A report published by The Fostering Network has revealed fostering fee disparities between different fostering providers. 

The report, entitled Out Of Pocket: Fairer Fees For Foster Carers,  states that almost half of fostering services are providing their foster carers between £100-£200 per week, resulting in an annual income of £5,200 – £10,400 per year.   

Based on a 40 hour week, it was discovered that 60% of local authority foster carers were paid the equivalent of less than £5 per hour. The National Living Wage is currently £11.44 per hour (as of November 2024). 

Sarah Thomas, Chief Executive Officer at The Fostering Network, said: “It is unacceptable that there are such huge differences in fees paid to foster carers across the country, with some receiving no fee and many as little as £18 a week. 

“Adequate fees are essential to ensure foster carers can continue looking after the children and young people in their care. If they are not sufficiently remunerated, we will continue to lose foster carers and struggle to recruit new ones. 

“Foster carers are needed now more than ever – so we urgently need governments to invest in and develop a strong fee framework to send out the message to foster carers that they are recognised, respected and valued for the care they provide to children and young people.” 

Foster carers are highly trained individuals who apply their skills in different ways to provide nurturing and, in many cases, care at a therapeutic level. We believe a fairer income taking into consideration their skillset, time and the fact that they are an integral part of a ‘team around the child’, must be prioritised. 

Fostering fees and allowances have long been seen as a ‘sensitive subject’ by the general public. However, with 60% of foster carers in England, Scotland and Wales giving up work to foster, the pressure to provide a ‘living wage’ is very real. The financial aspects of fostering can be an uncomfortable subject for prospective foster carers to discuss as they navigate whether it will be financially feasible to dedicate their knowledge and experience, along with their time to fostering.  

With foster carer recruitment and retention remaining a challenge, financial difficulties or concerns need to be taken out of the equation to encourage the growth of the foster carer workforce on a national level. Therefore, TACT fully support The Fostering Network in their calling for each government in the UK to carry out reviews of foster carer fees, and address the discrepancies. 

Not covered in the report is the important area of transparency around fees and allowances.  

Providing an estimation of expected income to prospective carers is generally difficult, as payments range according to age of children, complexities of need or the type of fostering provided. There could also be a number of additional payments, such as allowances for children’s birthdays and holiday allowances. Therefore, providing realistic examples of fees is key for people to make an evaluation of whether fostering will ‘work’ for their financial wellbeing. 

Here at TACT, we’ve re-evaluated the way in which we present our fees and allowances, choosing to display ‘average’ examples from a number of different fostering scenarios, rather than the more commonly used ‘up to’ amounts. We feel that the proration of additional allowances for children’s birthdays, holidays, religious festivals, short breaks and our unique council tax contributions within our fee examples better illustrates the true average income from fostering. 

Generally, a UK wide overhaul of fostering allowances is long overdue. Disparities need to be tackled to avoid fostering becoming a postcode lottery, and transparency adopted to not only bring more people to foster care, but to retain those already fostering.