Nearly half of kinship carers forced to abandon jobs and careers to raise relative’s children

Kinship’s new research Making work pay for kinship carers reveals nearly half of kinship carers (45%) lose jobs and careers when they step up to raise a relative or friend’s child to stop them going into care.

Unlike other working parents including adopters, kinship carers who look after 141,000 children in England and Wales, more than double the number in foster care, do not qualify for statutory paid employment leave when they take on the care of a child. Although many take in babies and toddlers, they are normally expected back at work the next day, forcing them to quit their jobs.

Kinship is calling on the government to address this “totally unfair” gap in the law and include kinship carers in its review of parental leave due to start this summer.

Our survey of 1,300 kinship carers – aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings and friends – shows that 80% of those who stopped working when they became kinship carers have never returned to any form of work.

More than half (51%) of kinship carers who had been in work before stepping up to care for their children said that paid employment leave would have enabled them to return to work as before (32%), or to some extent (19%). Only 3% of kinship carers were able to take any kind of discretionary paid leave, and just 8% were able to take unpaid leave.

Previous Kinship research suggests that 30% of kinship children are aged under one, and 37% are aged one to four years old when placed with their kinship families, but all families need time to bond and a period of stability at this critical period.

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Kinship carer and mother-of-2 Samantha, 41, from Doncaster had to give up her full-time teaching assistant job so she could look after her 7-month-old great nephew when she wasn’t offered paid leave from work.

She said: “I asked the school for time off and about flexible working but they didn’t offer me anything and so it put me in a difficult situation. As a single mum, I didn’t know how I was supposed to look after my baby nephew and take him to all the family contact sessions if I couldn’t get time off work.

“I had colleagues who were taking adoption and maternity leave but there was nothing in place for kinship carers like me. It was a hard decision to make but I had no choice other than to quit my job which I loved.

“If I’d had the opportunity to take paid leave from work with the option of working flexibly, that would have been a massive help and would make a dramatic difference to kinship carers lives. It’s not fair that we are doing the right thing by keeping children within the family but are not receiving any support to help us do that.”

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Kinship chief executive, Lucy Peake said: “The government’s upcoming review of the parental leave system is a huge opportunity to rectify this gap in the law and totally unfair treatment of kinship carers.

“You wouldn’t expect a mother with a newborn baby to go back to work the next day and equally there is no justifiable reason why kinship carers who are raising babies and young children should be expected to do so.

“Without statutory paid employment leave they are being forced to abandon their careers and jobs so that they can settle their children into a new home after experiencing trauma, separation and loss.

“Instead of supporting the very people who are keeping families together and preventing children going into care, the system is unfairly pushing them out of the workforce and leaving many facing financial hardship and relying on benefits. We will continue campaigning for kinship carers to have greater employment rights until the government addresses this wrong.”

Some large employers are beginning to recognise how vital paid leave for kinship carers is in the absence of statutory paid employment leave.

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Asda employee, Natalie from Doncaster was shocked when in 2020 social services said if she didn’t take care of her 3-month-old nephew he would be placed in care. She said: “He was handed over to me like a parcel at my garden gate by social services, on a hot summer’s day and came with nothing except some winter clothing and blankets.

“I had to ask my line manager for help because I wasn’t going to give him up and I couldn’t quit the job I loved, as it also posed the risk of losing my home which I mortgaged alone.

“It was such a massive relief when Asda agreed to give me three months discretionary leave because I couldn’t have managed without that time off work. I needed time to bond with my nephew, establish some stability and simply rest. Those first few months were critical.”

When Natalie returned to Asda she started a new role that enabled her to work flexibly. And she was “absolutely delighted” when earlier this year the supermarket announced the introduction of a new policy starting in July, providing 26 weeks paid leave for kinship carers.

She added: “Kinship carers make many sacrifices to keep their kinship children with them, and I think it’s only right that companies help kinship carers stay in work by offering paid leave and flexible working arrangements. It also helps retain talented staff but importantly, provides stability for vulnerable children.”

Since 2023, our Kinship Friendly Employer scheme has supported leading employers such as Tesco, B&Q and Lloyds Banking Group to deliver paid leave policies for kinship carers in their workforces. However, we insist that kinship carers deserve the security which a right to statutory paid leave would provide without being reliant on the goodwill of their employer.

Read more about our new research Making work pay for kinship carers.