Make or Break: Annual survey of kinship carers 2024
6 October 2024
It’s time for the UK Government to make good on its promise to kinship families.
Make or Break, published during Kinship Care Week 2024, shares key findings from Kinship’s 2024 annual survey of more than 1,300 kinship carers to provide an updated ‘state of the nation’ overview of kinship families. It offers new insight into the lives of kinship carers, the financial circumstances of kinship households and local authority information and support, and highlights the stark realities facing kinship families in 2024.
The lives of kinship carers
Kinship carers are more likely than other adults to be disabled, to report having poor health, to feel lonely and anxious, and to be providing unpaid care alongside their kinship caring responsibilities.
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4 in 10 kinship carers were disabled
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1 in 8 kinship carers said their health was bad or very bad
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36% of kinship carers were also unpaid carers
"It should not take me to reach breaking point for them to do something. I believe that if I were a foster carer we would have had the support we needed. Along the way I’ve had breakdowns through the stress of it all."
Fiona, grandmother and kinship carer
Finances
Kinship families in 2024 are continuing to face significant hardship, and their greater reliance on welfare support leaves them vulnerable to financial insecurity.
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Four times more likely to have had a direct debit, standing order or bill they weren’t able to pay in the last month
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8% of kinship carers were using food banks because of increases in the cost of living
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46% of working-age kinship carers were receiving Universal Credit
"There have been occasions when we have gone cold because we have to make a choice between eating and heating. I’ve used food banks and food vouchers from the school and my mum has helped me out, so we’ve managed to get by."
Rebekah, grandmother and kinship carer
Local authority support
There are some positive signals that local authority support and information is improving, but kinship carers still tell us this is far from good enough.
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8pp more likely to say local authority support was excellent or good than in 2023
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1/3 of kinship carers rated their local authority’s information about kinship care as very poor
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44% of kinship carers did not trust their local authority at all
"I am now on a local authority working group trying to make them understand what kinship carers really need and trying to ensure that they receive the same support as foster carers, which they don’t. That ranges from simple practical advice about what a kinship carer is, as 9 times out of 10, kinship carers walk into it blind, to financial and emotional support."
Julia, grandmother and kinship carer
Family stability
Too many kinship families remain at breaking point, and continued inaction risks significant consequences for children and for the state.
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More than 1 in 8 kinship carers were concerned they might have to stop caring for their kinship children
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17% of kinship carers had been unable to take on the care of a brother or sister to a kinship child in their care
"As a former social worker, I find the lack of support for kinship carers like me deeply shocking, especially when we’re saving the Government so much money by preventing children going into the care system. I have no idea how people who don’t understand how the system works manage to get by.”"
Sue, grandmother and kinship carer
Looking for more?
Discover more reports, briefings and responses from Kinship and keep up to date with with what’s happening with kinship care policy in England at our kinship care policy tracker.
Policy and influencing