Children staying longer in care due to inequalities in kinship carer payments, says report

Children are staying longer in the care system due to inequalities in payments to kinship carers, a report has found.

While increasing numbers of children are in family and friends foster care in England, there has not been a similar increase in numbers leaving care to find permanence with their kinship carers, according to analysis of government data by the charity Kinship.

Based on separate research with kinship carers, the charity said a key cause of this was the loss of financial support for carers that came from moving from a foster placement to a special guardianship order (SGO) or child arrangements order (CAO) providing them with parental responsibility for the child.

In its report, Kinship said this demonstrated the need for carers with SGOs or CAOs to receive allowances at least on a par with those received by foster parents.

Children spending longer in kinship foster care

The number of children in kinship foster care rose by 24% in England from 2019-23, from 10,450 to 12,920, with their share of the care population rising from 19% to 23% over this time, according to Department for Education data.

However, there was a far smaller rise in the number of children leaving kinship foster care for an SGO over this time, with this figure rising by 10%, from 2,270 to 2,500 over this time.

And while the number of children leaving care on a CAO remained stable from 2018-19 (1,130) to 2022-23 (1,110), the percentage leaving from kinship foster care fell from 37% to 26%.

In addition, DfE data obtained by Kinship through a Freedom of Information request revealed that the average length of a child’s final placement in kinship foster care rose by 4.3 months from 2018-19 to 2022-23, to just over one year and ten months (676 days).

While this was shorter than the average duration of all final placements for children leaving care in 2022-23 (880 days), the latter figure had grown only by 2.4 months (73 days) over this time.

Loss of financial support

Drawing on result from its 2023 survey of carers, Kinship said that, while they desired permanence for the children in care, this was being stymied by the prospect of losing financial support as a result.

While kinship foster carers are entitled to an allowance of at least the national minimum set by the DfE, the charity found that 76% of kinship carers looking after at least one child under an SGO special received an allowance from their local authority, with the same being true of just 28% of carers caring for a child under a CAO.

Of those who received an allowance, special guardians were given £148 per week and carers with a CAO £133 per week at a time when the minimum fostering allowance outside London ranged from £175 to £199 per week.

About half (49%) of children in kinship foster care arrangements were expected to move to a different arrangement – nearly all (97%) to special guardianship – found the charity’s 2023 survey. However, 38% of these children expected to stay in the care system.

Regarding the latter group, the majority of comments left by kinship foster carers justifying this decision noted the likely loss of support from moving away from their existing arrangement.

Kinship described this as a “perverse incentive in the current system for the child to remain looked after in local authority”, even where carers perceive it to be in the best interests of the child to have the stability and secure parental responsibility provided by an SGO or CAO.

Kinship carers ‘feel pushed into SGOs’ by children’s services

Among those kinship foster carers who expected to move to an SGO, some reported that they felt pushed to do so by children’s services.

“Rather than this being a free and informed decision, many kinship foster carers felt they had no choice in the matter and resented the constant pressure they felt from social workers to agree to
a new arrangement where support was likely to cease or reduce,” said the report.

Some of those who had already become special guardians reported being pushed into it against their wishes, including by the suggestion that the child might otherwise be placed with unrelated foster carers or adoptive parents.

Piloting equalised allowances

In its kinship care strategy, published in December 2023, the previous Conservative government announced it would pilot providing special guardians of former looked-after children with allowances equivalent to those received by foster carers, in eight areas from 2024-28, backed by £16m in 2024-25.

No further announcement was made before the July 2024 election, and the incoming Labour administration is yet to comment on whether it is taking forward the kinship strategy in general and the so-called financial allowances pathfinder in particular.

In the recommendations from its report, which also covered Wales, Kinship called for governments in both countries to provide a non-means tested financial allowance to kinship
carers at least equal to the national minimum fostering allowance.

In relation to England, it said the new UK government should “accelerate the financial allowances pathfinder” and ensure that it “does not paralyse progress towards a wider rollout of allowances”.

Kinship also called for carers – and those considering the role – to be offered free and independent advice, including legal guidance, on the different care arrangements and their implications for financial and other forms of support.

Kinship families ‘a priority’ – minister

In response to the report, minister for children and families Janet Daby, a former fostering social worker, said: “For too long, kinship carers have not been recognised for the vital role that they play or the challenges they can often face – whether financial or emotional.

“We will drive change right across the children’s social care system, prioritising reform to support kinship families.”

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services highlighted the importance of councils’ funding levels in tackling the issues raised by the report.

Policy on kinship ‘needs sufficient funding’, say directors

“The varying way in which kinship arrangements have been developed in local authorities so far will be linked to levels of funding, amongst other things,” said Nigel Minns, chair of the ADCS’s health, care and additional needs policy committee.

“Above all else, it is important that the needs and best interests of each individual child always remains at the heart of decision making. The kinship care strategy offers a blueprint to change the way we work with and support a significant number of children for the better.

“We await new government guidance on kinship care for local authorities, however, this will need to be backed by sufficient government funding to ensure all children and families get the same access to the financial and practical support they need to thrive.”