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Up to 8,000 foster carers will be entitled to the same pension provision as parents who do not work from 1 April, the Government said this week, writes Anabel Unity Sale.

People who stay at home to raise children – therefore not paying national insurance contributions – receive home responsibilities protection (HRP) to reduce the number of years they have to work in order to get a full state pension. From next month this entitlement will apply to registered foster carers and will cover the time they are waiting for a placement.

Announcing the HRP extension, work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith said: "For too long foster carers up and down the country have been denied improved pension rights. This reform will reward foster carers for the valuable work they do."

Health minister Jacqui Smith added that the change in pension provision recognises "the vital work of foster carers".

Fostering Network executive director Gerri McAndrew said the decision was "a small step" in the right direction but is disappointed that the protection will not be backdated to before April.

She said: "It will have no impact whatsoever on the thousands of carers who are already facing the prospect of a retirement with little or no state pension – despite the service they have provided to society by years of caring for other people’s children."

McAndrew also criticised decision to award the HPR for a maximum of 20 years, because some foster carers look after children for the whole of their working lives. "They will still have to make a choice between accepting a cut in their state pension or having to give up fostering to work outside the home," she said.