What Is A Fostering Allowance?
What is a Fostering Allowance?
If you’re thinking about becoming a foster carer, one of the first questions you might have is: What is a fostering allowance?
Simply put, a fostering allowance is a financial payment made to foster carers to cover the cost of caring for a child placed in their home, and also to provide foster carers with a liveable professional income.
We understand that talking about ‘pay’ and ‘money’ in the context of fostering can feel uncomfortable for some; the main reason for fostering should always be to make a positive difference in the lives of children and young people. However, it is important to be clear about the payments foster carers receive as it is there to ensure the financial support and wellbeing required to provide care for young people – along with covering costs such as food, clothing, activities, and other essentials.
The Imporatance of Transparency
Transparency is important when broaching the subject of allowances, as information on the gov.uk website says: “All foster parents get a foster care allowance to help cover the cost of caring for a child. You might get additional payments, depending on if the child has specific needs, how many children you’re fostering, your skills and experience, your fostering service.”
Providing general overarching financial information is important, due to renumeration differences across various local authorities and Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs). However, we feel that some generalised information could turn people off fostering due to the implication of an ‘expenses only’ arrangement.
The fostering allowance is a crucial part of the foster care system, ensuring that foster carers can provide a safe, stable, and nurturing environment, whilst providing financial wellbeing for what is essentially a highly skilled role.
Crucially, the allowance is only paid to foster carers when they are actively caring for young people. However, a fostering allowance is paid for each young person cared for.
What Does a Fostering Allowance Cover?
There are two elements to the fostering allowance:
1. A maintenance allowance for each child
The maintenance aspect of the fostering allowance is designed to meet the everyday needs of a foster child, including:
- Food and groceries
- Clothing and school uniforms
- Educational resources and activities
- Transportation
- Holidays
- Birthday and festive gifts
- General household expenses
2. A foster carer fee
This is the element that is paid to you in acknowledgement of your skills and abilities as a trained foster carer, and is there to provide you with the financial wellbeing required to care for young people in your home.
How is a fostering allowance funded?
Fostering is funded by the local authority responsible for the provision of care for a particular young person.
These funds are allocated as part of a national or regional budget for children’s services. Local councils manage and distribute these payments to either their own foster carers or, when this is not possible or if a suitable match for a young person cannot be achieved in-house, Independent Fostering Agencies.
Is it more expensive for local authorities to use agency foster carers?
Whilst there is a perception that costs are reduced when local authorities place young people with their own foster carers, the true cost of fostering is not being reflected.
For example, in a like-for-like comparison, local authority in-house fostering allowance figures that are quoted as being significantly less than the figures charged by Independent Fostering Agencies, do not reflect business, staffing and resource costs and expenses.
These costs include:
- Staff salaries & standard benefits
- Buildings and insurance
- Utilities
- Training (for both staff and foster carers)
- Marketing, advertising and general admin resources
- Travel and other expenses
Independent Fostering Agencies include these costs in the fees they charge local authorities.
Not-for-profit and charitable fostering organisations go one step further and reinvest surplus income into providing more training and support for their foster carers, ultimately placing positive outcomes for children first.
Do all organisations pay the same Fostering allowance?
Fostering allowances will be different across all local authorities and Independent Fostering Agencies.
Whilst actual fostering allowances depend on several factors (see below), it is important to bear in mind that Independent Fostering Agencies highlight their allowances in different ways. Some will display what is, in effect, a ‘maximum’ amount. Others will display an average to provide an idea of income.
When comparing fostering providers based on renumeration, it is important to check if there are any additional payments; a fostering agency that may appear to pay a lower allowance than others may supplement payments in other ways, such as help with council tax bills or additional ad-hoc financial benefits.
As a charitable fostering agency, we would always welcome fostering applications from those who place the want to provide a caring, nurturing and therapeutic fostering home above renumeration.
Is the allowance the same across all different types of foster care?
The fostering allowance you will receive as a foster carer will be dependent on several overarching factors:
- The number of children you are providing care for
- The age of the child(ren) you are providing care for
- If there are any particular care needs or requirements
- The type of fostering you are undertaking
All foster carers are highly skilled, but there are types of foster care that require additional skills, such as parent & child, disability foster care and remand fostering. Due to the additional skills and responsibility for these types of foster care, additional allowances could be paid.
Final thoughts
If you are considering fostering, understanding the fostering allowance is a key factor in evaluating whether foster care is viable for you and your household.
While the choice to foster must be driven by personal attributes such as care and compassion—not money—financial wellbeing is essential in order to ensure foster carers can provide a nurturing home to children and young people.
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