Workplace leaders and kinship carers join forces to design fairer paid leave policies

Kinship hosted an innovative policy ‘Hackathon’ event on Monday with kinship carers, employers, government officials, unions and sector experts to co-design what paid leave for kinship carers could look like.

In July, the government announced it is including kinship carers in the scope of its parental leave and pay review. We convened our event to examine practical options for how a system of paid leave for kinship carers should work.

Kinship carers are family relatives and friends who step up to raise 141,000 babies and children in England and Wales often in times of crisis when their parents can’t. Unlike other working parents including adopters, they are normally expected back at work the next day as they do not qualify for any statutory paid employment leave – forcing many to quit their jobs.

Our recent research shows that nearly half of kinship carers in work (45%) are forced to abandon jobs and careers when they step up to raise a relative or friend’s child, often to stop them going into the care system.

And 80% of those who stopped working when they became kinship carers have never returned to any form of work. While 51% of kinship carers who had been in work before raising children said paid leave would have enabled them to return to work as before, or to some extent.

Kinship chief executive, Lucy Peake said: “It’s vital that the government’s current parental leave review leads to a new right to statutory paid leave for kinship carers. This would close this unfair gap in the law, ensure kinship families aren’t pushed into financial hardship at such a crucial time and allow for much needed time for children to settle and bond with the family. It would ultimately support the government’s mission to keep people in work, grow the economy and break down the barriers to opportunity.”

Employers and business leaders including John Lewis which has signed up to Kinship’s own Kinship Friendly Employer scheme attended the collaborative event in London to co-design recommended policies to be published next February.

Hannah Larsen, Policy lead for the British Chambers of Commerce said: “Employers understand there are times in everyone’s life when they will need more flexibility to balance work with changes to health, family and other commitments, and supporting kinship families should be no different. Striking the right balance between simplicity for business and a flexible approach to keeping skilled staff in the workplace makes economic sense.”

Kinship carer and Kinship’s head of People and Culture, Katie, said: “My niece was just eight-months-old when she came to live with us. Our lives were turned upside down.

“Statutory paid leave from work would have helped take the stress and worry away from us because we would know we could afford the basics, and it would give us breathing space and time to settle our niece into her new life. All kinship carers should be entitled to statutory paid leave the same as any other working parent.”