Increase foster carer allowances, say charities

Charities including Fostering Network, the British Association for Adoption and Fostering and Barnardo’s made a last-minute plea to children’s minister Beverley Hughes today to increase the level of proposed allowances for foster carers.

The government has pledged to announce a national system of allowances later this month but  11 charities urged it not to condemn carers to “financial hardship”.

The allowances proposed in a government consultation document start at £100 a week for the youngest child and are well below the levels some local authorities already pay and those recommended by Fostering Network.

In a letter to Hughes, the charities wrote: “A national system of allowances which fails to guarantee foster carers full reimbursement for their spending on fostering will be a backwards step, and a real betrayal of both carers and the children they care for.”