Kinship Carers: Statutory Paid Employment Leave

Darren Paffey Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for the Future of Work (Kate Dearden)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) for securing this important debate. Since she was elected to this place, she has done incredible work to champion the voices and issues of kinship carers in every room and at every opportunity. I also thank colleagues across parties for all their work in raising the important issue of kinship carers at every opportunity, with me directly and with colleagues across Government.

I begin by recognising that, as we have heard, kinship carers often step forward at extremely short notice and in immensely difficult circumstances. Many of the children involved will be experiencing some of the most turbulent and crucial days or weeks of their lives, and may have experienced bereavement, family breakdown, separation, instability or trauma. At precisely that moment, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, other relative or family friend may be asked to make a lifechanging commitment.

I also acknowledge the brilliant work of kinship advocacy organisations, such as Kinship and the Family Rights Group, which continue to campaign and work diligently to raise awareness of the role of kinship carers, many of whom might not even recognise themselves as kinship carers. Those organisations continue to engage constructively with me and the Government to bring forward important evidence and insights into the experience of kinship families. Their work is incredibly appreciated, and helps us to understand not only the scale of kinship care but the practical realities facing carers and children.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes for inviting me to a recent meeting of the APPG that she chairs, where I had the opportunity to hear directly from a kinship carer about their experiences. Their contribution was moving, was instructive to the requirements from Government moving forwards, and underlined the importance of listening to and putting at the forefront the voices of kinship carers. Their real-life experiences are exactly what the Government are considering in our review.

Kinship carers provide love, stability and continuity at what can be an incredibly difficult time. Colleagues raised stories that they have heard directly from their constituents; I have heard stories from mine too. Amanda, who is a kinship carer in my constituency, took the time to meet me at my surgery recently. She provides incredible support to kinship carers across my constituency, and talks so openly about her experience. I know that colleagues have also heard from their constituents, and I thank them for raising those experiences today. I want people’s experience in the workplace, and their reflections on when they have unfortunately not experienced that, to shape not only this issue but my wider brief.

Of course, taking on the responsibility of being a kinship carer can mean significant emotional, practical and financial pressures, often with very little notice. I recognise not only their importance and contribution, but the challenges they face. At the APPG meeting, we talked a lot about the Family Rights Group data showing that eight in 10 kinship carers who left work have never returned to paid employment. That is a really stark statistic. I cannot even imagine the difficult position that kinship carers will be in of, as my hon. Friend alluded to, having to make the impossible decision between looking after a child who needs them at such an important time in their life, and their job. That insight is particularly valuable as we consider the evidence in the parental leave and pay review, and in wider work to support kinship families.

[Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) on her years of hard work on this issue and on securing this debate. The Government’s core mission is to provide stable, loving homes for every child. That policy happens to have come out of the Department for Education, but the issue we are discussing spans across the Department for Business, the Department for Work and Pensions, and so on. Does the Minister agree that this issue is a fantastic example of where proper cross-Government work, pulling in the same direction, could produce outcomes for young people that are greater than the sum of the different policy parts?

[Kate Dearden]

On that note, I pay tribute to the brilliant Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister), for all his incredible work on kinship carers. I absolutely recognise the importance of cross-Government and cross-Department work on the issue, and I reassure my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) that our intention is to work in a joined-up way to support kinship carers throughout their lives, and to look at where we need to go further and do better. That is why this debate is welcome and important, as we consider the parental leave and pay review.

Of course, colleagues will be fully aware of the significance of the work being undertaken in the Department for Education, from the kinship allowance pilot, which will provide kinship carers with a weekly allowance equivalent to the fostering national minimum allowance for each eligible child, to the work being done in the light of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. I thank colleagues for welcoming that work.

I also want to use this opportunity to update colleagues on the parental leave and pay review, which sits in my Department and is cross-working with the Department for Work and Pensions. There are, rightly, lots of Departments involved with this, because it is not just one part of life that is impacted for kinship carers—it is across everything. We recognise that support for the carer and support for the child cannot be easily separated. Giving a carer the time and support needed to help a child settle may contribute to the stability of that arrangement. That is why it is right that we are considering the experiences of kinship families across departmental boundaries—social care, employment policy, education and the wider support available to families.

We are committed to reviewing the wider system. Colleagues will know that the review was launched in July 2025, and that is why we are considering all the current parental leave and pay entitlements, as well as the experiences and needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, including kinship carers.

We are jointly leading the review and engaging with a broad range of stakeholders. Again, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has fed into the review for their patience, as we are taking the time to go through as much evidence as possible, including roundtables and bilateral meetings, as well as meetings with me, other colleagues who are in the Chamber today and parental advocacy groups that represent kinship carers. The review will conclude in early 2027 with a set of findings that outline the next steps for implementing any reforms. I know there is significant interest in what the review will conclude.