finish. They must follow the lead of the small number of areas already seeing the benefits of equal allowances to families and their budgets. It makes sense to invest in well supported kinship care. It delivers good outcomes for children at the same time as delivering savings to the public purse. For every 100 children looked after in well-supported kinship care rather than local authority care, the state saves £4 million per year and increases the lifetime earnings of those children by £2 million. 

“The government must urgently set out how and when the pilot will lead to national reform. There now needs to be real momentum towards extending essential financial support to all kinship families across the country.

“Kinship carers hold our care system together. The government must provide the right support to ensure they are not pushed into poverty for doing the right thing and keeping their family together.”