Survey findings published today have led the UK’s leading fostering charity, The Fostering Network, to warn that children in foster care in Scotland are subject to a postcode lottery when it comes to how much money is provided for their day-to-day care. It follows more than a decade of regular promises from the Scottish Government to bring this geographical discrepancy to an end.
Survey findings published today have led the UK’s leading fostering charity, The Fostering Network, to warn that children in foster care in Scotland are subject to a postcode lottery when it comes to how much money is provided for their day-to-day care. It follows more than a decade of regular promises from the Scottish Government to bring this geographical discrepancy to an end.
All foster carers receive a weekly fostering allowance from their fostering service when they have a child in placement, which is designed to cover the cost of caring for a fostered child. This includes food, clothes, toiletries, travel and all other expenses incurred and varies depending on the age of the child. Some foster carers also get a fee for their time, skills and experience however, these reports focus purely on the allowances given to the foster carer to cover the costs of looking after a fostered child.
Following Gavin Williamson’s appointment as Secretary of State for Education in England under the new Prime Minister, chief executive of The Fostering Network, Kevin Williams, said: ‘We welcome the new Secretary of State to his role and hope that during his tenure he and his team will pay significant attention to foster care and the needs of looked after children.
Following the Department for Education’s publication of new national minimum allowance rates for England – applicable from April 2018 – The Fostering Network's chief executive Kevin Williams said: 'The Government has increased foster care allowances for the 2018-19 financial year by only 1.5 per cent, which is not keeping pace with inflation.
Despite the fact that most foster carers don't shout a lot about pay - indeed among the motivations for fostering as reported by foster carers, fee payments are consistently ranked low on the list - it doesn't mean foster carers shouldn't get paid or that pay is not important to them.
Nearly 1,500 foster carers in England took part in the survey which revealed that, although the number of foster carers who receive a fee payment is increasing, only one in 10 receives the equivalent of the national living wage for a 40-hour week.
Other key findings from the survey include:
In response the launch of the independent Care Review in Scotland yesterday, chief executive of The Fostering Network, Kevin Williams, said:
'We welcome the launch of the Care Review and look forward to continuing to support Fiona Duncan as chair and working with the group to share the views of our members in Scotland.
Responding to the announcement at the SNP conference by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon of a root and branch review of the care system, Sara Lurie, director of The Fostering Network Scotland, said:
The recommended national minimum allowance rates for foster carers in England for 2016-17 published by the Department for Education show there will be no increase.
Website and contents copyright © The Fostering Network 2016
Registered in England and Wales as a limited company no. 1507277
Registered charity in England and Wales 280852 and in Scotland SC039338
We are extremely grateful to all those involved in fostering who provide support and stability to children and young people in foster care during these challenging times and we will do our utmost to play our part in this.
Please visit our coronavirus hub (by clicking on this box) which lists updates and information, useful resources, helplines and advice for fostering services and foster carers. It is being regularly updated.