We have continued to champion foster carers and push for vital improvements to Staying Put - the arrangement that allows young people in England to stay with their foster families from 18 – 21 – as the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill progresses through Westminster.
Staying Put arrangements provide young people leaving care with a stable environment with continued support from a trusted adult whom they’ve build a relationship with, helping them smoothly transition into adulthood. Studies show the positive impact Staying Put arrangements are having with young people in Staying Put more likely to be in full time education, training or employment.
Inadequate Staying Put funding
However, foster carers tell us too often about the sudden loss of financial support when a young person turns 18, leaving many young people unable to benefit from Staying Put. Although both they and the young person want to stay living with them, they financially can’t afford it.
The level of support foster carers receive when a young person in their care turns 18 significantly reduces. Our State of the Nations' 2024 survey of 3,000 foster carers found that three quarters of foster carers are financially worse off in post 18 foster care arrangements.
There is no national allowance for young people once they turn 18 and young people are often expected to top up the difference from their benefits. This leads to a variety of financial support for foster carers across all local authorities creating a postcode lottery. We want to see the Government review this urgently.
This is why we worked with Lord Watson of Invergowrie to table two amendments to increase funding for Staying Put in the bill in the final stage of the bill in the House of Lords
- The first would require the Government to conduct a review into current Staying Put funding, to determine if it is sufficient to benefit all eligible young people.
- The second would introduce a National Minimum Allowance for foster carers providing Staying Put, at the same amount paid for 16-17 year olds.
We also supported an amendment tabled by Baroness Tyler of Enfield that looks to extend Staying Put support to the age of 25. The bill extends Staying Close support – which offers residential or other suitable accommodation – to age 25. We believe extending Staying Close, but not Staying Put, risks giving priority to other accommodation over foster care, when the best place for a young person is usually a home environment and many young people want to stay with their foster carers.
Outcome of the debate
Despite the amendments receiving support from multiple organisations and peers from all parties, the Government unfortunately rejected the amendments saying they have to prioritise funding for the new Staying Close support. They stated that the new multi-year local government financial settlement will allow local authorities to better plan and fund Staying Put.
We want to say a huge thank you to Lord Watson for standing up for foster carers and continuing to press for a review of Staying Put funding in a powerful speech, following the decision. We’re also grateful for the support given by peers from all parties during the debate, and by leading charities including CoramVoice, TACT, Settle and NYAS.
While this outcome is disappointing, we won’t stop campaigning for more support for Staying Put so more young people can benefit from staying with their foster family as they transition into adulthood.
You can read our full briefing here.
You can see Lord Watson speech here.
You can see how our work on the bill has progressed from the very beginning here.
